Horizon Europe: one year on

On 1 January 2025, the UK and EU science and research sector celebrated the one-year anniversary of the UK’s association to the EU’s Horizon Europe and Copernicus programmes. Horizon Europe is the world’s largest research collaboration programme, bringing together countries from across the EU, Europe and beyond to solve some of the world’s most difficult and pressing issues.

As a Horizon member, the UK can now lead research projects, attract and retain world-class talent through the European Research Council and Marie-Skłodowska Curie Actions, and engage in cutting-edge collaborative research and innovation, solving global challenges that would not be possible without collaboration at scale.  

Associating to Horizon Europe was a key ask of Universities UK International. We engaged collaboratively with the UK and European stakeholders, and ran a powerful Stick2Science campaign emphasising the association benefits to science and society. 

Over the past twelve months the UK university sector has embraced this opportunity by driving up participation in, and increasing the UK’s leadership in, Horizon Europe proposals. Early, though non-official, data suggest a strong increase in applications to the European Research Council and Marie-Skłodowska Curie Actions. These two strands of Horizon Europe Pillar 1 are critical to the UK maintaining competitiveness in excellent research and in retaining and attracting talent. Research development teams have also reported increased participation rates in collaborative projects and even increased leadership of consortia in Pillar 2. We’ve also seen how access to Copernicus enables the UK to benefit from critical monitoring data and have a leading voice in climate change research. 

While we are optimistic, we’re also aware of the challenges of returning to the pre-Brexit level successes. The UK university sector has benefited from tremendous support by the European community but, following the delay to our association, relationships have suffered and connections have inevitably been lost. We also have a new generation of researchers and EU research development managers who are in the process of learning how to establish Horizon Europe collaborations, find funding opportunities, and manage application processes.  

At Universities UK International, we continue to play a critical role in boosting UK participation levels in Horizon Europe. Assisted by funding from the Wellcome Trust, and supported by the British Council and Science and Innovation Network teams, we are leading Horizon Europe delegations to six EU member states and associated countries (France, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Ireland and Germany). We hope that this is just a start. These delegations provide a platform for UK university leaders and their in-country counterparts to engage in meaningful conversations, and discuss the opportunities and challenges of increasing bilateral research collaboration, as well as network with the wider European research community. We have re-launched our relationship with the European Commission through regular trips to Brussels, re-establishing connections with key stakeholders. We’ve continued to work collaboratively with the Delegation of the European Union to the United Kingdom team. We have also been awarded funding to support bilateral UK-France collaborations in Horizon Europe. 

Horizon Europe is too important for any UK stakeholder to act alone. Key UK research and innovation funders (UK Research and Innovation/UKRI and the Academies) are also on the same ‘boosting UK participation in Horizon Europe’ journey. UKRI have awarded over £1bn through the Horizon Europe Guarantee scheme, while the Academies have been running multiple Horizon Europe pump-priming schemes. They also act as a powerful voice in Brussels and with the key European Commission officials.  

The Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) has been integral in coordinating and driving the UK’s efforts to ‘boost participation’ in Horizon Europe. They have delivered three of four ‘Horizon Europe Roadshows’ across the UK’s devolved nations (England, Northern Ireland and Scotland) bringing together researchers and businesses—both newcomers and experienced participants in Horizon Europe. With sessions led by the UK’s Horizon Europe National Contact Points and inspiring case studies, these events have showcased the programme’s potential. The UK’s Mission to the EU has also played an integral role in ensuring the UK’s presence in Brussels is engaged and effective.

So, one year on, we remain positive and collaborative efforts across the sector continue. While there may still be some bumps in the road, we are optimistic for the future. We are grateful to our many collaborators in the UK and in Europe for supporting us on this journey. We also welcome the recent announcement on the intention of Swiss association to Horizon Europe from 1 January 2025 (pending final signature). This is the result of sustained efforts, including the Stick to Science campaign which we have supported from the UK side, and we congratulate our Swiss colleagues on this achievement. 

And finally, while we remain committed to making Horizon Europe a success for the UK (and EU), we also look ahead to the next framework programme in Our vision for Framework Programme 10 (FP10). 2025 will be critical to aligning the UK’s (and the UK university sector’s) needs to the European Commission’s vision for FP10. This vision is drawn from many sources, including recommendations from independent reports (Draghi, Heitor, and similar), and the next few months will prove critical to understanding what opportunities FP10 might bring. 

For further details contact Dajana Dzanovic (Head of Global R&I Policy, Universities UK International), [email protected].