Put your faith in individual researchers overcoming the obstacles and continuing to collaborate with European scientists and colleagues if the United Kingdom is forced out of the European Union’s framework programme for research and innovation because of Brexit.

That was the advice from Professor Jonathan Adams, chief scientist at Digital Science, who has monitored the socio-economic impact of research for the Australian Research Council, the New Zealand government and the European Commission.

He was speaking at a session on ‘Beyond Brexit: The future of international research collaboration’ at last week’s International Higher Education Forum 2018 organised by Universities UK International at Nottingham Trent University.

Adams has been working on a project for Universities UK, looking at possible strategic approaches to support internationally collaborative research in the post-Brexit environment without increasing the bureaucratic burden for universities.

The findings will be published shortly, but Adams told delegates: “We have recently shifted from focusing on the strategic role to examining how international research collaboration was working effectively at the grass roots and looking at a bottom-up approach.”

He said: “The huge growth of international research collaboration has driven most of the UK’s national growth in output in the past 30 years and the most highly cited work is mainly done through international collaboration. So it is hugely advantageous. That’s why people want to do it. 

“Individuals are very good at managing their own arrangements and there is quite strong resistance to a national strategic organisation to support international research.

“Researchers know who they want to work with and why they want to work with them and where the best facilities are and they know that by working together they can address challenges they could not do by themselves.”

His experience in Australia demonstrated that the strategic approach to international collaboration can lead to funding second rate research that could have been done just as well at the national level.

He said where governments could help is through stability when it comes to priorities and by providing good information about other countries that universities want to work with through bodies like the British Council.

Time for a Plan B

Dr Richard Masterman, associate pro-vice chancellor for research strategy and performance at the University of Nottingham, which has branch campuses in China and Malaysia, told conference delegates: “While Brexit is a pretty damaging thing to do to ourselves it does throw up opportunities.

“That might be a slightly provocative thing to say and we are still lobbying the government so we can remain in the EU framework programmes for research and innovation and in the Erasmus+ mobility programme. But if that fails, we need a Plan B.” 

The two priorities, said Masterman, were establishing bilateral relationships based on individual interactions and remembering that European researchers are all working in liberal democracies and that individuals will continue to collaborate internationally whatever government decides to do.

Masterman said the move towards Brexit had highlighted the need to join and be active in networks. The University of Nottingham has recently joined the European Consortium of Innovative Universities and is part of Universitas 21, the global network of research-intensive universities.
 

“We need to be more proactive in those networks,” he told delegates.

Professor Michael Hengartner, president of swissuniversities and the University of Zurich, Switzerland, urged his mainly British audience to “stay pragmatic” and continue to invest in people.

“The [EU] framework programme is just one mechanism that allows scientists in many countries to work together,” he said, adding that after its own referendum on immigration controls, Switzerland was briefly kicked out of Horizon 2020 before being readmitted.

“We likened our situation to sport and said not being part of Horizon 2020 was like not being able to play at Wimbledon anymore. 

“The government said we will make up the money, but we said it is not about the money. It is not a local competition in a city in Switzerland but about winning against the best and that we want to be part of the champions league.”

He urged the UK to follow the Swiss experience of focusing on close neighbours in terms of building bilateral links.

“When people said why don’t we work more with the Chinese or the Americans, we said of course we do that, but proximity is important. 

“Yes, Switzerland exports to China, but it exports more to the state of Baden-Württemberg in Germany than it exports to China. Baden-Württemberg isn’t that big, but it is close.”

‘Clever’ bilateral system

He cited the ‘clever bilateral system’ Switzerland has set up with Germany and Austria whereby a research application for collaborative research can be made and approved in one of the three countries and then financed by funding that is evenly distributed through the countries involved.

“It makes collaboration across the border identical with the town next door. It doesn’t matter if the collaboration is in Geneva or Cologne or Berlin, the researcher can get the money.

“Let’s do the same thing with the UK. We both have good universities and good science.”

Hengartner told University World News: “What you want to do is see where you can get diversity without having to go to the other side of the world. If you can just hop on the train to get there it is a huge advantage.

“Malaysia is great, but maybe the Netherlands would be a much easier hop for UK researchers.”

The session ended with speakers agreeing that relaxing the UK’s visa rules was one of the most important things the British government could do if the country finds itself outside the EU framework programmes.

Nic Mitchell is a British-based freelance journalist and PR consultant who runs De la Cour Communications. He blogs for the European Universities Public Relations and Information Officers’ Association, EUPRIO, and on his website. He also provides English-language communication support for European and UK universities.