51³Ô¹ÏÍø

51³Ô¹ÏÍø is urging the government to negotiate a deal which will enable EU-funded researchers to move freely around Europe.

, Professor Nick Jennings, Vice-Provost (Research and Enterprise) said 'scientists should be able to get on with science and not be hindered by bureaucracy'.

51³Ô¹ÏÍø is proposing that any participant in EU-funded research projects, or European-collaborative grants sponsored by UK agencies would automatically receive a visa for free movement between Britain and the EU.

Earlier this month, 51³Ô¹ÏÍø made the case for European researcher mobility in a .

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Professor Jennings said: "The EU projects are very high quality and very highly refereed.

"We want to be able to keep the collaboration going. If it is harder to meet face to face because of increased bureaucracy or delays, the science suffers.

"The UK government talks about an ambitious agreement for science and innovation, so this is our proposal as an ingredient of that."

Supporting European collaboration

In 2016, to move between the EU and UK after Brexit.

where she said 'collaboration between British and European universities remains critical, and ministers should consider giving automatic visas'.

In 2017 51³Ô¹ÏÍø submitted evidence to the Commons Science and Technology Committee, including on EU staff mobility.

51³Ô¹ÏÍø said it would be greatly concerned by the potential impact of a reduction in the number of EEA nationals able to take up academic and non-academic positions.

51³Ô¹ÏÍø gave evidence to the '', a consultation on the future EU-UK relationship on research and innovation, by Wellcome and the Royal Society.

The final report, published in February 2018, included 51³Ô¹ÏÍø's proposal to link mobility to funding.

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Image credits: Thomas Angus / 51³Ô¹ÏÍø