The UK will participate in the Horizon Europe programme as an associated country, subject to a final agreement once the relevant EU legal texts have been finalised.
What does this mean?
UK-based researchers will be able to participate in all parts of Horizon Europe. In practice, this means that all UK-based researchers will be able to apply for and receive EU funding from these programmes in the same way as they could when the UK was still a member state.
UK researchers can still lead projects and UK officials and experts can still attend programme committees and working groups, albeit as observers rather than full participants. The practical impact of the latter is expected to be minimal as these groups tend to operate on a consensus basis and very rarely take formal votes. UK recipients will be subject to the same auditing and anti-fraud checks as they were as a member state.
Issues that need clarifying
It is not yet clear where the money for Horizon Europe participation will come from and how this affect the wider research budget.
We are seeking clarification from BEIS on what this means for plans to establish a standalone UK Discovery Fund.
UUKi will be working closely with the UK government, the Science and Innovation Network, and EU partners over the coming weeks and months to promote this agreement at home and across Europe to boost UK participation in Horizon Europe.
Detailed briefing on Horizon Europe
For more detailed information, we have provided a full briefing on the changes to Horizon Europe.
