UK would try to replicate ERC after hard Brexit, Gyimah says

The UK government will look at ways of replacing funding for excellence-based research from the European Research Council if it fails to negotiate associate membership of Horizon Europe, the science minister has said.

Sam Gyimah faced questions about the UK’s ability to become an associate member of the EU’s next Framework programme for research and innovation at a parliamentary hearing on the future of quantum technologies, held by the House of Commons Science and Technology Committee on 12 September.

“We have indicated that we want to associate. The areas [at risk] if we were not to associate are areas of research where we do quite well from Horizon 2020, for example the ERC,” Gyimah said. “We would want to be able to continue that kind of research activity which is based on excellence. We would have to look at how we can replicate some of those research schemes.”