"Throwing money on something" is an unflattering idiom for financially covering up problems.

That seems to be the short-term tactic of the two countries that have dropped out of the EU research program Horizon Europe: Switzerland and Great Britain.

In the most recent call for proposals, the European Research Council (ERC) awarded 397 Starting Grants.

Each of these grants for basic research is endowed with 1.5 million euros.

For 28 Swiss researchers, the joy was short-lived.

You have to move to an EU country with your research project or give up the money.

The Swiss government is providing compensation payments.

The loss of the scholarships is still bitter.

Because when the researchers applied for it, the Swiss status at Horizon Europe was still unclear.

The EU has now classified the Confederates as a non-associated third country.

This means that scientists from Swiss research institutes are excluded from all funding measures of the ERC and the Innovation Council as well as from the Marie Skłodowska-Curie career program.

The Swiss took part at their own risk during the transition phase.

Prestige also plays a role

One of the winners would have been Charlotte Laufkötter from the University of Bern.

In her project, the marine scientist wants to use supercomputers and a host of autonomous buoys to simulate how carbon is deposited in the depths of the ocean.

She worked on her application for two months.

Now she has officially rejected him because she doesn't want to move away.

After all, she adapted her research work to the expertise and infrastructure of her university.

Even before the deadline had expired, the State Secretariat for Education, Research and Innovation had promised her full replacement funding.

After the rejection, she had to submit an application to the federal government.

"My university's grants office was very supportive," she says.

The transition from European to national sponsors has so far been relatively painless for her, says Laufkötter.

A national grant can still mean a career break, especially for researchers on fixed-term contracts.

In addition to money, prestige also plays a role for them, because the ERC grants increase job opportunities.

"A Spanish university tried to recruit me by e-mail, but I turned it down," says Laufkötter, "because private life plays a role in such decisions in addition to research conditions."

Like Laufkötter, most Swiss ERC grantees refuse to turn their backs on their research institutions.

With that they are eliminated.

Applicants from the waiting list would take their place, says ERC President Maria Leptin.

A retreat by researchers would have a negative effect on the already low success rate of applicants, but only at first glance: "By national agencies stepping in, more researchers will be funded overall."

Union of Great Britain still pending

While this applies to the transitional case, the success rate of ERC grants has declined in recent years.

While it was still thirteen percent in 2020, it has now fallen to below ten percent.

At the same time, 24 percent more applications were submitted in 2021 than in 2020. From this it can be concluded that the ERC funded around nine percent fewer projects in 2021 than in the previous year, and this before deducting the "dropout" scholarship holders.

28 percent fewer researchers applied for the 2022 call, which is probably also due to the fact that Switzerland and Great Britain have withdrawn.

At the same time, the Research Council has increased the funds by a good twenty percent.

In contrast to Switzerland, Great Britain's connection to Horizon Europe is still pending.

Science and Innovation Minister Marija Gabriel has repeatedly indicated that political conflicts such as the one surrounding the Northern Ireland Protocol must first be resolved.

So it's quite possible that cutting-edge research is just bathing in the aftermath of the Brexit negotiations.

Nevertheless, Maria Leptin is confident that talks between London and Brussels will resume soon.

As in Switzerland, the British funding agency UKRI is temporarily stepping into the breach.

The interim solutions are working for the time being, but they are not optimal because the national funding agencies oblige their scholarship holders to stay in the country.

The non-associated countries are at a disadvantage from a research point of view anyway, because experience has shown that they less often lead international projects after such a turning point.

That will not be avoidable this time either.

"Of course it's a pity that we have to do without these two countries at the moment," says Maria Leptin.

"But I'm an optimist.

I assume that reason wins.”