Statement on Brexit

3 December 2018:  The Arts & Humanities Alliance, of which BACS is an affiliated society, has issued the following statement outlining the potential danders of a ‘hard’ or ‘no-deal’ Brexit to our disciplines:

“Director of the Francis Crick Institute Sir Paul Nurse observes that Brexit threatens the health of UK science and notes that the deal to be voted on the 11th of December affords no reassurance that UK Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) will continue to be able to hire talented European researchers or replace lost EU funding opportunities. The Arts and Humanities Alliance (AHA) concurs: Brexit, especially a ‘no deal’ Brexit or one inadequately protective of the relationship UK HEIs currently enjoy with HEIs in mainland Europe, is likely to be highly damaging to all HE disciplines, not just to science.

“Arts and Humanities subjects benefit from the expertise of colleagues of multiple nationalities, many of whom come from mainland Europe. The best minds in the study of all disciplines are found across the globe: to maintain our cutting edge we must be as accessible as possible. Visa restrictions on individuals from outside the EU already hamper such exchange. If EU citizens become bound by the same visa restrictions as those to which non EU individuals are already subject, this will be to the detriment of all of our disciplines.

“Arts and Humanities subjects, like scientific ones, benefit enormously from access to research funding through the European Research Council (ERC), and new post-Horizon 2020 initiatives. Such financial support is crucial to the health of Arts and Humanities disciplines in the UK.

“Arts and Humanities disciplines benefit to the same degree from the free movement of students and staff across Europe. We attract students from mainland Europe to study with us and send our students and researchers to mainland Europe. All of us, within the academy and in the towns that house our universities, profit from this enviable mobility.”

Read the full press release here.