Hansard

For once, I will not speak about colleges. I think that everyone expects me to speak about colleges all the time because I worked in one. However, while the debate has been going on, a photograph has come up on my phone of my former student Jakub Sirkowski being taught by Przemek Wasilewski, a former student of mine who is now teaching at North East Scotland College. They are very much in my mind as the debate progresses.

It is important to get testimony from the people who are most affected when we discuss the potential impact of Brexit. Recently, I got an email from Sam, who is a PhD research student and runs a lab at the University of Aberdeen that explores how inflammation and metabolism are linked and how we can treat diseases such as type 2 diabetes and cancer. I will do something unusual and, if it is okay, use my time to read out her email and give her a voice. This is what Sam wrote to me:

“The EU is critical to the medical sciences in Scotland. I can’t even begin to express how important our EU membership is. Personally my lab is partially funded by EU money from several EU grants and initiatives. We have some of the best research universities in the world for biomedical research, working on antibiotic resistance, stroke, heart disease, dementia and cancer.

One example of work being funded by the EU at my University is the development of next generation MRI scanners that will allow doctors to get more diagnostic information from people’s scans for conditions like dementia, cancer, and arthritis. Giving better medical information but also more detailed research information that can help scientists develop new treatments.

Collaboration internationally is one of the biggest parts of science now, a move towards large … collaborations, the sharing of data and specialist skills across many institutes has brought a revolution in quality of research. From 1981-2014 the number of science papers published with just a UK address dropped from 84% to 48% highlighting the amount of research done through international collaboration. The UK most certainly punches above its weight in international research and has the highest proportion of the world’s most highly-cited scientific research … placing it above the USA. EU funding and collaboration is at the heart of that success. The contribution to that figure from Scottish universities is disproportionate to our small population size. Scotland is a leader in university research in a wide range of disciplines. The quality of work conducted in this country is one of the reasons I chose to not go abroad to study for my PhD.

EU funding and collaboration is only part of it, though. The number of talented people that come to study here at doctoral level is incredible, in 2014-2015 there were 14,280 EU students studying for a full time research qualification.

Freedom of movement across the EU is critically important in allowing us to attract the best research students and the best staff from across the EU to Scotland. More importantly, it allows us to retain them. Abolition of the post study work visa has made it incredibly difficult for universities to retain international research students as students are now required to leave following completion of a PhD rather than being encouraged to stay and further their research.

And I worry about how the Home Office will allocate the work permits Theresa May is now talking about. In the biomedical sciences most jobs available are not on the Home Office’s required list and therefore they are subjected to full visa conditions including earning requirements. Contrary to popular belief, research jobs are not well paid, the average starting salary for a researcher in biomedical sciences in the UK holding a PhD is £24,000 before tax, normally rising to around £30,000 after ten years of experience.

Will the loss of EU membership subject these staff to the Tier 2 visa scheme where a threshold of £35,000 in earnings is a requirement for indefinite leave to remain? We’ll lose so many great people doing important work and progressing in the industry from doctoral researcher into independent researchers and the establishment of new labs and new expertise within the country-leading to who knows what scientific breakthroughs?

More generally, the morale is unbelievably low. Friends I have who work in research, who have come here to work, had children and are settled here are now unsure if they will be able to stay. These fears at present make it very hard for us to bring and retain talent within the scientific industry as people begin to seriously consider leaving the UK.

And that applies to me too.

I complete my PhD in September 2017 and I am now entering the phase of my career where I have to make choices about where I will go post-graduation. Competition for postdoctoral roles in research are already highly competitive and loss of funding and the breakdown of collaborations that Brexit may bring make me hesitant to rely on staying in Scotland for my career. This is my home, I have lived here all my life and I deeply value the investment the Scottish Government made in allowing me to attend university for free, and then further supporting my PhD through both university and NHS Scotland research funding, I want to return that investment.

My dream is that one day I will be a professor at a Scottish university—teaching, researching and helping further our knowledge and passing it on to another generation ... Without EU funding, support and collaboration I fear that will be impossible and I will be forced to look abroad to get the most out of my career. Sam.”

Sam needs answers, Sam’s colleagues need answers and Sam’s university needs answers. Will that funding be replaced? Will that collaboration be possible? Will talented EU citizens still be able to study and work in our universities? They need to know now, not in two years’ time.