British scientists and academic researchers have suffered once and for all after 115 grants from an iconic EU research program were canceled due to the ongoing Brexit dispute over Northern Ireland.
One scholar said he was “relieved” to have left the country and feared the UK was on a “dark path” like Germany in the 1930s.
One hundred and fifty grants were approved for British applicants after then-Brexit Minister David Frost successfully negotiated £ 80bn to join the Horizon Europe program, but most will now be canceled.
The European Research Council (ERC) told UK beneficiaries that unless membership of the association had been approved before 29 June, grants would not be available unless researchers moved their work to a European institution.
Ratification of accession has been suspended because the UK has not implemented the Brexit trade agreements agreed under the Northern Ireland protocol.
Once the deadline is over, it has been seen that only 18 of the 150 academics will take on the scholarships, but will have to move to an EU institution to get the funds.
Thiemo Fetzer, professor of economics at the University of Warwick who received approval of 1.5 million euros (£ 1.28 million) in funding for media and geopolitical research , confirmed that he was one of 18 who had reluctantly decided to move to the EU.
He said: “I am relieved that this whole Brexit process has eroded my confidence in the UK institutions and this Horizon Europe partnership was just another embodiment of this.
“I am comforted to know that, with the ERC hosted in a fantastic place in Europe, I am also developing an exit strategy from the UK like many other EU academics I know. I am really afraid that the UK will go a long way dark and that there is a feeling of Germany in the 1930s for everyone. “
An ERC spokesman said: “The preparation of 115 ERC fellowships being offered to UK researchers will end now that the June 29 deadline has passed.
“Grants from 18 UK-based researchers will be transferred to a host institution in the EU or partner countries, following researchers’ decisions to exercise their right to ‘portability’, ”he said.
Another 14 cases have not yet been resolved, he said.
Last month, Nicholas Walton, a Cambridge University astrophysicist studying the Milky Way who hopes to play a major role in the European Space Agency’s (ESA) next major observation project, revealed that forced to give up his role as coordinator at € 2.8. m pan-European research project of the Marie Curie Network to a colleague from the Netherlands.
A spokesman for the Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy said the government “has secured funding for eligible and selected applicants to Horizon Europe who are expected to sign grant agreements in December 2022 and who have not was able to sign grant agreements with the EU “. .
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He said it was “disappointing” that the EU had delayed membership associated with Horizon Europe and expressed frustration at the end of the grants, saying that “according to the EU’s own guidance, UK entities should to be able, in theory, to apply for and participate in projects as we do so, working for the association ”.
The government has threatened to withdraw completely from Horizon Europe and continue with what is known as the Plan B research program designed to compete with the EU scheme.
However, there are reports of disagreements between Science Minister George Freeman and the Treasury over the funding and structure of the alternative scheme.