UK scientists secure €735m in Horizon Europe grants after post-Brexit return

12 August 2025 , 15:16

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UK scientists secure €735m in Horizon Europe grants after post-Brexit return

Scientists received €735m in grants in 2024 after the UK rejoined the programme as an associate member post-Brexit

The UK is quickly regaining a prime position in the EU’s £80bn science research programme 18 months after becoming a participating member following the resolution of Brexit issues, data shows.

The country was excluded from Horizon Europe for three years due to a tit-for-tat dispute with the then prime minister, Boris Johnson, over the Northern Ireland trading arrangements.

While the UK has to catch up, having entered three years into the seven-year 2020-27 funding programme, data shows British scientists are exceeding expectations with €735m (£635m) in grants in 2024.

That ranks the UK as the fifth most successful country in the programme, which is open to 43 nations: the 27 EU member states and 16 non-EU associate members, also including New Zealand, Canada, and Norway.

Germany, the top participant in Horizon in 2024, won €1.4bn (£1.21bn) in grants, and Spain, which came third, received €900m (£777m).

Scientists have previously said they were “over the moon” to be back working with EU colleagues. They mentioned they knew it would take time to return to the top three because of the time required to build multinational consortiums for fund applications.

However, in terms of grants for proposals by individual scientists, which are easier to assemble, the UK now ranks as the second-most successful participating country after Germany, with €242m (£209m) in funds.

The UK is the single most successful applicant country for Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions, one of the most prestigious grant programmes for doctoral and post-doctoral research worldwide.

UK scientists have repeatedly said that the Brexit exclusion damaged Britain’s reputation on the global stage and made it difficult for universities to recruit researchers from the EU.

In terms of recipients, the universities of Oxford and Cambridge are neck and neck, with awards of over €65m each, followed by University College London and Imperial College.

With projects ranging from research to develop brain catheters inspired by wasps to efforts to create aviation fuel from yeast and greenhouse gases, the UK has been propelled to the top of the league of non-EU beneficiaries by number of grants.

Ferdinando Rodriguez y Baena, a professor of medical robotics at Imperial College London, recently completed a 15-year Horizon-backed research project creating a cranial catheter inspired by a conversation he had with the renowned zoologist Julian Vincent about wasps’ ability to penetrate hard tree bark to lay eggs.

Smaller grantees have included individual projects on topics such as textile recycling, conservation, and farm robots.

The UK was one of the leading beneficiaries of Horizon, earning more in grants than it contributed in funds before Brexit.

Elizabeth Baker