Those of you that are RAS Fellows will have already received this email but given its importance we would like to share it with the UKSP community as well.

Philippa & Iain

-------------------------------------------------------

Dear Fellow,
 
On 23 June the referendum on UK membership of the European Union resulted in a vote to leave.
 
Since then elected RAS officers and Society staff have been busy trying to understand the consequences of this result, and specifically how 'Brexit' will affect astronomy, space science and geophysics.
 
The President, Executive Director, Deputy Executive Director, and a number of members of RAS Council attended the Parliamentary Links Day event in Westminster last Tuesday. Speakers there, including Jo Johnson MP, the Science Minister and Nicola Blackwood MP, the Chair of the Science and Technology Committee, asked the scientific community to supply evidence to better inform the UK position in the forthcoming negotiations with other EU countries.
 
At the National Astronomy Meeting last week, John Womersley, the CEO of STFC, and Katherine Wright, Head of Space Science and the UK Space Agency, also both took questions on the impact of Brexit.
 
Although these are uncertain times, we would like to assure you that the Society is making every effort to work with our partner organisations to ensure the best possible outcome for the sciences we represent. We would like to ask for your help with this, in two areas in particular:
 
The Commons Science and Technology Committee have announced an inquiry into the implications and opportunities for science and research that result from leaving the EU. The RAS will of course be responding to this, but we need to hear your concerns and ideas to shape our evidence.
If you are based in the UK, this is also the time to contact MPs to make them aware of how EU withdrawal will affect our sciences; for example to ask them to seek assurances that the loss of EU grants will be mitigated by new direct UK funding (this was one of the pledges made by the Leave campaign over the last few months), that the UK will continue to play its part in international collaborations, that scientists from other EU countries will continue to be welcome here, and that any changes to our immigration system allow us to employ researchers from around the world quickly and effectively.
 
I have attached a template letter for the second of these actions, and if you hear back from your MP, please do let us know.
 
If you have any questions or suggestions for the Society on this or other policy matters, please contact me using the email address below. Thank you again for your continued support for our work.
 
Yours faithfully,
 
Dr Robert Massey
Deputy Executive Director
Royal Astronomical Society
Tel: +44 (0)20 7292 3979
Mob: +44 (0)7802 877 699
[log in to unmask]
 
 
Via
 
Annie Hogan
Memberships Officer
Royal Astronomical Society