The president of the PARSUK association, Diogo Martins, considered that the ‘Brexit’ made the United Kingdom less attractive for scientists and researchers, although it continues to offer “extraordinary” conditions.
“If I were a Portuguese researcher or a researcher from outside the UK and I knew from the news what has been happening, not only in the area of research, but also in the area of European citizens’ rights, I probably wouldn’t put the UK United first”, the director of the Association of Portuguese Researchers and Students in the United Kingdom admitted to the Lusa agency.
This trained doctor reacted to the news of the United Kingdom’s difficulty in attracting top-level researchers to the country after leaving the European Union (EU) and the end of freedom of movement.
In November, New Scientist magazine revealed that a special visa program for Nobel Prize winners and other science, engineering, humanities and medicine winners failed to attract any applicants.
Unlike the normal immigration system for scientists, the Global Talent Visa does not have requirements such as having obtained a UK funding grant or a job offer from a UK organisation.
PARSUK is currently conducting a study on the benefits of mobility of European scientists to the UK, the results of which are not yet complete.
However, Diogo Martins was co-author in April, along with other scientific associations, of an article in the journal Nature in which he expressed his concern about the impact of ‘Brexit’ on research.
The impasse in negotiations for the UK’s access to the EU’s Horizon Europe research funding program is delaying projects and prompting scientists to consider exchanging the UK for another European country.
“I am not surprised that the British government has taken this approach of wanting to attract a highly skilled diaspora. What doesn’t surprise me is the result, ”said the Portuguese, who works for the Wellcome Trust, while she is doing a doctorate at the London School of Hygiene and Medicine.
According to Martins, “the academic community is a mobile and intelligent community”, which will have realized that the cost-benefit ratio of moving to the UK “is not so obvious”.
For a person to prove that he is a superior investigator, he has to prove it very thoroughly. I imagine it’s a bit heavy. If you are a top researcher and you have a very quick offer to go to Germany or the US, you are not going to complicate your life unless you pay very, very well. Here they pay well, but it is not comparable with places like Switzerland, the United States or Australia”.
Even so, he stressed, the United Kingdom, where he moved six years ago, “remains a top destination and a favorite place to work”, where scientific institutions have tried to adapt to the new political context.
There is an extraordinary work culture, there is an extraordinary diversity of acceptance of international cultures and extraordinary professional opportunities. It is a reference site, and I would not stop recommending people to come. But it is more difficult than six years ago.”
PARSUK will hold its 15th annual meeting in London on June 4, this time dedicated to the social value of science, which will be attended by the Minister for Science, Technology and Higher Education, Elvira Fortunato.
Source: Observadora
