Alliances and funding on wish list if UK and Swiss EU ties severed

But backup to Horizon Europe association “a second-best solution”, university head laments

Universities in the UK, Switzerland and EU will try to continue collaborating if the countries are unable to associate to the bloc’s R&D programme, leaders of research-intensive university associations have said.

“Whatever happens, we’ll still want to collaborate with our friends in Europe and around the world,” Tim Bradshaw, chief executive of the Russell Group of UK universities, said at an event to mark the 20th anniversary of the League of European Research Universities (Leru) on 20 May.