As part of a deal reached between the UK and the European Union, researchers in the UK will be able to receive EU research funding, according to ScienceInsider.
Days before the deadline, the UK and EU have negotiated a trade deal in the wake of the UK's departure from the EU after months of back-and-forth, BBC News reports. Scientists had particularly been worried about how leaving the EU might affect UK research funding — especially if there were to be a no-deal Brexit — and whether UK scientists could participate in the upcoming Horizon Europe funding program. UK researchers were among the top recipients of funding from Horizon Europe's predecessor, Horizon 2020, as Nature News reported last week.
Within the deal's 1,246 pages, ScienceInsider reports there is a provision that allows the UK to participate in Horizon Europe if it contributes to the EU budget. It notes that non-EU countries can pay association fees to become eligible to apply for EU research funding, as Switzerland and Israel have. There had been concerns, it adds, that the fees might be too steep for the UK to accept.