Generous offers of professorships and top-up research funding have already begun to entice European Research Council (ERC) grant winners to leave the UK ¨C with uncertainty over the ¡°guarantee¡± to replace lost grants causing others to consider a similar move.

With British-based academics currently ineligible to receive ERC funding due to the impasse over UK association to the European Union¡¯s flagship research scheme, many recent winners of its prestigious starting, consolidator and advanced grants have been?inundated with job offers?from EU-based institutions.

This month about 150 UK-based academics were contacted by the ERC to remind them that they had only two months to transfer their grants to a ¡°new eligible legal entity¡± or?risk losing their funding?altogether.

Many ERC grant winners are, however, already on their way, having accepted attractive offers from universities in mainland Europe.

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Ana Cvejic, principal investigator in the department of haematology at the University of Cambridge, who secured an ERC consolidator grant worth almost €2 million (?1.7 million), will shortly move her laboratory to the University of Copenhagen to take up a professorship.

Dr Cvejic, who has secured more than €6 million in research funding since starting her independent research group in Cambridge in 2012, said that she had received three further offers from European institutes, although Copenhagen¡¯s offer was prior to the ERC¡¯s announcement of funding decisions.

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¡°My position is certainly not unique,¡± Dr Cvejic told?É«ºÐÖ±²¥, stating that many UK-based mid-career researchers whose jobs were tied to obtaining research funding might transfer their ERC grants to institutions that provided better job security or promises of additional funding.

¡°When you¡¯ve invested 10 years in successfully leading your research group, you want some recognition for your achievements in the form of a permanent position,¡± said Dr Cvejic, originally from Serbia, who said young and mid-career principal investigators sometimes felt their situation was akin to a ¡°revolving door in which, unless you bring in the money and papers, you are out¡±.

Dozens of ERC grant winners ¨C many of whom are EU nationals ¨C are currently discussing their options on a private Slack channel, explained Dr Cvejic, who said many shared ¡°anxiety¡± over potential strings attached to UK Research and Innovation (UKRI)¡¯s offer to fund any project approved by the ERC.

¡°There are some worries over whether UKRI will fully cover these grants or allow us to work with whoever we want,¡± she said. ¡°You can also take ERC grants wherever you want in Europe, which isn¡¯t true for UKRI-backed grants, so your options are more limited.

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¡°Then there is the issue of the UK¡¯s science strategy, with junior and mid-career investigators?having to fight for fellowships all the time. Many European countries are becoming very attractive for scientists by investing a lot in research and there is a clearer career trajectory towards a full professorship.¡±

Payam Gammage, senior lecturer and group leader at the University of Glasgow¡¯s Institute for Cancer Sciences and group leader at the CRUK Beatson Institute, told?É«ºÐÖ±²¥?that he had received approaches from Spain, Italy, Portugal and Sweden after winning?€1.9 million for a five-year project on mitochondrial DNA,?and said that there was a lot of online discussion among fellow ERC winners about moving abroad.

¡°For some this grant will allow them to start their own lab ¨C others admit they have been focused on getting an ERC grant for a long time so, understandably, don¡¯t want to give it up,¡± said Dr Gammage, who said that he would not be leaving Glasgow because his research relied on other large grants tied to UK universities. ¡°Without this, I would 100 per cent be leaving the UK,¡± he added.

Others would be tempted, he believed. ¡°If the UK doesn¡¯t associate to Horizon Europe ¨C which seems likely ¨C there is a definite concern that we could lose a generation of scientists, unless we can create an alternative that is as attractive,¡± said Dr Gammage, who added that UKRI ¡°still needed to flesh out¡± its ¡°backstop¡± arrangement for ERC researchers.

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Another ERC winner, who did not wish to be named, said?many UK-based grantees were exploring the possibility of a 50-50 ¡°split appointment¡± with an EU university, which while ¡°bureaucratically challenging, especially given the short deadline from the ERC¡±, would cause ¡°minimum disruption if one finds a willing EU institution¡±.

Another ERC grant winner who will be leaving soon is Hendrik Weber, professor of mathematics at the University of Bath, who will take his consolidator grant to the University of M¨¹nster. While this grant was an ambition for a ¡°long time¡±, ¡°I would probably have taken it independently of the ERC¡±, explained Professor Weber, who said that the ¡°pandemic [spent] with small children far away from the wider family, had been a bit rough¡±.

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¡°It wouldn¡¯t be correct to say the ERC Brexit complication was the main factor in [leaving] but it did make the decision a bit easier in the end,¡± he added.

jack.grove@timeshighereducation.com