Anniversary Address from Sir Venki Ramakrishnan, President of the Royal Society

"Science has been a global enterprise for many centuries, and one reason the UK has maintained its strength as a scientific nation is its openness to ideas and talent. The Society had a foreign secretary before the government and from our very earliest days we sought information from scientists residing abroad as well as travellers and explorers who journeyed to foreign lands. Their findings were often first reported in our journals. We have been open not just to ideas, but also to people. I have often pointed out that three of the last five Presidents of the Royal Society were immigrants – including myself. Scientists by the very nature of their work tend to be international in their perspective, and perhaps this is why the science community was so strongly in favour of remaining in the EU.

"A number of people have recently asked why I am nevertheless relatively upbeat about the prospects for science. Brexit may have called that internationalism into question but I believe it is alive and well in science. We have a long history of looking beyond our shores to bring talented people and new ideas to the UK, and there remains very strong support in the science community to continue to be open.
"Encouragingly, all the evidence suggests our Government too understands the importance, both of science itself and of the need to remain open and global. Science has been one of the Government’s 12 priorities for Brexit, and while lacking in detail, the Government’s position paper on Science and Brexit said all the right things in terms of the importance of scientific collaboration with Europe, and a willingness to make a deal on science. Having been twice invited to Chevening House by David Davis, the Secretary of State at the Department for Exiting the EU, I have seen a real desire to prevent Brexit from harming our scientific endeavour.
"Moreover, our coll..
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