UK-based India-born Nobel Prize winning biologist Sir Venkatraman Ramakrishnan has warned the British government that the uncertainty around Brexit is hurting science in Britain, with a dramatic drop in the number of leading researchers.
The President of the Royal Society, Britain's key advocate for science, issued his latest warning as the organisation released a new analysis on Wednesday concluding that the UK is now a less attractive destination for top international science talent with 35 per cent fewer scientists coming through key schemes.
"The potential paralysis of a no-deal Brexit and the current state of chaos are hurting UK science and that is hurting the national interest," said Ramakrishnan, who is popularly known as Venki.
"We have seen a dramatic drop in the number of leading researchers who want to come to the UK. People do not want to gamble with their careers, when they have no sense of whether the UK will be willing and able to maintain its global scientific leadership," the structural biologist said.
The 67-year-old leading scientist highlighted that the latest Royal Society analysis had found that UK science has missed out on around 0.5 billion euros a year because of the "uncertainty around Brexit".
The UK is due to leave the European Union (EU) by October 31 and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has made a do or die pledge to exit with or without an agreement in place.
The Royal Society has made repeated interventions to warn that a no-deal Brexit would severely hurt science and collaborative projects with the EU, including one named Horizon 2020.
The latest analysis noted: "Despite government underwrites in the event of no-deal Brexit uncertainty is having a clear impact on the UK's ability to attract funding and talent through the world's largest international R&D investment programme.
"In 2015 prior to the referendum the UK secured 16 per cent of the total Horizon 2020 grants signed for in that year (in monetary terms). In 2018, this figure had fallen to just over 11 per cent."