Brain Gain, Brain Brain or Brain Circulation

Relying on international knowledge and skills is an unsustainable solution to skills shortages. The shift needs to be made to symmetrical cooperation, with each country learning and gaining from the other. The UK has shifted from somewhere suffering a “brain drain”, to reaping a “brain gain”, but the focus should be on brain circulation for the full benefit in developing international science and engineering.

Dr Lloyd Anderson is the British Council’s Director of Science, Engineering and Environment, based in London. He is responsible for setting corporate policy in science, engineering & environment, in close consultation with key UK stakeholders and partners, and helping translate that global policy into strategies at the regional and local level. The sector has a global budget of ?10m, with programmes and science network representatives in 70 countries. He also ensures British Council teams overseas have the right activities and campaigns to promote British science innovatively and effectively, and networks at senior level within the UK science community and Whitehall to build understanding and support for the Council’s science work.