UK ‘safety net’ created for delayed EU research funds

BRITISH researchers left in limbo over EU funding that has failed to materialise will be given a “safety net” by the Government this week, with a pledge by ministers to guarantee the money owed to them by Brussels.

George Freeman, the science minister, is expected to announce that Britain will provide funding to UK-based researchers and businesses left short due to the EU delaying the country’s formal entry to the Horizon Europe scheme, despite already accepting bids to fund individual projects.

The move comes after Mr Freeman said the UK had a “bold Plan B” if Brussels stopped the UK joining the EU’s key funding programme for research and innovation.

Ministers believe that, despite accepting funding bids from British individuals and firms, the EU is now delaying the UK’s formal “association” to the scheme in a deliberate attempt to create leverage in the talks over Northern Ireland.

As a result, 69 research teams are working without a guarantee that they will be paid, Science Business reported last month.

Anthony Gordon, professor of anaesthesia and critical care at Imperial College London, which is part of a consortium developing a diagnostic test to check patients’ immune systems, told the publication: “It is a major problem. We have continued at risk of not being paid as we believe the work is vital to do.”

A Whitehall source said: “Britain has some of the best researchers and innovators in the world, and we are due to contribute around £15 billion to Horizon.

“Regrettably, the EU is continuing to drag its feet and put valuable research projects at risk – to the detriment of scientists and researchers on both sides.

“The EU needs to get on with making it official, and this safety net shows the UK will continue to back its researchers whatever the outcome.”

The UK is set to contribute £2.1 billion annually to the seven-year Horizon programme to maintain access for British scientists and researchers to panEuropean projects and funding.

It has also secured access to the Copernicus Earth observation programme, deemed vital to the UK space sector, while reaching a separate deal on continued involvement in the Euratom nuclear research programme.

However, entry has been stalled by the EU despite other non-member states such as Norway already receiving formal association status.