{"id":28236,"date":"2022-07-25T08:00:02","date_gmt":"2022-07-25T08:00:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.cancerresearchuk.org\/?p=24517"},"modified":"2024-11-03T15:13:18","modified_gmt":"2024-11-03T15:13:18","slug":"will-politics-keep-us-from-accessing-eu-science-funding","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ogkologos.com\/en\/will-politics-keep-us-from-accessing-eu-science-funding\/","title":{"rendered":"Will politics keep us from accessing EU science funding?"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Amid the current political turmoil, the Government must remain focussed on a solution to post-Brexit science funding and opportunities for international collaboration. Here, our policy department gives us an update on the current state of play, what you can do to help and what we know about the Government\u2019s \u2018Plan B\u2019\u2026<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Last year, we wrote about the UK-EU \u201cBrexit Deal<\/a>\u201d and what it meant for cancer treatment, clinical trials and future collaboration.<\/p>\n

We\u2019ve been keeping an eye on how the agreement is working in practice and we\u2019ll soon be asking our researchers and people affected by cancer to tell us their hopes and opportunities for future European collaboration in more detail.<\/p>\n

In the meantime, we\u2019ve recently released a new strategy<\/a>, which makes the importance of working across borders to accelerate progress clear. We understand the immense value of global collaboration for the biggest possible impact, such as our latest Cancer Grand Challenges<\/a> in partnership with the US National Cancer Institute. So, we\u2019ve worked with other UK life sciences groups to call for the UK to be part of Horizon Europe \u2013 the world\u2019s largest multinational research and innovation funding programme.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe believe that associating to Horizon Europe is overwhelmingly in the best interests of UK cancer researchers and people with cancer.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Horizon Europe is worth around \u00a380 billion. The medical research community was clear throughout the Brexit negotiations that UK researchers must continue to participate fully in this major opportunity for international research collaborations (especially given how much the UK secured<\/a> from the previous seven-year programme, Horizon 2020). This was agreed by the EU and UK<\/a> as part of the \u201cBrexit Deal\u201d.<\/p>\n

At the time, an agreement \u2018in principle\u2019 detailed how the UK could access the programme as an \u2018associate member.\u2019 However, the signing of a formal agreement and full association has not taken place because of wider political tensions<\/a>.<\/p>\n

We believe that associating to Horizon Europe is overwhelmingly in the best interests of UK cancer researchers and people with cancer. The EU\u2019s recent flagship Cancer Mission<\/a>, including the collaborations within Horizon Europe, is a moment of great opportunity for global progress on cancer, and we want you to access the best opportunities. Our Executive Director of Policy, Information and Communications, Ian Walker, has written further about CRUK\u2019s view here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

If you haven\u2019t already, please do ask your EU-based collaborators to take action via the Stick to Science campaign<\/a> aimed at persuading the EU to leave the politics at the door and go ahead with UK association.<\/p>\n

Plan B<\/h2>\n

We\u2019ve heard already from our research community that failing to secure the UK\u2019s full association to Horizon Europe would be a major setback, at a time when the funding landscape is much more challenging across the board due to COVID-19.<\/p>\n

We recognise the impact of delayed decisions<\/a> on our scientists. It\u2019s been incredibly frustrating for you to spend so much time applying through complex processes only to find that, even on winning a prestigious award, more barriers put in your way due to the wider political situation<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Recently the Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy (BEIS) set out how the UK will transition to a new R&D programme<\/a> \u2013 known as the \u201cPlan B\u201d alternative \u2013 in the event the UK is unable to associate to Horizon Europe.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s vital that you contact UKRI if you expect to sign any agreement by the end of December this year that isn\u2019t covered by the UK Government\u2019s funding guarantee so far.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

CRUK\u2019s position is that association to Horizon Europe is the best option for UK science and this also continues to be the UK Government position \u2013 however association is looking increasingly unlikely due to wider political disagreements with the Northern Ireland protocol.<\/p>\n

We await more information and key voices are urging the interim Government not to leave scientists in the lurch if it proves impossible for UK-based researchers to lead collaborations within Horizon Europe. George Freeman MP, until recently the Minister for Science, Research & Innovation, told the Science & Technology Committee of the House of Commons that in that event they will commit to a \u201ctransition so that there is no cliff edge\u2026 September will be when the transition programme begins, and then there is a transition through over the next year or 18 months\u201d.<\/a> We look forward to hearing more from a new science minister in due course.<\/p>\n

We still expect scientists in the UK will be able to join Horizon Europe consortia without leadership roles, funded by the UK Government\u2019s scheme. UK Research & Innovation (UKRI) told us they understand the issues people have already experienced with handing over coordination and technical reporting to another organisation during this period of uncertainty, but they\u2019re keen to support as best they can. And it\u2019s vital that you contact UKRI<\/a> if you expect to sign any agreement by the end of December this year that isn\u2019t covered by the UK Government\u2019s funding guarantee<\/a> so far.<\/p>\n

Whatever happens next, we know that we can only beat cancer in partnership. We\u2019ll continue to do all we can to support opportunities for collaboration. Our amazing scientists remain a crucial part of a global research community. We\u2019re so grateful for the huge strides you have made, and continue to make, to prevent, detect and treat more cancers.<\/p>\n

Author:
Laura Williams is Europe & Global Affairs Manager in the Cancer Research UK Policy Department <\/em><\/p>\n

More on this topic<\/h3>\n<\/p>\n

Source<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Amid the current political turmoil, the Government must remain focussed on a solution to post-Brexit science funding and opportunities for international collaboration. Here, our policy department gives us an update on the current state of play, what you can do to help and what we know about the Government\u2019s \u2018Plan B\u2019\u2026 Last year, we wrote […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5137],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-28236","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-world-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ogkologos.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28236","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ogkologos.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ogkologos.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ogkologos.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ogkologos.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28236"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/ogkologos.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28236\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":44880,"href":"https:\/\/ogkologos.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28236\/revisions\/44880"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ogkologos.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28236"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ogkologos.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28236"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ogkologos.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28236"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}