Brexit putting British scientists at risk of becoming bit-part players, warns report
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Version 0 of 1. British scientists risk being reduced to bit-part players in some of the most ambitious projects of the next decade, a report has warned. The findings by the union Prospect on the implications of Brexit for science highlight a number of prestigious projects where British participation is now in doubt. These include a planned Antarctic mission to drill the oldest ice core ever obtained, the most ambitious Earth observation satellite programme to date, and a European mega project to investigate the potential of nuclear fusion as a clean, sustainable energy source. Concerns about Britain’s watered down role in major projects have contributed to more than one in ten (11%) Stem professionals now saying they plan to leave the UK up to and after Brexit, with a further 22% undecided about whether they wish to remain, according to the union. Dr Louise Sime, a palaeoclimate scientist at the British Antarctic Survey (BAS) who contributed to the report, described how a British scientist had led the last major ice core mission, which went on to deliver one of the most compelling pieces of evidence for manmade climate change. “This is what is at jeopardy,” she said. “We’re now dependent on the goodwill of our partners and it’s hard to see how there’s going to be that much goodwill around. The big risk is that we’ll just be bit-part players, turning up, rather than driving the science forward.” Sime is currently participating in a EU project to locate a drilling site, where scientists hope to extract a 3km-deep ice core. This is expected to extend the climate record from 800,000 years ago back to to 1.5 million years. But the BAS’s involvement in the future drilling mission is now uncertain. Last autumn, the prime minister pledged to ramp up funding for research and development to an extra £2bn (US$2.5bn) per year by 2020 and the Treasury has also promised to underwrite grants from the EU’s flagship research programme, Horizon 2020, secured while Britain is still a member of the EU. The measures are expected to financially compensate the potential loss of about £1.2bn in research funding that British universities currently receive from the EU. However, the latest report warns that the impact of Brexit on science goes beyond the balance book, and could leave scientists at British institutions playing a secondary role in terms of influencing the direction of projects and taking ownership of the landmark publications that result from such work. Scientists and engineers based at the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory (RAL) in Oxfordshire have made major contributions to building and testing satellites for the European Space Agency’s Copernicus Earth Monitoring programme, which will be the world’s largest environmental monitoring project. One of the fleet’s satellites, Sentinel 2-B, that will beam back high resolution images as small as 10 metres across which are designed to track iceberg movements, illegal logging, and water pollution, was launched today. The system is also designed to produce real-time assessments of areas hit by natural disasters or civil unrest. However, despite having an instrumental role in building the hardware, it is now unclear what access British teams will have to Copernicus’s observations. “If we lose our status as full collaborators in Copernicus, we may lose access rights to the data,” said one RAL scientist, who under the civil servant code of conduct was not authorised to speak to the media. “We would certainly lose our right to influence the direction of the programme.” Dr Chris Wilson, a climate scientist at the National Oceanography Centre, said: “Satellite data are crucial for weather and climate prediction. It takes collaboration and investment between the best international experts. Without it, climate modellers like me would not be able to produce the most skilful predictions.” Other major projects affected include the Joint European Torus (Jet) project, which involves around 350 scientists exploring the potential of fusion power, backed by funding from almost 40 countries in the Eurofusion consortium. The condition of Britain hosting Jet, currently the largest nuclear fusion experiment in the world, is contingent on its membership of Euratom, the pan-European atomic energy regulator, which the government has intended Britain will withdraw from. Prof Anne Glover, former chief scientific adviser to the president of the European Commission, said that even if Britain “buys in” to participate in major EU projects, its diminished status was almost inevitable. “We won’t be at the table, we’re going to stand outside the door while the big decisions are made,” she said. “That doesn’t put us in a very privileged or comfortable position.” In a separate survey of 2,758 Prospect members, including scientists working in agriculture, energy, nuclear and telecoms sectors, 86% of respondents said they were dissatisfied with government preparations for life outside the European Union and 69% said uncertainty about the timing and impact of the Brexit process had negatively affected their organisation’s ability to plan or undertake long-term projects. The report also highlighted the science community’s concerns about freedom of movement, with more than 90% supporting guaranteed rights for EU nationals to stay in the UK. Several of the contributors to the Prospect report had moved to the UK from other EU countries, or had a partner who had done so, painting a picture of the personal impact Brexit is having on the community. Dr Amelie Kirchgaessner, an atmospheric scientist at the British Antarctic Survey, said she was concerned about job security and a shift in public sentiment towards non-UK nationals. “Due to the increased xenophobia in the general population, I personally don’t feel welcome in the UK any longer,” she said. “This is emphasised by the government’s position. Instead of strongly condemning these tendencies, it seems to be silently endorsing them.” |