In response to the House of Commons Select Committee on Science and Technology on their call for evidence to inform a future immigration policy for science and innovation, the Society of Spanish Researchers in the United Kingdom (SRUK/CERU) submitted a report summarising the perception of Spanish researchers living outside the United Kingdom of this country as a professional destination after the EU referendum.
Results
The results show that, under any possible scenario presented, the UK is now less attractive as a professional destination for Spanish researchers living abroad than before the referendum. Results also show that respondents think that the biggest change will be felt in the rights of EU citizens, followed by effects in the British economy, research funding and raise in social tension in the country.
Recommendations
These results build on the evidence highlighted in our first advice paper submitted to the same Committee earlier this year and make us reiterate our recommendations, especially #4:
- Swiftly protecting the skills and talent essential to the UK Science and Technology sector.
- Continued participation in multilateral research programmes, such as Horizon EU.
- Prioritising, and if the economy permits accelerating, the investment in research, science, and technology to boost the competitiveness of UK’s economy.
- Improving the communication strategy to communicate to convey that the United Kingdom is open to research, science, and technology.
- Maintaining and strengthening the importance of evidence-based policies in the guidelines that will direct the Brexit negotiation.
SRUK will continue contributing to the debate
SRUK keeps monitoring the perception of Brexit outside the UK and the concerns of Spanish researchers working and living in the UK. The survey will remain open until the 16th of July and it will be used to keep informing the policy-making process. Please, do not hesitate to contact us at [email protected] if you would like to share anything related to Brexit with us or if you would like to get involved with the work we do.
You can download a copy of our report here.
