Opinion

Give Australia the whole seat at Europe's research table

Canberra paid its way into Horizon Europe and its scientists will work on equal terms with ours from 2027. The 2028 framework should make full association, European Research Council grants included, the standard offer to every country that meets the rules.

Australia just paid its way into Horizon Europe, the European Union's research programme, and its scientists will apply for collaborative grants on the same terms as ours from January 2027. Nearly one in four Australian applications to the programme has been selected, so the door works. A$20 million from Canberra, matched by its Group of Eight universities, carried the joining fee. Now Europe holds a larger question, and the answer decides how the 2028 framework, with a potential budget of at least €175 billion, treats every partner knocking: full association, European Research Council grants included, should be the standard offer to any country that meets the rules, first choice, not a favour granted late.

The EU's answer for now is a half seat, and Australia accepted it: Australia's deal covers only Pillar II of Horizon Europe, and its universities are not allowed to host winners of European Research Council grants. If Australia wants to stay after the current programme ends, it must negotiate a new deal before the next seven-year programme starts in 2028. In money terms the half seat is bigger than it looks: Pillar II accounts for some 56 per cent of the current programme's budget, and the best open part outside it, the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions, Australia keeps under the Excellent Science pillar.

In 2028, Australia returns to the door. Make the whole seat the standing offer.

Done right, the 2028 framework becomes the table where the world's scientists choose to sit. Japan's negotiations are concluded. India's talks are done. Canada, New Zealand and South Korea have agreed; Australia makes twenty-four countries associated, in a programme once reserved for Europeans and near neighbours. The record already argues for it: close to 17,000 Australian-EU co-publications appeared in 2024, and EU member states have been Australia's top scientific partner for over three decades, Australia's Industry department says. In 2028, the choice is between a club that admits guests every cycle and a commons open to those who pay and meet the rules, and the co-publication record shows what the commons holds.

The treaty still goes before Australia's Joint Standing Committee on Treaties, and the Commission expects the association to be complete by mid-2027. The Group of Eight says it fast-tracked the deal to shape the next framework, so the partners we want are already writing their wishlist. When the Commission and the Parliament set the 2028 talks on their course, they should write full association, fee paid at the door, as the standing offer for every country that meets the rules. Build the whole seat first. Then tell whoever negotiates for you on the 2028 framework that you expect the door open.