Scotland's scientists breathe easier after No voteScotland's decision to remain a part of the UK has left many scientists relieved, following concerns that independence would put support for Scottish science in jeopardy.
"I am thrilled," says Margaret Frame, director of science at the Edinburgh Cancer Research Centre. "This ensures that biomedical and clinical research – and Scotland's great achievements in delivering on this in the past – will continue unchecked."
Brian Smith a molecular biologist at the University of Glasgow, describes himself as "mighty relieved". He says the result means continued funding for science, less risk of colleagues leaving Scotland, and that it will be easier to recruit new staff.
But just as the general Scottish public have been divided on the issue, so too have scientists, and some are unhappy with the referendum's result. "I am disappointed," says Jason Reese, an engineer at the University of Edinburgh. "I would have liked to work with others to put science and engineering at the heart of a reborn country." He suggests that an independent Scotland could have built on its strengths in education to carve out a global profile in high-quality scientific education and research collaborations.
However, voters were not convinced that independence would not compromise or endanger research. "Although the 'yes' camp offered to continue to maintain the international competitiveness and standing of Scottish research, whatever the outcome of the constitutional settlement, there was considerable anxiety and uncertainty in the minds of leading academics that this could be delivered," says Steve Beaumont, an electrical engineer at the University of Glasgow.
"If Scotland had become independent, access to Research Councils UK money would have dried up," says Hugh Pennington, a bacteriologist at the University of Aberdeen, who co-founded the "Academics Together" campaign group. He believes that negotiations to ensure that an independent Scotland could still access UK public research funding would have failed.
Frame agrees. "It would have meant a great deal of uncertainty as regards research funding – which would have, in turn, made it difficult to recruit and retain highly skilled researchers." Nigel Brown, a microbiologist who was formerly at the University of Edinburgh, believes that independence would have prompted such brain drain. "My impression is that many excellent Scottish scientists would be tempted to leave. There are not enough jobs in the rest of the UK to accommodate them, so they would have moved abroad to the detriment of Scottish and UK science."
Devious, treacherous, murderous, neanderthal, sub-human of the West.
Topic: Scotland