{"id":1053,"date":"2023-03-07T12:33:00","date_gmt":"2023-03-07T12:33:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dev.farnes.net\/paul\/?p=1053"},"modified":"2023-04-07T12:34:39","modified_gmt":"2023-04-07T12:34:39","slug":"the-future-of-scientific-research-via-the-windsor-framework","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dev.farnes.net\/paul\/the-future-of-scientific-research-via-the-windsor-framework\/","title":{"rendered":"The Future of Scientific Research via the Windsor Framework"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By: Paul E. L. T. Borrow-Longain<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The British Prime Minister, the Rt Hon Rishi Sunak, and the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, recently announced agreement on the Windsor Framework, after months of intense negotiations. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

While both leaders now embark on a public relations campaign to \u201csell\u201d the framework to political leaders in the United Kingdom and the member nations of the European Union, I wanted to take a more in-depth look at what the framework could mean for British scientists and scientific research, should the framework become law. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ever since the United Kingdom left the European Union in January 2020, British-based scientists have received little or no funding from Horizon Europe, the European Union research fund. This has not simply barred British-based scientists from applying for research grants, but has also seen a significant reduction in collaboration between UK and EU research teams. This latter situation is, in my view, far more detrimental to the long-term standing of British research and innovation. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This reduction in collaboration due to the closure of access to Horizon Europe will see the best undergraduate, post-graduate and postdoctoral students and researchers in the scientific field reluctant to study and commence their academic careers in the UK.  Should the framework become accepted by both parties, scientists should be able to benefit from the \u20ac100bn Horizon Europe programme once more. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

During the joint press conference, the President of the European Commission described the framework as \u201cgood news for scientists and researchers in the EU and in the UK\u201d. She went on to say that \u201cthe moment it\u2019s implemented, I\u2019m happy to start immediately \u2013 right now \u2013 to work on an association agreement, which is the precondition to joining Horizon Europe,\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Researchers say they have hopes that under the Windsor Framework, the UK could link up with Horizon Europe. However, even if the framework becomes law the benefits of access are not likely to be felt immediately by UK-based scientists. This is because it could take many years for British involvement to return to levels seen before the UK exited the European Union. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to an article in The Guardian<\/em> on the 28th of February 2023, Professor Paul Nurse, Nobel laureate and Director of the Francis Crick Institute, said: <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe government policy was to associate with Horizon Europe, and the only blockage to that was acrimony over the Northern Ireland protocol. So the potential solution of that problem now [leaves] the doors wide open to association, allowing the government to fulfil its policy,\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Professor Nurse went on to say that \u201cFundamentally, there\u2019s three main science groupings in the world: North America, Asia \u2013 increasingly focused on China \u2013 and of course Europe, and if you\u2019re outside one of those groupings, you\u2019re going to find it very difficult to be a major science nation, because you\u2019re not part of the collaborations.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the same article in The Guardian<\/em> Professor Venki Ramakrishnan, Nobel laureate and former President of the Royal Society, said: <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt is excellent news, and now that progress has been made on Northern Ireland, it should be an urgent priority for the government to work out an agreement with the EU to allow our full participation in Horizon Europe, something that will be hugely beneficial for both parties.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

So why is Horizon Europe access considered so important by such prominent scientists? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

If the Covid-19 pandemic has taught us anything,  it is that science, our scientists, and scientific research are critically important. Without scientific collaboaration and innovation, it would have been impossible to so rapidly create the various vaccines which have saved unknown numbers of lives not only in the UK and EU but around the world. Research of this magnitude costs millions of pounds and is highly risky. Therefore, access to as many sources of research funding as possible is of paramount importance. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The British Government has often stated that in our post-Brexit, post-Covid world, it is innovation in the private sector and academia which will spearhead our economic growth. Arrangements such as those proposed in the Windsor Framework, therefore, have the potential to substantially improve British-based scientists\u2019 and researchers\u2019 access to funding and collaboration. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

While politicians in the United Kingdom and the European Union start to review the details of the framework, looking for \u201cthe devil in the details\u201d which they feel would not be in the best interests of their respective constituents, the scientific community have no choice but to watch and hope the framework is passed into law. While both the British Prime Minister and the President of the European Commission seem confident in the deal announced proceeding, it is prudent to remain cautiously optimistic. It could be many weeks, if not months, before we will know if the framework is accepted and able to be implemented.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By: Paul E. L. T. Borrow-Longain The British Prime Minister, the Rt Hon Rishi Sunak, and the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, recently announced agreement on the Windsor Framework, after months of intense negotiations.  While both leaders now embark on a public relations campaign to \u201csell\u201d the framework to political leaders […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1053","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-opinions"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dev.farnes.net\/paul\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1053","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dev.farnes.net\/paul\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dev.farnes.net\/paul\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev.farnes.net\/paul\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev.farnes.net\/paul\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1053"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dev.farnes.net\/paul\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1053\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1054,"href":"https:\/\/dev.farnes.net\/paul\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1053\/revisions\/1054"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dev.farnes.net\/paul\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1053"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev.farnes.net\/paul\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1053"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev.farnes.net\/paul\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1053"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}