UK faces September deadline on Horizon Europe funding

The UK government has a month to finally agree terms with the European Union to join the bloc’s €95 billion Horizon Europe research programme or extend a domestic compensation scheme while pressure on the government from UK researchers in need of funding continues to grow.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s government has paid out more than £1 billion in government grants to UK researchers taking part in Horizon Europe projects as part of the government’s guarantee scheme which is currently due to expire at the end of September. 

The UK was expected to join the programme under the terms of its Brexit agreement with the EU but its association member status was blocked for two years because of the dispute between Brussels and London over the Northern Ireland protocol. 

Ever since the conclusion of the Windsor Framework on the Northern Ireland protocol, after which the European Commission said the UK’s access to Horizon could be fast-tracked, officials have been battling over precisely how much the Treasury will contribute to Horizon’s budget. 

Despite comments from UK and EU officials that the two sides were on the brink of agreement ahead of July’s NATO summit in Vilnius, nothing has been agreed and officials have since indicated that a deal is not likely to happen soon. 

The standoff has surprised researchers who point out that under the Horizon programme that existed for the EU’s last seven-year budget cycle between 2013 and 2020, UK-based researchers were second only to Germany in terms of grants obtained and programmes funded. 

Sunak is believed to be committed to the so-called ‘Pioneer’ scheme, which the UK government has mooted as an alternative domestic programme to Horizon should its negotiations with the EU collapse.

Pioneer would be allocated £14.6 billion, the same amount of funding as the government would have paid to associate with Horizon from 2021 to 2027, according to a government proposal published in April. However, establishing Pioneer would take months. 

Last week, a survey of 84 experts carried out by Cancer Research UK revealed overwhelming support for the UK to join the Horizon Europe research and development fund, with 75% of respondents favouring association with it and only 11% supporting the UK government’s Pioneer programme. 

The cancer charity warned that the UK’s membership of Horizon was in the best interests of cancer researchers and people affected by cancer.  

“We need Horizon Europe very badly,” said Professor Julian Downward, head of the Oncogene Biology Lab at the Francis Crick Institute, adding that “the current situation is damaging UK science every day” because a growing number of research staff are moving to EU countries so they can take up European Research Council grants.  

“The UK faces a brain drain of scientific talent unless we can make the UK more attractive to international talent. Being able to bid for grants in Horizon Europe is an essential step towards that,” he added. 

[Edited by Zoran Radosavljevic]

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