Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

UK scientists dropped from EU projects because of post-Brexit funding fears

theguardian.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

81–90 of 339 posts

Re: UK scientists dropped from EU projects because of post-Brexit funding fears

#81

Post by m_fayer »

endeavour wrote: post #43
m_fayer wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's a big list of hyperbolic and controversial positions. I normally don't demand citations, but in this case...

See how far you have to scroll down the list to find an university inside the EU (excluding the UK). https://www.timeshighereducation.com/world-university-rankin...

This list omits purely research institutions such as the Max Planck institutes, which as a whole are a behemoth:

Also https://www.timeshighereducation.com/news/the-titans-institu...

Re: UK scientists dropped from EU projects because of post-Brexit funding fears

#82

Post by pjc50 »

sievebrain wrote: post #67
ThePhysicist wrote: post #7

A few months ago I attended the "Quantum Europe" conference in Amsterdam, where the new EU flagship project on quantum computing was kicked off and celebrated. With a total funding volume of 1 BN € this initiative is huge, and there are several British universities and research centers involved. Now with the BREXIT it's unclear whether they will be able to still participate in this project, which will start in 2018.…

So tell the EU to let British universities continue to participate regardless of EU membership. If you believe they will say no for purely political reasons, then there's the problem. There are lots of academic collaborations that span the globe. It's only the EU that artificially ties quantum computing research to immigration policies. edit: There is a massive amount of political downvoting going on in this thread.…

As the sibling comment points out, the participation involves money. If the UK stops paying into the EU, it stops recieving payouts.

Re: UK scientists dropped from EU projects because of post-Brexit funding fears

#83

Post by egocodedinsol »

> One university said it had serious concerns about its ability to recruit research fellows for current projects.

I have heard rumblings of researchers' reluctance to work in the UK due to concerns about funding availability in 3 years. No one I know personally, but I have heard that active offers are being reconsidered.

If the UK can demonstrate a commitment to funds, that would mitigate the reluctance, but given recent events uncertainty is high to say the least. And science is uncertain enough already. Put another way, the UK might have to commit much more resources to attract researchers than before, to compensate for the added risk.

Re: UK scientists dropped from EU projects because of post-Brexit funding fears

#84

Post by DanBC »

pjc50 wrote: post #75
sievebrain wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're talking about a government that recently made computer programming class a mandatory part of the high school curriculum. Your leap from "UK exits the EU" to "there will no longer be funding for computer science research" is based purely on your own emotions, not rational analysis. Like so much else I hear from pro-EU people these days.

The current funding is going away and there has not yet been an announcement of its replacement. The government has however spent years implementing "austerity" and attempting to cut public spending. It's very optimistic to think that any more money will be forthcoming.

Importantly the government has announced more austerity after the referendum.

Re: UK scientists dropped from EU projects because of post-Brexit funding fears

#85

Post by dajohnson89 »

jcranmer wrote: post #74
philk10 wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

and that £350m a week that is supposedly sent to the EU is more like £140m

IIRC, £350m/wk is the gross amount, £140m/wk is the net.

So the EU payments were taxed? By whom?

Re: UK scientists dropped from EU projects because of post-Brexit funding fears

#86

Post by misja111 »

codecurve wrote: post #25

I just finished an EU funded CompSci Masters degree in Wales, the poorest country in the UK and it's devastatingly sad to think that once the EU research funding stops, those opportunities will be gone forever for future students coming through the department. There aren't enough large tech companies in the area for there to be any sponsored degrees available, which probably means that when the funding finishes, the…

The UK is a net payer to the EU. For instance in 2015 alone, UK's net payment to the EU was about 8.5 billion pounds.

So after the Brexit there will be more than enough money to continue the research funding. But as you mention already, it is another question if the government will be wanting to pay it. But is this really such a bad thing? The difference will that instead of the EU, the UK itself will decide which of its research projects it wants to fund.

Re: UK scientists dropped from EU projects because of post-Brexit funding fears

#87

Post by Blahah »

jcranmer wrote: post #74
philk10 wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

and that £350m a week that is supposedly sent to the EU is more like £140m

IIRC, £350m/wk is the gross amount, £140m/wk is the net.

Yup, and only naively accounts for the cash flow. It doesn't consider any of the downstream benefits of the single market, free movement, or coherent continental legislation which together will completely swamp the measly £140m/week net cash contribution we make.

Re: UK scientists dropped from EU projects because of post-Brexit funding fears

#88

Post by endeavour »

mpweiher wrote: post #71
endeavour wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

EU money doesn't come out of thin air. It comes from taxpayers. The UK is a net contributor to the EU so the UK government could choose to fund all current commitments and still be better off.

Except for...revenues are not going to stay the same. For example, George Osborne has just proposed to slash the corp. tax rate from 20% to 15%, in order reduce (not eliminate) the almost certain reduction in UK investment. Last year, CT net receipts were £ 42 billion[1]. At the current 20% rate. At 15%, that would be £ 31.5 billion, for a reduction of £ 10.5 billion. Let's divide that by 52 weeks and you get £ 200 m…

It isn't that simple. There isn't a linear relationship between the tax % and the revenue to the treasury. Lower taxes encourage more companies to set up in the UK.

We saw this recently in the UK when the top rate of income tax was raised to 50% and the income to the treasury actually fell.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laffer_curve

Re: UK scientists dropped from EU projects because of post-Brexit funding fears

#89

Post by ck425 »

sievebrain wrote: post #56
codecurve wrote: post #25

I just finished an EU funded CompSci Masters degree in Wales, the poorest country in the UK and it's devastatingly sad to think that once the EU research funding stops, those opportunities will be gone forever for future students coming through the department. There aren't enough large tech companies in the area for there to be any sponsored degrees available, which probably means that when the funding finishes, the…

You're talking about a government that recently made computer programming class a mandatory part of the high school curriculum. Your leap from "UK exits the EU" to "there will no longer be funding for computer science research" is based purely on your own emotions, not rational analysis. Like so much else I hear from pro-EU people these days.

You can't deny there will be less funding, given the amount of funding we receive from the EU. Though hopefully the new PM will prioritise investment in research and hopefully given the strong technology sector in the UK CompSci will get a reasonable share of it. But that's still to be seen and given May's attitude toward technology experts and level of knowledge during the discussions around the Snoopers Charter I'm sceptical of her understanding and appreciation of the importance of the technology sector.

Re: UK scientists dropped from EU projects because of post-Brexit funding fears

#90

Post by cylinder »

iaskwhy wrote: post #45
ckinnan wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The EU's retarding democracy and human progress; European growth is non-existent, the Euro is failing, and fiscal and banking mismanagement in Greece/Italy/Spain/Portugual are destroying German and British wealth. Britain has almost all of the world-class research universities in the European Union and they will thrive outside the EU. Edit with sources: EU real per capita GDP is flat after 10 years: http://ec.europa.…

Many things could be said about it but today is a particular bad day to talk about the "EU's retarding democracy" as we, the UK, just got a new prime minister no one voted for...

Since when do you elect Prime Ministers? You voted the conservatives into majority power and they're free to select their leader.
Post reply on HN