In November, two papers were published regarding the future of Scotland. The first, ‘Scotland analysis: Science and research’, written by the UK government, and unveiled by David Willetts, UK Science Minister earlier in November, focuses solely on the issues related to science and research in Scotland,  whereas the second one, a Scottish Government White Paper, addresses a whole range of issues associated with independence in Scotland with a brief discussion of the futures of science and higher education in Scotland (Chapter 5- Education, Skills and Employment).

Both papers testify to the strength of the Scottish science base and the contribution of Scottish universities to the UK research base as a whole. They agree on the significance and success of the presently developed research infrastructure, funding system, collaboration platforms and research support organisations across the UK. The importance of the mutually reinforcing research capabilities developed across the boundaries of the UK in a single integrated system goes unquestioned in both papers.

However, when it comes to the independence debate, the two papers present contrasting positions. The UK government paper highlights the disproportionate level of funding and research support that Scottish universities receive compared to the rest of the UK, warning that the funding will not continue at the same level in an independent Scotland. According to the paper, while Scotland only contributes 8% to the GDP, it receives 13% of the research funding from various funding bodies. Should Scotland go independent, the paper argues, the UK research funding flow will stop and it will be up to the Scottish Funding Council to decide whether to keep public research funding at present levels. In addition, maintaining the integrated research system will be rather difficult should Scotland vote ‘yes’, because it is with little precedent to have two sovereign nations with a consolidated research system. It is only possible to reach an agreement if both countries can find an arrangement that satisfies the social and economic interests of both and can be implemented across borders, despite the differences in regulations and policies that they might have.

Adopting a different perspective, the Scottish Government White Paper argues that it will be in the interest of both sides to remain in a ‘common research area’, which shares research councils, access to facilities, and peer reviewing. According to this paper, Scotland universities have made a huge input to UK research and the research councils have been partly funded by Scottish taxpayers. Therefore, Scotland will seek to remain in the ‘common research area‘ and will negotiate a formula to continue funding research councils based on population, but with Scottish research institutes receiving lower or higher funding support based on their research performance.

While both papers present evidence in support of their argument, the differences are remarkable. In particular, because it is not designed as a specialist paper on science, the Scottish Government White Paper does not discuss how it aims to retain the common research area and how it is going to continue encouraging research collaborations across borders in the absence of a shared institutional framework between the two sovereign nations. The Scottish Government White Paper presents an ideal research system which maintains the positive aspects of the current system but eliminates other features (for example, attracting international research talent through modifying immigration policy). However, without discussing how this system will run in an independent Scotland and without providing a contingency plan many questions remain unanswered. 

At a workshop, organised by the ESRC Innogen Centre in November and attended by Scottish-based industrialists, academics, policy agencies and senior research managers, there was considerable debate about uncertainties such as these. There were real worries about how the current high levels of research funding could be continued and how Scotland would be able to compete on research. At the same time there was interest in working hard towards new policy for the Scottish science system shaped towards application in new Scottish based innovation and entrepreneurship. 

As the Scottish Government White Paper highlights, the prosperous research base is one of Scotland’s strongest features. However, the requirements of the Scottish science base will not be addressed without a more in-depth discussion of what an independent science system would look like. Such an analysis would need to go beyond a limited description of an ‘ideal’ model of the future Scottish science base and will need to consider and debate a range of scenarios should Scotland cease to remain in the UK.