The excellence of UK science and engineering depends on international collaboration, according to a report released by four of the UK’s seven national academies - the Academy of Medical Sciences, British Academy, Royal Academy of Engineering and Royal Society. The report is based on survey of the academies’ fellows and grant recipients, with more than 1,286 respondents from the UK’s leading researchers and engineers.
The top destination is Europe – with 95% of respondents travelling there, and 87% collaborating with colleagues in mainland Europe. Some 58% of researchers say that they have spent a year or more working abroad, while nearly all of them - 95% - participated in at least one international collaboration during the previous five years. Overall, international collaboration has been growing; 77% report that it is now more intense than it was 20 years ago.
"International collaboration is critical for all academic research. The international scientific community needs strong collaborative links to provide the interchange of ideas, people and problems that drive discovery," Chris Brace, a mechanical engineer and deputy director of the Powertrain Vehicle Research Centre at the University of Bath told PE. "Anything we can do to increase the ease with which researchers can move freely will raise the quality of the resulting science and engineering."
Brexit's potential impact
Cross-border collaboration is an area some engineers and scientists fear could be affected by Britain leaving the European Union. One of the EU projects the UK is currently part of is the Horizon 2020 - and leaving it "would have a major negative impact on UK science and engineering," says Brace. "If we remain members of the scheme outside the EU, this will partially mitigate the negative effects, but we will no longer be contributing to setting the research agenda. This is a serious long term disadvantage for us."
Brace and his group are currently working on an
EU-funded project investigating novel hybrid powertrain technologies in partnership with organisations across Europe, including the Ford Research Centre in Germany and Centro Ricerche Fiat in Italy. "We were invited into this project as a result of strong international links through previous research activities," said Brace. "Participation in this project gives us access to a wide variety of new partners, each with fresh ideas and problems to solve. This process stimulates new collaborative opportunities in addition to the immediate project."
Another engineer, Talha Pirzada from Cross Manufacturing Company that makes aerospace equipment, told PE that his team has been collaborating with a material supplier in Italy, to optimise a new material manufacturing procedure - "vital for cementing my company's future as market leaders in aerospace seal production".
"Projects like nuclear fission research in Culham or CERN in Geneva have only been possible due to the joint effort of different countries," he added. "Working alone would be financially impossible."
Dame Ann Dowling, President of the Royal Academy of Engineering, stressed that engineering has a particularly mobile workforce, both industry and academia, and across all skills levels. “The ability of our researchers, innovators and entrepreneurs to collaborate internationally, spend time in other countries, and welcome students and colleagues from around the world is fundamental to maintaining the UK’s strength as a world leader in engineering,” she said.
Why do researchers and engineers travel? Most survey participants (73%) say that international collaboration is an opportunity for them to share their own expertise, while 54% argue that it is important to share in the expertise of their colleagues from abroad. Two thirds want to build or at least maintain their links with researchers based overseas.
Not all countries are easy to visit though, and 22% of those surveyed said that the ease of obtaining a visa was an important factor in their choice of collaborators. Regardless of visa requirements though, many still continue to travel to the countries where a visa is required.
Excellent research, in the humanities and social sciences, as well as in medicine and engineering, depends on the ability to collaborate, develop understanding and learn from the best, wherever they may be based,” said Lord Nicholas Stern, president of the British Academy. “UK universities are world-leaders in research, and because of this we attract outstanding international talent. Maintaining this global outlook is crucial to upholding our high-quality research base.
Leilia Broadley, a mechanical engineer at EDF Energy, told PE that pooling our talents and resources is vital to solve our big issues. "If we restrict collaborative working, we restrict ourselves in so many ways. I truly believe that the reason the UK is seen as a country that produces the highest standards in research and engineering is due to our rich and diverse culture. Restricting international collaboration, through any means, will make us poorer as a nation," she said.
Learning from the past
Brace believes that stopping cross-border collaboration is simply not a viable option for the UK. "Our continued prosperity relies on the application of new knowledge to drive commercial growth in our economy. We must be technology leaders in order to compete with economies across the globe," he said. "Without the exposure to international ideas, opportunities and talent we will place our economy at a serious disadvantage. The worst effects of a progressive degradation in our research power will take some time to be fully realised, which if anything makes the danger more acute because the damage will be done before the effects are fully understood."
And it has happened before, he added - with the reduction in the UK manufacturing base. "A lack of effective research and development over several decades was a major contributor to this decline and the current emphasis on R&D is a crucial component of our current manufacturing renaissance."
The Royal Society also commissioned a separate report, where it surveyed 1,285 UK-based scientists. The report found that 72% of respondents had trained or worked abroad; 80% of those surveyed who were originally not from the UK said they were from the EU or North America; and 40% of the foreign-born researchers collaborated with researchers in their countries of origin.
“The UK is a global scientific powerhouse, which makes us an attractive destination for researchers worldwide,” said Venki Ramakrishnan, president of the Royal Society. “We must work hard to keep barriers for incoming and outgoing researchers and their dependents at a minimum, so that ideas can grow across borders and benefit science as a whole.”
The Royal Society report also shows that both the UK and the home countries of the researchers greatly benefit from international collaboration. The UK gets access to more highly qualified employees, and when researchers decide to go back home, they bring their skills and training back with them.
“This work shows research is a truly international endeavour,” said Sir Robert Lechler, president of the Academy of Medical Sciences. “The ability to forge collaborations and to access talent across the globe is vital to ensure that the UK remains at the forefront of research and innovation.”