- Email: [email protected]
Science's deal or no deal
LEADER
Editorial Editor Emily Wilson Managing editor Rowan Hooper Art editor Craig Mackie Editor at large Jeremy Webb
News Chief news editor Niall Firth Editors Penny Sarchet, Jacob Aron, Timothy Revell, Jon White REUTERS/WOLFGANG RATTAY
Reporters (UK) Andy Coghlan, Alison George, Jessica Hamzelou, Michael Le Page, Clare Wilson, Sam Wong (US) Leah Crane, Chelsea Whyte (Aus) Alice Klein
Features Chief features editor Richard Webb Editors Catherine de Lange, Gilead Amit, Catherine Brahic, Julia Brown, Daniel Cossins, Kate Douglas, Joshua Howgego, Tiffany O’Callaghan, Sean O’Neill Feature writer Graham Lawton
Culture and Community Editors Liz Else, Mike Holderness, Simon Ings, Frank Swain
Subeditors
Science’s deal or no deal The latest Brexit crisis puts research back in peril
Chief subeditor Eleanor Parsons Tom Campbell, Hannah Joshua, Chris Simms
Design Kathryn Brazier, Joe Hetzel, Dave Johnston, Ryan Wills
Picture desk Chief picture editor Adam Goff Kirstin Kidd, David Stock
Production Mick O’Hare, Melanie Green , Alan Blagrove, Anne Marie Conlon
Contact us newscientist.com/contact General & media enquiries Tel +44 (0)20 7611 1202 [email protected] UK 25 Bedford Street, London, WC2E 9ES Tel +44 (0)20 7611 1200 AUSTRALIA Level 10, Suite 13, 418A Elizabeth Street, Surrey Hills, NSW 2010 US 210 Broadway #201 Cambridge, MA 02139 Tel +1 617 283 3213
© 2018 New Scientist Ltd, England New Scientist is published weekly by New Scientist Ltd. ISSN 0262 4079. New Scientist (Online) ISSN 2059 5387 Registered at the Post Office as a newspaper and printed in England by William Gibbons (Wolverhampton)
IT TOOK two years to put together, innovation pact with the EU. That and two days to fall apart. The includes becoming an associate Chequers deal on the UK’s vision member of Horizon Europe, the for Brexit was presented as a next phase of the EU’s flagship “collective agreement”, however research programme, which will it proved to be the touchpaper for run from 2021 to 2027 and dole another blistering Tory civil war. out €100 billion of funding. It may yet live to see another The UK government is also day, but for now the UK faces its doing the right thing about one biggest challenge since the second of the most contentious issues world war without a plan. at the confluence of STEM and This week’s crisis is a darkestBrexit: the movement of people. hour moment. The UK will leave More than a third of academic the European Union on 29 March staff at top UK universities are not 2019, but a deal with the EU seems originally from the UK and the as far away as ever. The next round private sector is also dependent of talks is supposed to produce “Science has turned out to one. As things stood when New be one area where the UK Scientist went to press, the UK and European Union have may simply crash out. found common cause” It goes without saying that the details of the deal (or no deal) will have profound impacts on every on foreign talent. Without facet of life. That includes science, immigration from outside the which may seem a secondary EU, the UK would be desperately concern, but it has turned out to short of STEM-trained workers be one area where the UK and EU including engineers, data have found common cause. scientists, cybersecurity experts, Compared with the overall programmers and teachers in negotiations, progress on science maths, chemistry and physics. has been positive. The UK and EU At present, only 1725 such both recognise that collaboration skilled workers are allowed to is a win-win scenario. In May, the migrate to the UK from outside UK government published a plan the EU each month. Once the for a far-reaching science and monthly quota is filled, even
people who have been offered a job cannot take it up. According to figures obtained by the Campaign for Science and Engineering, between December 2017 and March this year, 3500 engineers, technologists, medics and science teachers were denied entry to the UK because the monthly cap had been reached. Immigration remains an incendiary issue but, again, the UK government has recognised that science and tech deserve special treatment. The arbitrary quota system is being loosened and MPs are developing proposals for a post-Brexit migration system that “works for science”. Making the right noises is one thing. Making the right decisions is another. What would no deal mean for science? Like many things Brexit-related, nobody knows. The mantra is that “nothing is decided until everything is decided” – and that includes deals over science. Asked about the fears of business leaders about Brexit, Leave-campaigner Boris Johnson derisively dismissed their concerns. It will be a tragedy if science gets the same cavalier dismissal in the name of politics. ■ 14 July 2018 | NewScientist | 5
Editorial Editor Emily Wilson Managing editor Rowan Hooper Art editor Craig Mackie Editor at large Jeremy Webb
News Chief news editor Niall Firth Editors Penny Sarchet, Jacob Aron, Timothy Revell, Jon White REUTERS/WOLFGANG RATTAY
Reporters (UK) Andy Coghlan, Alison George, Jessica Hamzelou, Michael Le Page, Clare Wilson, Sam Wong (US) Leah Crane, Chelsea Whyte (Aus) Alice Klein
Features Chief features editor Richard Webb Editors Catherine de Lange, Gilead Amit, Catherine Brahic, Julia Brown, Daniel Cossins, Kate Douglas, Joshua Howgego, Tiffany O’Callaghan, Sean O’Neill Feature writer Graham Lawton
Culture and Community Editors Liz Else, Mike Holderness, Simon Ings, Frank Swain
Subeditors
Science’s deal or no deal The latest Brexit crisis puts research back in peril
Chief subeditor Eleanor Parsons Tom Campbell, Hannah Joshua, Chris Simms
Design Kathryn Brazier, Joe Hetzel, Dave Johnston, Ryan Wills
Picture desk Chief picture editor Adam Goff Kirstin Kidd, David Stock
Production Mick O’Hare, Melanie Green , Alan Blagrove, Anne Marie Conlon
Contact us newscientist.com/contact General & media enquiries Tel +44 (0)20 7611 1202 [email protected] UK 25 Bedford Street, London, WC2E 9ES Tel +44 (0)20 7611 1200 AUSTRALIA Level 10, Suite 13, 418A Elizabeth Street, Surrey Hills, NSW 2010 US 210 Broadway #201 Cambridge, MA 02139 Tel +1 617 283 3213
© 2018 New Scientist Ltd, England New Scientist is published weekly by New Scientist Ltd. ISSN 0262 4079. New Scientist (Online) ISSN 2059 5387 Registered at the Post Office as a newspaper and printed in England by William Gibbons (Wolverhampton)
IT TOOK two years to put together, innovation pact with the EU. That and two days to fall apart. The includes becoming an associate Chequers deal on the UK’s vision member of Horizon Europe, the for Brexit was presented as a next phase of the EU’s flagship “collective agreement”, however research programme, which will it proved to be the touchpaper for run from 2021 to 2027 and dole another blistering Tory civil war. out €100 billion of funding. It may yet live to see another The UK government is also day, but for now the UK faces its doing the right thing about one biggest challenge since the second of the most contentious issues world war without a plan. at the confluence of STEM and This week’s crisis is a darkestBrexit: the movement of people. hour moment. The UK will leave More than a third of academic the European Union on 29 March staff at top UK universities are not 2019, but a deal with the EU seems originally from the UK and the as far away as ever. The next round private sector is also dependent of talks is supposed to produce “Science has turned out to one. As things stood when New be one area where the UK Scientist went to press, the UK and European Union have may simply crash out. found common cause” It goes without saying that the details of the deal (or no deal) will have profound impacts on every on foreign talent. Without facet of life. That includes science, immigration from outside the which may seem a secondary EU, the UK would be desperately concern, but it has turned out to short of STEM-trained workers be one area where the UK and EU including engineers, data have found common cause. scientists, cybersecurity experts, Compared with the overall programmers and teachers in negotiations, progress on science maths, chemistry and physics. has been positive. The UK and EU At present, only 1725 such both recognise that collaboration skilled workers are allowed to is a win-win scenario. In May, the migrate to the UK from outside UK government published a plan the EU each month. Once the for a far-reaching science and monthly quota is filled, even
people who have been offered a job cannot take it up. According to figures obtained by the Campaign for Science and Engineering, between December 2017 and March this year, 3500 engineers, technologists, medics and science teachers were denied entry to the UK because the monthly cap had been reached. Immigration remains an incendiary issue but, again, the UK government has recognised that science and tech deserve special treatment. The arbitrary quota system is being loosened and MPs are developing proposals for a post-Brexit migration system that “works for science”. Making the right noises is one thing. Making the right decisions is another. What would no deal mean for science? Like many things Brexit-related, nobody knows. The mantra is that “nothing is decided until everything is decided” – and that includes deals over science. Asked about the fears of business leaders about Brexit, Leave-campaigner Boris Johnson derisively dismissed their concerns. It will be a tragedy if science gets the same cavalier dismissal in the name of politics. ■ 14 July 2018 | NewScientist | 5