A new report ‘A snapshot of UK research infrastructures’ was released today by The Royal Society and suggests UK research is at risk if the UK experiences a disorganised Brexit. The report claims that 36% of research infrastructure is dependent on access to EU funding for continued viability, with a further 46% seeing this type of funding as “important” to future sustainability.
Headline data reveals:
- 69% of the research infrastructures surveyed were international in scope and 77% of respondents were a member of at least one international partnership
- 26% of users of the research infrastructures in this survey were from the eU/eeA (excluding the UK) and 18% were from the rest of the world.
- 32% of staff at UK research infrastructures were from overseas, with 23% from other eU/eeA countries and 9% from the rest of the world.
- 84% currently, or previously, received funding from eU sources, with 31% saying it is ‘essential’ and 46% saying it is important to their operation.
The focus to-date has been centred round access to research funding opportunities for academics and institutions post-Brexit, and less attention to the potential problems caused by leaving EU regulatory bodies. According to WONKHE, the report “opens up Brexit implications for the future viability of much UK research, and makes a compelling case for research infrastructure becoming a funding priority”.