UK rejoins Horizon Europe, Copernicus satellite programme but opts against Euratom return

The UK is to rejoin the EU’s research programmes Horizon Europe and Copernicus. The move follows an almost three-year hiatus, during which UK-based scientists were unable to lead major research collaborations or receive certain prestigious grants associated with the programmes. However, the UK government has also confirmed that it will not be associating with the Euratom programme, and will instead opt to move forward with its own programme for nuclear fusion research.

Horizon Europe is the world’s largest funding programme for scientific research, with a budget of €95.5 billion (£82 billion) over seven years. Copernicus is the EU’s Earth monitoring programme, with a major emphasis on using satellite data to track atmospheric, land and marine environments. The programmes launched in 2021 and run until 2027.