UK extends Horizon Europe guarantee as EU dispute continues

The Westminster government has again extended its funding guarantee for UK-based winners of grants from the European Union’s Horizon Europe programme. 

The guarantee scheme, which launched in November 2021, is supposed to be a stopgap until the European Commission signs off on full UK participation, withheld over disputes about the Brexit deal’s Northern Ireland Protocol. 

The guarantee was extended in March 2022 to cover any Horizon grant agreements “expected to be signed” before the end of the year but now covers EU funding calls closing on or before 31 December. 

Joanna Burton, policy manager at the Russell Group of UK research-intensive universities said that the latest extension would give researchers “welcome reassurance” that they can continue to apply and “plug the gap while keeping the window for UK association open”.

In July, UK Research and Innovation said it had made 202 funding offers under the scheme, less than a third of the 609 verified applications it has received from UK-based Horizon winners, equivalent to £142 million out of the £348 million requested.

The second extension comes less than a fortnight after the government opened a legal dispute with the EU over its exclusion from Horizon, which has gone on for a year and a half. 

Under the rules of the Brexit deal, politicians from the two sides have until mid-September to find an agreement before the dispute is handed to an arbitration panel. 

“We hope the formal consultations process will see constructive engagement from the EU so we can find a solution that will unlock the enormous benefits of UK association to scientists and researchers on both sides of the channel,” said Ms Burton.

Writing on Twitter, Simon Usherwood, a politics professor at the Open University and chair of the University Association for Contemporary European Studies, said that the second extension was “Better than nothing, but still a long way from being as good as actual association to Horizon Europe”.

As well as guaranteeing funding and trying to push for an agreement, in July the UK government sketched out its domestic alternative to the €95.5 billion (£87.6 billion) programme. 

UK business secretary Kwasi Kwarteng said that a “talent and research stabilisation fund” would use “formula funding” to support UK institutions “most affected by the loss of Horizon Europe talent funding”. 

Mr Kwarteng added that “temporary transitional measures” would be needed until either the UK was either admitted to Horizon or launched its own “ambitious alternative”. 

ben.upton@timeshighereducation.com