Brexit: #DealForScience petition

10 February 2020

As the UK begins life after Brexit, Wellcome Trust sets out what the transition period and beyond could mean for research, and how we can help secure a good outcome from the next phase of the negotiations. Together with EU LIFE and EuroScience, a relaunch of the #DealForScience petition was supported.

Here below more information about the petition:

• The #DealForScience petition was launched by Wellcome, EU LIFE and EuroScience in June 2019. The message is simple – International collaboration makes science stronger, yet uncertainty around the future relationship between the EU and the UK could disrupt this. The petition aims to bring the science community together to advocate for a deal for science. The petition calls on the UK and EU to reach an agreement on scientific collaboration as soon as possible.
• Over the summer the petition gathered momentum. It has now reached ~30% of the target with support in every Member State. Beyond numbers and statistics, nearly half of the signatories have commented on why they were moved to sign and their feelings about science post-Brexit. These are important proof points for the community to deploy and support their advocacy campaigns.
•  During the autumn Brexit seemed less certain and a strategic decision was taken to ‘pause’ proactive petition activities. But, this has changed and we enter a critical period of negations and must fight to ensure science is a priority.
• Now that the time to re-shape the relationship between the EU and UK has arrived and in response we are stepping up our calls for a #DealForScience relaunching 3 Feb. As the UK ceases to be a member of the EU, the potential of science and research to contribute to a better world will still best be realised if we all recognise that knowledge does not stop at borders. We need a research and innovation agreement as soon as possible to keep Europe competitive in science and give researchers’ certainty about how they can continue to work together, wherever they are.
• As negotiating mandates and set-out and finalised end Feb, the science community must be ready to make the case quickly and strongly. Our hope is that the #DealForScience petition, signed by thousands of people and organisations, ensures that the community is heard by policy makers across Europe. When we speak together, the importance of collaboration and the desire to continue working together on the big challenges our societies face, can’t be ignored! (we hope!!).

#DealForScience toolkit