British Library – Written evidence (ESE0043)

 

Overview:

  1.         The British Library welcomes this call for evidence by the House of Lords EU Home Affairs Sub-Committee, and notes its focus on Erasmus and Horizon 2020 is intended to be limited to consideration of the effect of Brexit on funding for university research.

 

  1.         The Library is one of the world’s largest libraries, holding over 170 million items and welcoming around 1.5 million visitors every year. Our first and core purpose is to build, curate and preserve the UK’s national collection of published, written and digital content. Our founding Act (British Library Act 1972) sets out our duty to give access to a comprehensive collection across all disciplines and formats. It defines our duty to be ‘a national centre for reference, study and bibliographical and other information services, in relation both to scientific and technological matters and to the humanities.’ Under the Legal Deposit Libraries Act 2003, the British Library is required to receive a copy of every published print item in the UK, and under subsequent regulations in 2013 to receive non-print published items such as e-books, e-journals, microfilm and web content.

 

  1.         Recognising that the call for evidence is focused largely on UK Universities (and in the case of Erasmus, student participation), this is a short response reflecting the particular issues facing the national research library. We work closely with the Higher Education sector and UKRI to ensure we remain a key part of the UK’s infrastructure for research and innovation. In that capacity we receive funding from EU sources such as Horizon 2020 and the European Regional Development Fund, for initiatives supporting UK start-ups and scale-ups, research infrastructure, and text and data mining.

 

  1.         As others such as Universities UK have highlighted, Brexit poses significant risks to the overall funding available to UK institutions for future initiatives in support of cutting edge science and research, and we believe that the UK should continue to participate in multi-lateral EU funding programmes.

 

  1.         Annex A sets out the initiatives the Library is currently engaged in through the Erasumus and Horizon2020 initiatives.

 

The British Library and Erasmus for Young Entrepreneurs

 

  1. Supporting business to innovate and grow is one of the Library’s core public purposes, enshrined in our founding British Library Act 1972. Through our Business & Intellectual Property Centre network (13 across the UK hosted in public libraries such as Exeter, Manchester, and Norwich), the Library supports SMEs and entrepreneurs to develop and grow their business ideas through access to advice, support, training and market research resources.

 

  1. As part of delivering its Business purpose, the Library is a participating institution in the Erasmus for Young Entrepreneurs cross-border exchange programme. In 2017-18 we organised 38 exchanges for new and aspiring entrepreneurs to work for one to six months with experienced entrepreneurs in other European countries. The geographical scope of placements is currently being expanded with new opportunities in Singapore, New York and Israel. Hosts and participants benefit from an exchange of experience, skills and knowledge of new international markets.

 

  1. We are currently awaiting a decision on our application to extend the current cycle to 2022. We have been notified that, in the event of a no-deal Brexit, all activities involving UK partners in the scheme will cease immediately. 

 

  1. We recognise this call for evidence’s focus on higher education and students. However, we also believe that debate around the UK’s future participation in Erasmus schemes should include recognition of the benefits of this Young Entrepreneurs track, particularly as the core principles around the value of cultural exchange and co-operation are consistent.

 

The British Library and Horizon2020

 

  1. The British Library is a signatory to Our Shared European Future, a British Council communique signed by over 450 cultural and educational institutions across Europe. One of the key recommendations of the communique is: 

 

  1. ‘Continued and enhanced participation in multilateral programmes: The monetary and nonmonetary benefits to European societies and economies emanating from EU-funded programmes, such as Erasmus+, Horizon 2020, Marie Sklodowska-Curie Actions and Creative Europe, are major. We urge EU and UK leaders to ensure UK institutions and individuals remain eligible to access these and future multilateral framework programmes. We equally recommend that the UK government makes appropriate financial contributions to ensure their continued effectiveness and impact.’

 

  1. This remains the position of the Library. Collaboration with EU institutions is essential in enabling a rigorous research infrastructure of UK research and science. It is vital that UK institutions are able to lead cross-border projects and networks in order to maintain the competitiveness and reputation of UK research.

 

  1. Like many institutions in the science and research sectors, the Library has benefitted from the ability to access EU funding. The Library has received EU funding for several information science-based projects over recent years, and as an institution that covers all subjects the British Library is a unique resource for interdisciplinary research, and funding from the EU has supported this work.

 

  1. The commitment from Treasury to underwrite the value of EU grant funding awarded to UK researchers for successful bids submitted until the end of 2020 is very welcome and removes some short term uncertainty in the funding status of UK-based researchers, as well as providing a measure of reassurance for European colleagues that the UK remains a valuable collaborative partner.

 

  1. Longer term we recommend that that the government aims to maintain the existing eligibility of UK institutions to access EU funding; and, should there be a change in eligibility and access to research funds, the UK is not left with a funding gap which would undermine its international reputation for science and research.

 

  1. The Library’s current Horizon2020 (and predecessor) funded projects are set out in Annex A.

 

  1. This submission is necessarily brief given the relatively short window for this call for evidence. However the Library would be happy to provide further detail or information to the committee, if this would be useful.

 

November 2018

 

 

 

 


Annex A: Current funded initiatives through Erasmus for Young Entrepreneurs and Horizon2020 (and predecessors)

 

  1. Erasmus for Young Entrepreneurs

 

The Erasmus for Young Entrepreneurs project is split into cycles.   We have participated in Cycle 8 and are currently in Cycle 9. 

 

We have been told that should the UK leave the EU without a deal at the end of March, that all activities including UK partners will cease immediately.

 

  1. Horizon2020 and predecessors

 

FREYA (Connected Open Identifiers for Discovery, Access and Use of Research Resources)

-          Funding stream: Horizon 2020 e-Infrastructures

-          BL is of main partners alongside: UK Science and Technology Facilities Council, European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN), The European Bioinformatics Institute, University of Bremen (Germany), Data Archiving and Networked Services (Netherlands), Australian National Data Service, Public Library of Science

-          Value of grant: EUR 4,998,650

-          BL receives: £505,750

 

TROMPA (Towards Richer Online Music Public-domain Archives)

-          Funding stream: Horizon 2020

-          Main coordinator: Universitat Pompeu Fabra (Barcelona/Spain); other key partners include: Delft University of Technology (Netherlands), Goldsmiths University of London; University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna (Austria)

-          BL is a smaller Associate Partner and is mainly providing help with access to collections

-          Value of grant: EUR 3,054,930

-          BL receives: in-kind/very small contribution

 

CLEOPATRA (Cross-lingual Event-centric Open Analytics Research Academy) – starting on 1 January 2019

-          Funding stream: Horizon 2020 Marie Curie Innovative Training Networks

-          Main project lead: Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz University of Hannover (Germany); others involved include University of Southampton, University of Bonn (Germany); School of Advanced Study University of London, University of Zagreb (Croatia) and various partners in Slovenia and Latvia

-          BL has small role and will mainly help by providing access to Web Archive datasets

-          Value of grant: TBC

-          BL receives: in-kind/very small contribution

 

FATIGUE (Delayed Transformational Fatigue in Central and Eastern Europe)

-          Funding stream: Horizon 2020 Marie Curie Innovative Training Networks

-          Main coordinator: UCL; other core participants include Charles University Prague (Czech Republic), Jagiellonian University Krakow (Poland), Corvinus University of Budapest (Hungary)

-          BL is a smaller partner and contributes by hosting a PhD placement and taking part in student induction activities

-          Value of grant: EUR 3,508,841

-          BL receives: ca. £4,000

 

PLATINUM (Papyri and Latin Texts: Insights and Updated Methodologies)

-          Funding stream: Horizon 2020 European Research Council funding

-          Led by University of Naples “Federico II” (Italy)

-          BL one of a number of partners, including: University of Liège (Belgium), the École pratique des hautes études (France) and University of Heidelberg (Germany)

-          BL benefits: cataloguing

-          Value of grant: EUR 1,485,712

-          No direct income to BL – the benefits are all ‘in-kind’

 

  1. 7th Framework Programme (precursor to Horizon2020)

 

The BL is also a partner on the following European Research Council projects that were funded under the EU's 7th Framework Programme (FP7 – the precursor to Horizon2020):

  1. The 15cBOOKTRADE Project: http://15cbooktrade.ox.ac.uk/

 

  1. Asia Beyond Boundaries: https://asiabeyondboundaries.org/

 

European Foundation

We also receive further EU funding for research through the European Foundation for the following project:

EUROPEANA DSI-3

•     Total value of grant: £7,117,760

•     Value to BL: £72,455

•     Led by the European Foundation

•     BL is one of 28 partners from ten different countries represented by aggregators and expert hubs, developers, experts and organisations with relevant distribution networks