British Academy welcomes Science and Technology Committee report on the implications of leaving the EU for science and research

The British Academy welcomes the publication of the House of Commons Science and Technology Committee's report, Leaving the EU: implications and opportunities for science and research.

Professor Ash Amin CBE FBA, Foreign Secretary & Vice-President of the British Academy said:

“We are pleased to see that the House of Commons Science and Technology Committee are urging the government to reduce Brexit uncertainty for the science and research sector. As the British Academy set out in its submission, there is a pressing need to place the UK research environment back on a stable long-term path. We welcome the committee’s demands to exempt EU scientists and researchers already working in the UK from wider immigration controls, and its recognition that collaboration and continued influence on the EU research agenda are vitally important to the scientific community.

“It is also excellent to see that the committee points to UK science and research as a vital voice in the Brexit negotiations. It is essential that the Department for Exiting the European Union engages with expertise across the research sector; the humanities and social sciences disciplines have a great deal to offer here, and the UK’s world-class expertise in these subjects must inform negotiations to achieve the best possible outcome for the UK.

“We hope to see the government agree with the Committee’s suggestion to raise science expenditure as a percentage of GDP, in line with key competitors such as Germany and the US. This echoes the joint statement made by the UK’s four national academies on 17 November, which proposed that government sets a target of 3% GDP for combined public and private R&D spending.”

The British Academy’s submission to the House of Commons Science and Technology Committee is available here.

‘Open for Business’, a joint statement by the British Academy, the Royal Society, the Royal Academy of Engineering and the Academy of Medical Sciences is available here.