The UK needs a broad effort to expand researchers’ horizons

Academics and students should look beyond the usual suspects when choosing where to work, says Claire McNulty.

Over the past five years, the UK has come a long way on international science collaboration. Government initiatives such as the Newton Fund have been transformational, enabling researchers and funding bodies to build long-term partnerships with emerging scientific powerhouses such as China and India and less traditional partners such as Colombia and Thailand.

The Rutherford Fund, launched in July to attract researchers from around the world to the UK, is also a good development. I wonder, however, if any female scientists were considered when the fund was named—couldn’t it have been the Caroline Herschel Fund, for example, in tribute to an internationally mobile astronomer and the first woman to get a salary for a scientific position?