Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how many overseas scientists from outside the EU are funded by his Department through Official Development Assistance funding.

BEIS has two research and innovation Official Development Funds: the Newton Fund and Global Challenges Research Fund (GCRF). The funds are distributed through the UK’s main public bodies for the allocation of government research funds including UK Research and Innovation and the four National Academies.

BEIS does not hold a record of the number of individuals supported across all funding bodies. However, since 2014, UK Research and Innovation (and its predecessor bodies) has supported over 2000 researchers based outside of the EU through Global Challenges Research Fund and Newton Fund programmes.

A Newton funded research collaboration between experts from Fundação Oswaldo Cruz Recife (Fiocruz) and the MRC-University of Glasgow Centre for Virus Research played a major role in Brazil’s response to the Zika epidemic. The first in the world to focus on Zika virus epidemiology, the project informed policy and resulted in basic understanding of the virus, paving the way for more advanced research to take place.