UK scientists dropped from EU projects because of post-Brexit funding fears

Re:UK scientists dropped from EU projects because of post-Br... by wnkrshm on Tuesday July 12, 2016 @10:31AM (#12079301)

The proposals for the big EU calls like Horizon 2020 contain detailed work packages and plans for how the research effort is going to be orchestrated to be successful. To my knowledge, the quality of this planning is a decisive factor in the acceptance of a proposal.

If a research partner drops out halfway through the project, the whole effort may fall apart - and with research institutions and industrial partners booking the alloted funds each month, such a failure is hard to justify for any EU officer.

Of course, it is ridiculous to simply require that the UK partners be dropped from the project without a significant change of plan or adequate substitution.

Edit: Also, the aim of these projects is always to strengthen industry or scientific progress in the participating countries - so politically, if the UK really drops out this would be giving something for free to a competitor.

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Re:UK scientists dropped from EU projects because of post-Br... by dekhn on Tuesday July 12, 2016 @11:22AM (#12079767)

I'm having trouble seeing why UK partners here are specifically going to drop out of a funded research project simply because Brexit.

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Re:UK scientists dropped from EU projects because of post-Br... by Symbiote on Tuesday July 12, 2016 @12:59PM (#12080610)

They may struggle to recruit staff needed for the positions, or even lose existing staff¹. For

Successful projects often lead to future projects, so people thinking of projects in a few years time might not want to start collaboration in the UK, at least if there's an alternative elsewhere in the EU.

¹ For example, the UK lost me — after the 2014 European Parliament elections in the UK, where UKIP won most votes, I started looking for a job elsewhere.

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