FAQs on the UK's participation in Horizon Europe

On 19 December 2022, the UK Government announced that the Horizon Europe guarantee will cover all eligible grants with a deadline on or up to 31 March 2023. The Government also reconfirmed its position of continuing seeking association and reiterated that successful awardees do not need to leave the UK to receive this funding, which will provide reassurance for future collaborations, and support UK researchers whether association is confirmed, or otherwise. You can find out more by accessing UUK’s response to the announcement here.

On 21 November 2022, the UK Government announced that it will invest £484 million in research funding to support the UK R&D sector while the UK awaits association to EU Framework Programmes. In the announcement, the Business Secretary reaffirmed the Government’s position that the UK continues to seek full association to Horizon Europe. This package is an additional investment into the UK R&D ecosystem which makes use of the unspent allocation for association following nearly two years’ delay.

UUK welcomed the announcement and was pleased to see that the Government is redirecting funds to schemes that will retain and attract global talent and protect budgets that have been affected by the ongoing uncertainty.

This funding aims to supplement the Horizon Europe guarantee scheme. More information is available on the UKRI website.

The delay in completing the UK’s association to Horizon Europe is causing uncertainty within the UK research community. The UK Government’s Horizon Europe guarantee ensures that those who have successfully bid for funding through Horizon Europe calls with a closing date before 31 March 2023 will receive their funding from UK Research and Innovation (UKRI). More information on how to apply for the guarantee is available on the UKRI website.

• Yes. UUKi echoes the UK Government’s encouragement of UK-based researchers and innovators to continue to apply for Horizon Europe calls. The guarantee will cover successful applications and in-flight applications will be assessed domestically if the UK does not associate and if the assessment is not completed by the EU. Similarly, European partners should continue to work with UK participants as usual on collaborative project bids. UK-based entities are still eligible to apply as project coordinators while the UK is expected to become an associated country.
• UK-based researchers are eligible to apply for European Research Council (ERC) grants, Marie Skłodowska Curie Actions (MSCA) Postdoctoral Fellowships, and European Innovation Council calls. If the UK’s association is not confirmed in time for them to sign a Horizon Europe grant agreement, the UK Government’s Horizon Europe guarantee will cover successful UK-based researchers and innovators to stay in (or move to) the UK to carry out their work as planned, providing that the call closes before a decision not to associate is taken. If the call closes after this point and the EU does not complete the assessment of UK-based applications, the UK Government has promised to finish the assessment process and provide funding for successful bids domestically.

• Anyone in receipt of the guarantee will continue to benefit from it for the lifetime of their grant. If the UK is not able to associate to Horizon Europe, the UK Government has committed to extend the existing guarantee to cover all successful applications that have been submitted to a call with an EU final call deadline date before the point of non-association and that meet the eligibility criteria. The guarantee has already been extended to cover applications for grants awarded through calls with a closing date before 31 March 2023.
• The UK Government has also confirmed that it will support UK entities with eligible in-flight applications to Horizon Europe by assessing those applications domestically and providing funding for the successful ones. Further information is available in the UK Government's publication.

In the event of non-association, UK-based entities can continue to participate in Horizon Europe calls that are open to Third Country Participation. In practice, UK researchers can apply as third country participants as part of consortia with at least three other applicants from EU member states or associated countries, provided they bring their own funding. The UK government has confirmed that it will fund all eligible UK entities participating in such consortia signing grant agreements on or before 31 March 2025. In this scenario UK researchers would not be eligible to coordinate projects.

The UK Government’s 2021 Spending Review stated that the funding allocated to Horizon Europe association will be invested in the UK R&D sector in a non-association scenario. The Government has announced a package of short-term measures to protect the sector, including:

• Additional funding for existing talent schemes via the National academies and UKRI with the aim of creating additional opportunities for researchers at all career stages and disciplines.
• A new Talent and Research Stabilisation Fund to provide funding directly to institutions to strengthen their local talent retention plans and invest in their local research strategies.
• Funding for innovation by upscaling existing Innovate UK schemes and boosting UK participation in the global Eureka network.

If non-association is confirmed, the UK Government has set out preliminary plans to launch a domestic R&D programme that will provide UK-based entities with funds to support global bottom-up collaborations with counterparts in partner countries and as part of multilateral and bilateral collaborations. Alongside this programme, UK-based researchers will be able to apply for funding as third country participants in Horizon Europe calls, as explained above. See more about these plans and our response on our website.  

The UK Government has confirmed that in the case of non-association it will provide alternative measures for other EU programmes, such as Copernicus and Euratom Research and Training Programme. Further information is available in the UK Government's publication.

While completing the UK’s association to Horizon Europe is still the priority, the UK Government has confirmed it is working actively on long-term alternatives to Horizon Europe, Copernicus and Euratom Research and Training Programme. These long-term alternatives will include a competitive offer to attract and retain top research talent from around the globe at all career stages, as well as bolstering its innovation funding offer. Detailed proposals will be published in due course.