UK Researchers Left Out of EU Projects as Brexit Raises Funding Concerns

UK researchers are encountering reluctance from their peers to jointly collaborate on bids for EU project funding as the impending Brexit has led to uncertainty over how such money might be accessed by UK organizations in the future, media reported Tuesday.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Scientists in the United Kingdom receive about $1.3 billion annually from EU finding programs such as Horizon 2020 but until their country has negotiated its exit from the union, it is unclear how this research will be financed after Brexit.

According to a survey of the UK’s Russell Group universities, including Oxford and Cambridge, seen by The Guardian, a lead investigator on an EU-funded project was told to abandon all UK partners as they were regarded as a "financial liability."

"A substantial increase in definitive evidence that EU projects are reluctant to be in collaboration with UK partners, and that potentially all new funding opportunities from Horizon 2020 are closing," a top university was quoted as saying by the newspaper.

The university representative added that it had become evident that UK applicants were being ruled out of EU projects almost immediately after the Brexit vote. According to the survey, all sciences have suffered, including the engineering, social and natural sciences disciplines, the media outlet said.

Horizon 2020 is the largest EU Research and Innovation program which is set to assist in the implementation of new discoveries and ideas and ensure Europe's global competitiveness.

On June 23, the United Kingdom held a referendum to determine whether or not the country should leave the European Union. According to the final results, 51.9 percent of voters, or 17.4 million people, decided to support Brexit, while about 16.1 million opposed it.