United Kingdom last week Advertiseto rejoin the Horizon Europe scientific research programme, under which a total of €95.5 billion in support will be distributed between 2021 and 2027. In return, from 2024, the state must contribute €2.6 billion per year to the Horizon and Copernicus programmes. (To the Eurotome programme They don't turn Again, they have instead spent £650m on their nuclear fusion programme until 2027).
In the previous similar seven-year programme, H2020, the UK received 12% of the available funds. To call According to the article published in Nature, the EU has contributed more than €7 billion to these projects. Although they do not gain much in purely financial terms – the UK’s contribution to the EU budget is 11.4 percent – they certainly wanted to participate in the current Horizon period because of the international nature of the research and the importance of cooperation.
They were going to court.
Previously, the EU had not allowed the UK back into Horizon due to tensions over Northern Ireland, even though this was part of the 2020 deal that would have ended Brexit. The previous Northern Ireland Protocol had caused difficulties and political tensions, but in February, the Windsor Framework changed the text of the agreement on Northern Ireland, and this also gave the UK the possibility of returning to Horizon. It was very important to them that the UK, even last summer, file a lawsuit against him He would have left the EU if he could not rejoin the programme.
The stakes were not limited to the amount that could be withdrawn: without re-entry, the state would have to assess applications individually, a lengthy and highly specialized process. Although the British government has started working on an alternative funding plan, Pioneer, during the uncertain interim period, encouraged Its researchers should apply to the EU programme, so that in the event of a potential re-entry they can benefit from the funds as quickly as possible, and the UK should only assess these applications if the EU does not. Given its international nature, the majority of scientists felt it was desirable to return to the Horizont programme rather than to their own, even if they could get similar amounts of resources from both.
Had the return not been successful, researchers from the UK would have lost much of their standing in scientific life: they are currently the leading researchers in many programmes, but then they can only apply as a “third country”, which would hinder their participation in scientific life. However, under the agreement, researchers from English universities can continue to lead scientific projects..
It is therefore not surprising that the British scientific community has welcomed the decision. The head of the UK Universities Union, “Horizons Europe has been a cornerstone of scientific research collaboration for over 30 years,” said Professor Dame Sally Mapstone, for example. A joint statement from several Royal Societies read: “This is a great day for researchers in the UK and across Europe. Horizons Europe is a beacon of international collaboration, and UK-based academic and industrial researchers are now back at the heart of this collaboration. Joining will certainly help attract international talent from across the board, both in research and PhD students.”
They can't be wrong.
Previously, 15% of projects submitted by UK institutions received funding, which is close to the average success rate. The UK also has an exceptionally high number of senior researchers, 17.5%.
However, the distribution of winning projects shows a significant geographical disparity: A About Horizon 2020 Data table Cambridge and Oxford each won €500 million, with all London-based universities receiving around €1.5 billion in funding. The regions that won the least were the North of England, Northern Ireland and Wales, which received between €300 and €500 million each. (Although it is not just because of Horizon Europe that it is no coincidence that Cambridge and Oxford voted as one of the At the highest rate To stay in the EU, cooperation with the EU is probably the most beneficial in these areas).
It is from the winning bids money. Universities share It was particularly high compared to other European countries, but this also stems from the UK's scientific structure, where research is carried out by universities.
The combined budget for Horizon and Copernicus is €104 billion, or €15 billion per year. If the UK manages to secure 12% of the funds, its annual contribution will be around €800 million higher than the money it won from tenders. As in the previous period, universities are doing well, but the country could become a net contributor.
The EU-UK deal, which has just been concluded, is intended to prevent this, and if the UK manages to withdraw “significantly less” money than it contributed, it will be compensated financially. The first case could also happen because a country joins the programme three years late, and although it does not have to pay fees for the missed period, its project preparation may be less.
In general, therefore, an agreement She had to ensure that the research community – those currently living in the UK and those she wanted to attract – and the entire taxpayer were satisfied.
Hungarians trapped abroad
Most research institutes in Hungary are currently excluded from the Horizon Europe programme: a Universities and research institutes that are model-changing (removed from state maintenance), i.e. most Hungarian institutions (excluding ELTE, BME, the Academy of Music and the University of Fine Arts) are excluded from the Horizont Europe programme and cannot benefit from the new Horizont since 16 December 2022 and from Erasmus+ support.
For Hungarians, as for the British, this omission or cessation means loss not only of lost resources, but also of exclusion from international academic life, interrupted collaborations, and lack of cooperation. Despite previous optimistic government statements, it remains uncertain when the European exclusion of Hungarian institutions capable of changing the paradigm will end.
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