The visa issues are preventing academics from being able to attend international conferences that are held in the UK. This could undermine science after Brexit, according to one of the largest research funds, the Wellcome Trust.
The Wellcome Trust is one of the largest funders of scientific research in the UK, donating up to £1 billion every year. The organisation has stated that the UK immigration system is “not up to scratch”. This scathing report comes after a scientific summit in the UK was marred by visa barriers for its delegates.
One person who was denied entry to the UK for the summit was Dr Mogamed Alnor: an assistant professor of psychiatry at Sudan’s International University. He paid a $2,500 fee to attend but was denied entry to the UK. Visa delays have prevented academics from entering the UK on many more times on the lead up to Brexit.
Wellcome’s head of UK and EU policy said: “we don’t have the immigration system we need to deliver really great science. It’s critical that we have rules that allow researchers to travel because it is a fundamental part of their jobs. It’s really important that African and Asian researches can participate in scientific research.”
Industry experts have said that they would like to increase the participation in science by people from low-income countries and although some politicians support this, there are fundamental issues with the immigration system that prevents this from happening.
Scarsdale Solicitors Rochdale
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