An EU research head says that he is “optimistic” that there will continue to be close scientific collaboration with the UK after Brexit.
Prof Mauro Ferrari said that science bodies on both sides of the Channel want close existing links to continue.
Prof Ferrari is the new president of the European Research Council, which funds EU science and tech research.
He made his comments at the American Association for the Advancement of Science Meeting in Seattle.
“I am very optimistic,” he said. “The stakes are so high. It is in everybody’s interest that a solution that is as good as the current one or better is found.”
Although there is near universal agreement that Britain’s current close relationship with the ERC should continue, there is concern that it will become a bargaining chip in the current negotiations on what the UK-EU relationship will look like after the transition period ends on 31 December 2020.
