Brain drain to Spain as top minds leave Britain after Brexit (2025)

MADRID – Top minds are leaving Britain for Spain amid concerns over the effects of Brexit and the cost of living crisis in the UK.

Almost a third, or 32.8 per cent, of the 58 top researchers who won places on Spain’s ATRAE (Attract) scheme had been working in the UK.

Britain lost the largest number of scientists to Spain, according to the countries whose scientists applied for posts on the ATRAE scheme. Almost all of those who left the UK were foreign scientists based in Britain.

Designed to attract the top brains from around the world, the programme offers scientists €1m (£868,500) each to set up a team and carry out research at academic institutions in Spain.

Last week the Spanish government approved the last round for this year’s €45m (£39m) scheme for leading scientists in their fields.

The UK Research and Innovation budget will fall in 2025-2026 compared with the previous year, the government confirmed last week. The national research funding agency willbe £8.811bn for 2025-2026, £63m less than the £8.874bn last year.

The agency’s budget previously rose in cash terms for three consecutive years though this increase was wiped out by inflation.

Luis Muñoz Gonzalez, an investigator into AI security systems who has joint British and Spanish nationality, left Imperial College London in 2023 to take up a job in Spain. He will now head a research project connected with ATRAE at the University of Alcalá in Madrid.

“It is very significant the number of people who came from the UK. They are foreigners who were working there. It is the country with the highest number of people who won a place on this scheme,” he said.

“Spain is a country which typically has problems attracting foreign academic talent. I don’t know if it is Brexit or it is the cost of living crisis. Possibly it is a combination of things.”

Gonzalez said that when he worked in London he was concerned about the difficulties European students had working in the UK because of Brexit.

“I had many concerns from a professional point of view about whether Britain could take part in investigative programmes like Horizon Europe, run by the European Union,” he said.

“These programmes have been one of the sources of finance for investigators in the UK. It was not until autumn 2023 that they confirmed Britain could take part.”

Horizon Europe is the EU’s €93.5bn (£81bn)research and innovation programme. After Brexit, Britain was not able to join it, but this changed in 2024.

Gonzalez said fees for international students rose considerably after Brexit which had a significant impact on students studying for doctorates who are part of investigative teams in universities.

“In my opinion, the best universities in Britain benefited enormously from European students. The question of visas imposed after Brexit stopped some European post-doctoral students,” he said.

He added that the cost of living crisis in Britain and low wages for academics in the UK “made it difficult to lead a dignified life and have a family, especially in a city like London”.

As a result, when he received an offer from a Spanish telecoms company, he did not hesitate.

Christopher Rauh, 42, a professor of economics at the University of Cambridge who has dual German and American nationality, said the combination of Brexit, the cost of living in the UK and an attractive offer in Spain made him leave Britain.

Professor Rauh, a father of two, is about to start work at the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC) in Barcelona.

“My wife is from here [Spain], the cost of living is lower here and in the UK the whole debate around the European Research Council grants was uncertain. Everything seems to become a bargaining chip – settled status, access to health care – between the EU and the UK government,” he said.

“Some concerns about the NHS and housing became concerning – if we could afford to live in the UK. Especially with the cost of childcare. Salaries at the University of Cambridge, given the cost of living, are not easy. Buying a house – we could forget that.”