The Society is disappointed by the cuts announced by the UK Government to the ODA-funded budget for Research and Development, and the continuing uncertainty around the funding of Horizon Europe association. 

Professor Hywel Thomas, President of the Society commented:

We are concerned that the funding shortfall will cause the suspension of research projects and damage important international research partnerships which are working to address climate change and other global challenges.

Research is vital to the development of the solutions we need to address our biggest challenges, and the UK government needs to continue to support and develop research capacity across the world.

The Integrated Review of Defence and Foreign Policy presents a vision for renewed UK-EU collaboration, but as yet no additional funding has been made available by the Treasury to support association with the next phase of the Horizon Europe programme.

There is concern that this funding could be taken from the existing science budget, which would have a detrimental impact on UK research and innovation activity and damage the attempts to level up research funding across the UK.