Report summary

Building a strong future for European science: Brexit and beyond

Published: 1 February 2018
Last updated: 4 December 2019

Brexit presents the UK and EU with choices about their future relationship on research and innovation. This report sets out Wellcome’s recommendations on a new EU-UK research partnership and how it could be delivered. It is based on the views of European and UK experts.

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What’s inside

what we’ve learned from the views of the 200 UK and European scientists and policy makers who contributed to the Future Partnership Project

Who this is for

UK and EU policy makers
research organisations and researchers
anyone interested in how greater scientific collaboration could be achieved after Brexit

Key findings

The EU and UK should maintain their important partnership on research and innovation after Brexit.
Cooperation through the EU Framework Programmes is the best way to maintain this partnership, but cooperation is also needed on regulation, research policy and the movement of people.
To achieve this, the report recommends that the following key issues for research and innovation are included in EU-UK trade deal, or in a stand-alone research agreement:
- securing UK Associated Country status in the Ninth EU Framework Programme for Research and Innovation (FP9)
- cooperation on pre-competitive research regulation, including maintaining the free flow of personal data for research and participation in the EU’s clinical trials system
- promoting dialogue on areas of research policy where the EU and UK can provide global leadership, for example on open research
- supporting full researcher mobility between the European Economic Area (EEA) and UK – expanding the current UK visa system for non-EEA nationals is not good enough.
European countries should work together to secure the region’s position as a world leader in science by strengthening the European Research Area (ERA).

European science is a huge success story. A badly handled Brexit risks damaging British – and European – science. But with the right agreement, it’s possible we could maintain and even improve scientific collaboration with our European neighbours.
Eliza Manningham-Buller, Chair of Wellcome