UK universities do quite well out of European research funding – we get €1.60 for every €1 we put in. With a budget of €1bn (£830m), the EU Graphene Flagship launched in 2013 and is Europe’s biggest ever joint research project with 150 groups across 23 countries. Treasury ministers have been urged to back Britain’s world-leading research on graphene, the “wonder material” first discovered in Manchester, amid concerns the city’s university is set to lose £1m a year in EU funding after the UK’s vote for Brexit. “Europe helped to keep Manchester and our universities at the cutting edge of research and development, including funds to boost the National Graphene Institute [at the University of Manchester]. Leaving the Europe-wide project would also mean losing £1m a year in funding for the University of Manchester, where the material was first isolated by two Nobel prize-winning scientists in 2004.

Source: The Guardian July 25, 2016 10:10 UTC