LONDON: The man who has taken charge of UK research funding says Brexit presents scientists with an opportunity.
In his first interview in his new job, Sir John Kingman has told BBC News research could be at the heart of Britain’s post-Brexit industrial strategy.
Sir John has recently taken over as chairman of the newly created UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) body.
The organisation oversees £6 billion of research funding annually. Sir John’s role will be to co-ordinate UK spending on research and encourage more interdisciplinary science. But his priorities shifted within weeks of his appointment when the UK voted to leave the EU.
The UK receives around £850m of research funding each year from the European Union.
British universities employ more than 30,000 scientists from EU countries. Leaders of research organisations are concerned that funds from European funding bodies could drop substantially and so lock British researchers out of important collaborations with scientists on the continent.
They also fear that restrictions on the free movement of labour would make it harder to attract the best researchers to UK labs.
BBC News has reported on how the uncertainty following the referendum result in June has already had an effect on funding, collaborations and staffing. Sir John has told the media that he wants to make a virtue out of necessity.
“The critical point for me is that the new Prime Minister has quite rightly called for a new industrial strategy posing the question what is the best way to formulate a new economic future for an independent UK outside the European Union and I think that great science, great research universities have a huge amount to contribute to that,” he said.
