Updates on association to Horizon Europe and Pioneer, the UK Government’s alternative plan

Parallel to this, the UK Government’s publication of details surrounding its alternative, Pioneer, has been welcomed by many across our community. Having a backup plan ready in the event of a worst-case scenario – that is, a failure to reach an agreement on the UK’s association with Horizon Europe – gives the entire scientific community a welcome degree of reassurance.

We welcomed the Government’s invitation for feedback on the proposals and the recognition from them that association remains their top priority. Moving towards a resolution on the UK’s association with Horizon Europe will no doubt be near the top of new Acting Science, Innovation and Technology Secretary Chloe Smith’s to-do list and we are ready to provide further assistance however we can.

Since Pioneer’s publication, our team at the RSC have been analysing the proposals and bringing together our community’s views to provide feedback to the Government’s Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT). As part of this, we have contributed to organising two events, which have given DSIT the opportunity to present the proposals – and receive direct feedback – from some of the leading experts from the chemical sciences community. 

1. A session at the Heads of Chemistry UK Spring Conference

DSIT civil servants joined a session at the Heads of Chemistry UK Spring conference, which comprises heads of chemistry departments at universities and similar institutions, to present their Pioneer proposals and hear feedback from the Heads. Participants had a productive conversation, highlighting positive aspects of the proposals as well as some of the concerns they have, including in relation to Pioneer’s implementation.

2. A joint roundtable with scientists invited by the Institute of Physics, Royal Society of Biology and Royal Society of Chemistry

The IoP, RSB and RSC organised a roundtable meeting with members of our three professional bodies and civil servants from DSIT on the Pioneer prospectus, to provide input from scientists working in physics, chemistry and biology. DSIT informed attendees about the proposals and attendees provided direct feedback to the Government on their development.  

Both events, alongside input from our wider membership, will inform our feedback to DSIT on their Pioneer proposals in the weeks ahead.

Making the chemical sciences’ voice heard

If you want to share evidence or feedback on Pioneer, please send it to our Policy team via the form on the left of this page. 

Some of the areas that have been raised so far include:

• International networks: Some of the important benefits Horizon Europe offers are networking opportunities and access to support and training networks. Our community finds it important to understand how Pioneer will ensure similar opportunities.
• Duration, value and number of fellowships: The Pioneer prospectus includes proposals for 10-year fellowships. Our community has concerns about the accessibility of 10-year fellowships to early-career researchers and the ability to ensure that peer review is robust at such timescales. The efficacy of funding fewer larger-scale fellowships over a higher number of smaller-scale fellowships also came up in discussion and our community expressed a preference for the latter.
• International attractiveness and mobility: Attracting international researchers and innovators to the UK is crucial to our communities in industry and academia. Our community finds it important to understand how Pioneer will be attractive to international applicants as well as how the visa process will be streamlined to bring in international talent.
• Operational details: Our community would like to understand more details on how quickly Pioneer will be implemented in the scenario that the UK does not associate with Horizon Europe, as well as more details on cross-sector (i.e. industry and academia) funding models and how the grants will be costed.
• Balance between discovery research and innovation: To some of our community, the perception came across that Pioneer is more heavily weighted towards innovation and shorter-term funding opportunities, closely aligned to Government priorities, compared to discovery research.

We will continue to make the case to the UK Government and Parliament for UK association with Horizon Europe, while being mindful of both the economic and financial situation and the expected impacts of inflation on the research base, as well as the rest of the economy.

Related content

• RSC joins UK, Irish and European research and innovation organisations in joint call for Horizon Europe deal (March 2023)
• RSC teams up with Institute of Physics and Royal Society of Biology to send joint letter to UK Government (April 2023)
• RSC's response to publication of the Pioneer prospectus as an alternative to Horizon Europe (April 2023)