Brexit without agreement: Top researchers warn against loss of billions promotion

United Kingdom and Gibraltar European Union membership referendum

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British Prime Minister Boris Johnson wants to lead his country out of the EU by 31 October. But there is still no agreement that would regulate the Brexit.

Economists have warned for months that a no-deal-Brexit could lead to significant economic losses. Now several renowned scientists also speak critically.

Nobel laureates Paul Nurse and Andre Geim, both researching in the UK, accuse Johnson of destroying the country's reputation as a science location worldwide, according to the Guardian. In the case of an EU appearance without agreement, Great Britain could be excluded from research projects worth billions of euros and, as a result, lose its scientific reputation.

"We will lose good people"

The prime minister behaves "like a clown," said biochemist Nurse. He received the Nobel Prize in Medicine in 2001 and, together with the Crick Institute in London, manages the largest biomedical research organization in Europe. "Our reputation is sinking."

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Nurse fears that a no-deal Brexit will make it harder to get good scientists to the UK. "Science is an extremely international activity," says the researcher. The Brexit is exactly the opposite. "It does not attract the smartest people in the world, we'll lose good people and have trouble finding new ones."

Physics Nobel laureate Andre Geim of the University of Manchester warns that once canceled collaborations between large research institutes can not be reactivated at short notice. "A Brexit without agreement would be like a drought for fruit trees for science, and you can not expect a harvest if you water the plants again next year, and the trees will be dead."

The UK government had promised to continue to participate in the EU funding project "Horizon Europe" after Brexit. It covers 100 billion euros, which will be awarded to various research projects, and should start in 2021. However, the EU is skeptical that Britain could participate in an exit without agreement.

The former EU Secretary General for Research and Innovation, Robert-Jan Smits, does not believe in it. In the case of a no-deal Brexit, there is no chance to negotiate, he said. The EU is then probably no longer willing to talk on the subject. Smits was selected by Nature magazine in the list of the ten most influential scientists of the year in 2018.

"Serious consequences for science"

During the "time", the head of the British Royal Society, Venkatraman Ramakrishnan, also spoke critically about Britain's possible withdrawal from the EU without an agreement. He hopes that there will still be an agreement with the EU, he says. Otherwise, this could have serious consequences for science. He cites the predecessor project of "Horizon Europe", "Horizon 2020" as an example.

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Its resources are currently used to finance numerous jobs in the UK. They could suddenly fall away in the event of an unregulated Brexit. This would also affect, for example, the field of clinical trials and the development of new drugs. According to Mr Ramakrishnan, this would create a funding gap of half a billion euros a year if Britain leaves Horizon 2020 ahead of schedule. So far, the government has not pledged to fill the gap in case of cases.

Overall, however, Ramakrishnan is not as critical of the future as his colleagues. He is convinced that Britain, at least in the long term, will remain as a great science nation. "In many European research projects, British scientists play a leading role," he said. "If all connections were cut off, the EU would lose this drive to excellence."