Royal Society: Brexit ‘could cripple UK for a generation’

Venki Ramakrishnan admits he may not have taken role if he had known about Brexit

The president of the Royal Society has admitted he may not have taken up the role had he known about the “political and social turmoil that would prevail in the country” since the Brexit referendum.

Venki Ramakrishnan, the Nobel Prize-winning biologist who became president of the Royal Society in December 2015, said he was “focused entirely” on his own research when he was first approached to lead the learned society.