Send us a link
Success rates for researchers applying for Horizon Europe grants stand at 15.8% according to preliminary data, an improvement on the 'unacceptably low' level of 12% in the previous EU research programme, Horizon 2020.
The European Commission has rejected calls from research leaders on both sides of the English Channel for it to put politics aside and allow Switzerland and the UK to join the EU’s Horizon Europe research and innovation programme.
Uncertainty in British politics is a headache for UK researchers
Horizon Europe is a new type of beast. While building on previous EU research programmes, it is doubling down on making an impact on major societal and technological challenges facing the bloc. Research stakeholders fear this shift will take money away from laboratory bench research and are calling on the European Commission to ensure it is clear which parts of the Horizon Europe pot impact-driven funding is coming from.
With the United Kingdom ever more likely to leave the European Union's science-funding programmes, an alternative has been proposed.
After four years at the helm of the European Commission's research directorate-general, Jean-Eric Paquet is now getting ready to become EU ambassador to Japan on 1 September. Paquet has been steering the directorate-general since three months before the Commission published its proposal for the Horizon Europe programme.
Academics forced to choose between staying in the UK and leaving for the EU say they were not given enough warning before having to make a crucial decision determining whether they keep life changing grants. Around 150 UK-based winners of European Research Council (ERC) grants have been put in a near impossible position because a wider rift between Brussels and London has stopped the UK from associating to Horizon Europe, the programme behind the ERC.
Move follows dispute over Northern Ireland protocol, as one academic says UK is going down a 'dark path'
As Brexit dispute deepens, grant winners are forced to reject money or move to Europe.
EU efforts to reduce the east-west gap in research and innovation should be backed by investment and reforms in member states, the EU auditor says in a report reviewing funding schemes set up by the European Commission to help bridge the divide.
Researchers are already moving to countries where it is easier to operate and collaborate.
The European Research Council (ERC) is set to introduce lump sum funding to its Advanced grants for experienced researchers starting in 2024.
Some British researchers who had secured Horizon Europe funding have already been told that their grants will be cancelled.
At least half a dozen UK-based researchers have already lost coordination roles in Horizon Europe consortia because of the failure of Brussels and London to agree UK association to the programme, with the true tally losing out on leadership positions likely much higher.
The UK is working on a "bigger, better" rival to the European Research Council as part of an alternative to the Horizon Europe, in response to growing fears that the country will not associate to the framework programme.
Vice-chancellors ask both sides to work together to save the UK's role in a multi-billion-pound scheme.
Newly calculated figures illustrate the sharp decline in contributions from EU programmes to Swiss institutions between 2014 and 2017. They also attest to the relevance of Switzerland and the UK in terms of scientific excellence.
The invasion of Ukraine has helped open the door for Japan, Canada, South Korea and New Zealand to join Horizon Europe, according to Brussels lead negotiator Signe Ratso, as the EU tries to bolster research ties with likeminded democracies. Last year, it appeared that the Commission's efforts to convince these science powers to associate had stalled.
A year since the launch of Horizon Europe, the European Commission says its research partnerships with industry and member states are showing first signs of contributing to EU's green, digital and health policy goals.
The European Commission officially launched a €25 million direct aid package of Marie Skłodowska-Curie grants for researchers from Ukraine, as it announced a €562 million increase for the Horizon Europe budget in 2022.
Switzerland is currently considered a non-associated third country in Horizon Europe, the EU Framework Programme for Research and Innovation. On 4 May 2022, the Federal Council adopted extensive measures to bridge the gap arising from this situation.
In the second year of the Horizon Europe programme, the United Kingdom and Switzerland are not formally associated with the largest research and innovation funding programme in the world.
A new batch of unapproved drafts of Horizon Europe work programmes obtained by Science|Business reveals details about upcoming funding calls for climate research, improving research excellence in poorer EU countries and strengthening research infrastructures.
The UK has extended its funding guarantee for Horizon Europe applicants until the end of the year, providing a measure of security for researchers caught in limbo by the country's failure to associate to the programme.
Projects in jeopardy as EU revokes millions in grant offers after failure of trade talks
Scientific collaboration has become a casualty of Switzerland's and the United Kingdom's tussles with the European Union.
The UK has launched a research and development competition with South Korea, the latest in a string of recently announced collaborations with countries outside the EU. It comes as Brussels announces that it has entered official Horizon Europe association talks with South Korea and New Zealand.
Excluding colleagues from Horizon Europe over political disputes is ‘sadomasochistic’
As the first year of Horizon Europe draws to a close, Science|Business gathered feedback from an online survey and meetings with its member organisations resulting in recommendations on how to make the next six years of Horizon Europe even better.
There was a collective sigh of relief when it was announced that the UK would commit to Association for Horizon Europe. We knew the details had to be worked out
