The UK government is now going to provide the £250 million (US $345 million) in funding needed for the country to remain associated with the Horizon Europe program, the Guardian reports.
It notes that as part of the UK's trade deal with Europe, the UK retained the ability to take part in the Horizon Europe research and innovation program, but British university leaders had been concerned that they would be asked to shoulder the cost. That, they said according to the Guardian, would lead to the loss of thousands of academic jobs. Previously, the cost of participating in European Union's funding programs was covered by the UK's EU membership fees.
But in a statement issued yesterday, the UK's Department for Business, Energy, and Industrial Strategy said that it would provide an extra £250 million in funding for science and research this year to go toward Horizon Europe. "This investment reinforces the government's commitment to putting research and development at the heart of plans to build back better from the pandemic," the BEIS statement says.
"Providing additional funding for Horizon Europe to protect core R&D budgets is a good move by government and underlines its determination to establish Britain as a global science superpower," Tim Bradshaw, CEO of the Russell Group of universities, in a statement.