There is potentially something to be gained for everyone by increasing palliative care research collaboration. In a recent editorial in BMJ Supportive & Palliative Care, Higginson1 reviews current challenges for palliative care research, both in terms of the UK’s research agenda responsiveness to national policy and through key messages to funding agencies to ensure that research effectively translates into better patient and family care at the end of life. A specific call for greater collaboration (both nationally and internationally) is made. She is not the first. An editorial by Stein Kaasa2 in 2008 at the advent of the European Palliative Care Research Collaborative (EPCRC) called for ‘an international arena for palliative care research’. Has this been achieved? Particularly at this time of confusion for the United Kingdom in light of the recent referendum decision to leave the European Union (EU) and the vacuum that leaves in terms of a clear understanding of its implications for future research partnership, it is critical to understand how robust international collaboration can be achieved and what practical steps are needed to …