UK continues to participate in Horizon Europe
Peter Tindemans talks about what the agreement of Christmas’ eve between the EU and the UK implies for research and innovation cooperation. Read more [...]
Tag Archives: United Kingdom
EU trachea transplant clinical trial TETRA “uncertain to take place”
The scandal of regenerative medicine surgeon Paolo Macchiarini and his deadly plastic tracheas made world news. Yet this human abuse, which started at the Karolinska Institutet in Sweden, was just a part of a much bigger horror story. The suffering and deaths of other trachea transplant patients of Macchiarini and his collaborators, those who received a decellurised cadaveric trachea, is much less known. I focused my reporting on it, bringing back to memory all those dead patients which the hospitals in London, Florence and Barcelona pretend never existed. Presently, 62 patients were scheduled to be treated with decellurised cadaveric trachea in two phase 1 clinical trials in UK and one EU-funded phase 2 clinical trial, all led by former Macchiarini partner, UCL laryngologist Martin Birchall. But now, all 3 clinical trials are not going anywhere. Read more [...]
Quality check on the newer UK universities
The UK University league tables do not use scientific contribution as a core value of university competition at national level. To assess the relative performance of the newer UK universities created after 1992, following a government reform graduating technical colleagues to the status of universities, can be done by looking at their scientific output. In this article, Solomon Habtemariam, principal lecturer and leader of Pharmacognosy Research laboratories at the University of Greenwich, UK, assesses the scientific publication output, 25 years after the creation of these newer universities. This makes for a sobering reading to any other European countries who have brought newer universities on stream. Read more [...]
Heightened multi-lateral collaboration fever as Brexit mitigating strategy
Too much is at stakes in European science for people managing research—particularly in the UK—to leave it up to politicians to determine their future. Brexit or no Brexit, there are signs that further integration of the UK scientific activities into the European research fabric is underway. Indeed, universities across the UK are establishing new partnership deals in education and research with European and Commonwealth universities. Whether this move will allow UK research institutions to remain attractive to European collaborators remains to be seen. Read more [...]
Post-Brexit plans on funding and mobility
On 8th May 2017, one of the arm of the British scientific establishment, the Royal Institution, has opened its famous lecture theatre to a debate about Brexit. Brexit is not about extricating the UK from the European scientific endeavour. And Brexit does not bring to an end many important aspects of the integrated European scientific projects. Today, it is not obvious, however, which strategies the UK--and the other EU 27 countries--could adopt to sustain as much as possible international collaborations and mobility. In this opinion piece, representatives of EuroScience argue that scientists need to raise their voices to guarantee their future and the future of our societies. Should all negotiation fail and the UK ends up with weakened relations with the EU 27, the authors argue, it remains to be seen whether the UK plan to strengthen relations and collaborations with the US, the Commonwealth and East-Asia will be an adequate substitute. Read more [...]
What will happen of UK research post-Brexit?
Given the size of its economy, the participation of the UK as FP Associated Country would be expensive. These are the kind of issues on which a debate entitled 'Brexit: the scientific impact' are due to focus on, on 8th May at the Royal Institution, London, UK. Read more [...]
Science to take to the streets of London
On 22nd April, the March for Science London will recognise scientific progress, raise awareness of scientific discovery, and defend scientific integrity. Read more [...]
Nightmare on Academia Street: an English horror story coming to a campus near you
Any politician that dangles the carrot of a graduate premium on future earnings to justify increases in student fees, interest rates on loans, or adjusting student loan repayment thresholds, should be challenged for gross mis-selling. These are the findings of a recent report by the UK Intergenerational Foundation. In this opinion piece, the author of the report warns of the possible financial implications of postgraduate student loans for the future financial health of students and their career prospects. This phenomenon, particularly acute in the UK, could soon reach other countries in Europe, should they be tempted to follow suit. Read more [...]
UK scientists’ loss of influence to be felt at home and across Europe
Brexit keeps resounding in the many aspects that its implications may have for European research. In this opinion piece, Thomas König, Austrian social scientist, who was previously scientific advisor to former ERC president Helga Nowotny, examines the consequences of the predicted fall of influence of British scientists on the future of European science. He believes the consequences of Brexit are likely to be felt, not only in UK science itself, but also at the level of pan-European research endeavours, such as ERC-backed activities. This shows that scientists are not sheltered from the vagaries of politics when policies emanating from the popular vote forces them to defend their interests. Read more [...]
What does Brexit mean for chemical regulation?
Amidst the flurry of questions about the future of science after Brexit, another yet unanswered question also arises: What happens to how the UK regulates potentially hazardous chemicals that currently fall under EU legislation? Read more [...]
The Landscape for Science post Brexit
About a month after the British Referendum, the UK Parliament held a Parliament Links Day to communicate political plans to support UK science post-Brexit. Read more [...]
UK Scientists against Brexit
Scientists for EU will campaign for continued EU membership and will communicate the current and future benefits of the EU to the UK via its impact on our science capacity. Read more [...]
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