Academia after Brexit?

[happysinglemum20]

PhD here. I was reading this Royal Society report on EU funding and universities.

royalsociety.org/~/media/policy/projects/eu-uk-funding/uk-membership-of-eu.pdf

It seems like the EU is funding at least 20% of research in most funding areas. Was also shocked at the percentage of EU funds going into (mostly) ex polytechnics.

I don't hear people talking about this much in my department - is there something I'm missing? Would there be a way of getting around the EU thing for funding? As a third party or something?

Israel takes part in ERC/Horizon 2020 as does Switzerland, so there are precedents for non-EU countries to be involved. However, Switzerland has faced suspension from ERC/Horizon 2020 in the past due to imposing limitations on freedom of movement. There will be a real tension between immigration controls and taking part in EU science even in the case of a "deal".

The money could be replaced by UK funding. But as many people emphasise - including the Scientists for EU campaign - it is not enough to just replace the funding, because a lot of EU funded projects are collaborative and cross international borders. Moreover, a significant fraction of EU funding goes into blue skies research - any replacement funding from the UK government is likely to be tied to the industrial strategy and other such initiatives i.e. far less supportive of blue skies research.

EU funding is just a fraction of the problem for research and universities: the immigration controls are likely to make it much harder to hire European staff; it is likely to become almost impossible to get non-UK PhD students funded (thus limiting the pool of candidates); the number of European students studying in the UK is likely to drop sharply if they need visas, don't have access to loans and pay international fees.

I don't hear people talking about this much in my department - is there something I'm missing?

There's not much to say. Most academics think Brexit is a disaster. Some are looking to leave. Most are hoping that there will be a sane outcome i.e. soft Brexit with enough freedom of movement for universities to carry on collaborating with and hiring Europeans.

@user

Thanks for your reply. I don't think there are as many immigration regulations (ie the income requirement) apply to jobs which require PhDs, but of course end of freedom of movement will make it a lot harder.

I can't imagine the EU funding will be replaced!

I'm pretty anxious - if there are jobs/ funding problems now, can't imagine what it will be like post-Brexit...

The tier 2 visa requirements do apply to academics and have an effect: the required income of ~33k is actually above the level at which research councils are funding postdocs. (The latter prefer to fund postdocs at the lowest pay scales.)

This has already affected my department multiple times - we have had to find other sources of funding to top up salaries to ensure tier 2 eligibility for postdocs.

@user

Ah ok good to know, maybe I was thinking of the monthly visa quota thing they might be exempt from...(which at one point this year pushed to required salary for non shortage jobs to over 50k)

Yes, I think it's going to be a really bad time. My subject (Humanities) across the country is around 35% funded by EU grants, and being a Humanities subject it's not realistic to believe that any of that money will get replaced. Most of the money comes from funding streams that the UK won't be eligible for once we leave. A lot of the EU money goes to fund post-doc opportunities and PhD places, and that will make life very hard for early career scholars trying to get a position after finishing their PhDs, as if it wasn't hard enough already.

Competition for the UK funders will obviously be even more intense than it already is, which will mean fewer people with successful bids, which is likely to have a longer-term impact on how sustainable universities perceive departments to be. And if you add the lost income from EU students not coming here as much any more, that's an even bigger financial hit. And of course having international students and staff is really important to the vibrancy and prestige of the universities, and keeping them real players on the global stage. Recruiting top international talent is going to get even harder with visa restrictions, and even there are more and more stories of the Home Office preventing foreign academics coming to conferences - if that starts to affect EU academics too, we will end up totally isolated. I wouldn't be surprised if a lot of universities cut back, best case scenario by not replacing those who leave or retire, worst case by redundancy programmes.

It's bloody scary, to be honest. I think we're on a path to a slow decline, and I don't see much future in UK academia for someone ambitious and research-focused if a hard or no-deal Brexit goes ahead. I think people aren't talking about it because everyone knows it's likely to be bad, and what's the benefit in getting upset now when we're going to have to deal with it all pretty soon anyway. Within the group of academics I talk to, some are hoping that the government will see sense and go for a soft Brexit; some people are quietly applying for jobs in other countries and not telling many people until something works out for them; some are stressed enough with the day-to-day grind to have the energy to worry about it until it happens; some spend all their time venting on Twitter about it to make themselves feel better. Haven't met anyone in academia who is feeling optimistic!