UCL and Brexit: Support for our community

We are totally committed to our European colleagues and to continuing to support you throughout the uncertainty, whatever the eventual outcome. As we navigate our way through this, we’d like to remind you of the various initiatives we have put in place that you can access. 

We are in the middle of the second pilot to apply for Settled Status which runs until 21 December. UCL staff are eligible and welcome to apply; we will cover the application cost for our employees. The full scheme is due to open by 30 March 2019 to 31 December 2020, so if you decide not to apply during the pilot, you will still have the opportunity to do so at a later date.

UCL’s approach is to continue cultivating and nurturing our existing and new European partnerships, and to encourage you to continue applying for European research grants. The British government has guaranteed to underwrite funding for Horizon 2020 projects no matter what the final Brexit deal is (or indeed if there is none). This means the British government will be funding all successful applications for projects submitted before Brexit day (29 March 2019), and all projects submitted after Brexit (provided the UK is eligible to participate as a third country) until the end of 2020.
 
The Cities partnerships Programme was created in direct response to Brexit and is part of UCL’s triple track European strategy. Launching in a new city each year, initially all in Europe, the programme is designed to invest in and extend our research and teaching collaborations – not just with a single partner, but in multiple locations across the continent.

Meanwhile, the Brexit Mitigation Group (BMG) continues to assess in detail how Brexit (in whatever form) could affect the university – from the recruitment, retention and residence status of EU staff and students to mobility, fees, access to research funding and partnerships, clinical trials and data sharing. As part of this assessment, six detailed work streams focussed specifically on ‘No Deal’ contingency planning have been commissioned and are grouped under the following headings: research, student mobility, legal changes, medical regulations, immigration policy and more general continuity of supply/service.

Please do visit the UCL Brexit site for more detail on our approach to planning for and responding to Brexit. Along with information on support, information and advice, it has details on our engagement with partners and policy-makers, as well as UCL research on Brexit. We will keep the site updated as new information becomes available.