R&D in crossfire as EU-UK talks intensify

European Research Council president says funder making plan for UK failing to join Horizon Europe

Research organisations across Europe are bracing for a hit to UK-EU collaborations as political tensions preventing the UK’s association to the bloc’s R&D programme reach breaking point.

The row over trade with Northern Ireland that seems to have caused the delay now threatens to undermine the broader Brexit trade agreement altogether, including the UK’s ‘association’ to the €95.5 billion Horizon Europe programme. Without this association deal, researchers across Europe face huge barriers on collaboration with colleagues in the UK.