• Question: What's your opinion on the current state of scientific funding?

    Asked by anon-353601 on 16 Mar 2023. This question was also asked by anon-353584, anon-353568.
    • Photo: Thomas Swift

      Thomas Swift answered on 16 Mar 2023:

      In the UK we have some problems. The government funds a lot – and they are having to cut back (just as they are cutting off in a lot of other places). We used to get a lot of money from the EU and that is really uncertain after Brexit – but the problem there is it’s not just about the money, its about the ability to collaborate on projects and work together with scientists in universities and companies in Europe.

      But a lot of industries are interested in funding science, they know they rely on it. There are a lot of jobs and a lot of work going on. This is a good thing – but we have to be very careful that as many discoveries as possible are shared publicly. Science doesn’t help people if only one company can use the discoveries and we all become dependant on them

    • Photo: Martin McCoustra

      Martin McCoustra answered on 17 Mar 2023:

      I think that science is immensely under-funded both in industry and in universities etc. Leaving the EU has cost us billions as the UK was one of the scientific power-houses of Europe and often at the centre of project. Now we are not… we are becoming increasingly second rate in comparison to our competitors globally as we won’t invest.

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