Not sure I totally see the equivalence. UK has been part of the EU since only 1973, and then with only one foot in the door (maintaining separate fiat currency monetary policies). Has Quebec ever been a separate country? Has Canada ever been divided?
So much fear mongering. It was a referendum, decided by popular vote (a concept I hear is really catching on in American electorate politics).
The point is that separation is more traumatic than merely being separate. Divorce tends to take longer and cost more than marriage.
Leaving the EU will impact British academic research that's funded by the EU or done in collaboration with researchers in the EU. This isn't really in dispute - even in the unrealistic best case scenario of the UK negotiating the exact same access to all of this they have now, it'll take disruptive time to do so.
Brexit's more akin to what would happen if Quebec seceded.