The European Union is gathering around plans to absorb frustrated American researchers who have been pushed out by Trump's reforms that harm research freedom and its infrastructure. * The Max Planck Institute in Germany reports a doubling in the number of American researchers seeking to research in its country.
European Union research funding bodies are considering ways to accommodate American scientists and European academics who have left their homelands and may be seeking a more supportive work environment now that Donald Trump is in the White House. The move echoes national discussions about encouraging the return of European researchers from the United States and expanding programs to attract American scientists. This is what the website says Science|Business Covering the scientific and academic environment of science in the European Union.
It is understandable how serious the situation in the US is. From an opinion article on the same website In it, Richard Hudson, deputy editor of the magazine, described an event that took place on February 24 at the French Embassy in Washington. "On the stage of the embassy auditorium on February 24, French-American chemist Monji Bavendi spoke about the discovery of "quantum dots," for which he shared the Nobel Prize in 2023. It is a classic story of scientific curiosity that led, after many years, to actual products - in this case, a key component in luxury video monitors and other devices.
Asked what he thought of the Trump administration's plans to cut the US science budget, he replied: "It's going to be an absolute disaster for any kind of research." He is currently a professor at MIT, one of the richest universities in the world, but he adds: "I don't know if I'll be able to fund a single graduate student. It seems like we can't count on the federal government to fund it anymore."
Concerns in Europe are growing as US participation in hundreds of multinational climate and health research projects is now at risk; the US contribution to the ITER nuclear fusion reactor in Europe, the CERN high-energy physics laboratory, and the International Space Station; existing US research infrastructures that foreign governments have already co-funded; the rate of reimbursement to universities for federal research; and staffing levels at the National Science Foundation and the National Institutes of Health – all in turmoil, under a president who neither understands nor cares about how science works.
META senior official: Europe may have an opportunity to attract some of the world's best scientists
While the new US government, just a month old, has already undermined the freedom and integrity of research – from freezing budgets, to restricting transatlantic data transfers, to censorship in areas such as climate change, gender, and infectious diseases – Jan Lacon, head of artificial intelligence research at Facebook’s parent company, declared on social media that “it seems the US is intent on destroying the public funding system for research,” and that Europe “may have the opportunity to attract some of the best scientists in the world.”
In Germany, the Max Planck Society is considering its options after seeing a doubling in applications from US researchers for its research group leader program. As reported by Der Spiegel, the company's president, Patrick Kramer, is looking into what top US researchers might need to come to Germany.
“We should all avoid saying ‘Oh my God, they’re having a hard time there, so let’s go and get them’, we don’t want to profit from the plight of our colleagues,” Maria Laptin, president of the European Research Council (ERC), told the European Parliament on February 19. However, she supports the idea of “giving asylum” to researchers.
Mathias Johansen, director general of the European Federation of Academies of Sciences and Humanities, agrees: “Europe has a responsibility to uphold academic freedom and provide a safe, values-based haven for science as a global public good.” He added, “We need to find a careful balance, to absorb researchers from all over the world without over-exploiting the difficulties our colleagues abroad face in the competitive pursuit of talent.”
A dedicated European passport for scientists
Measures to attract American researchers are also being considered by the European Commission. Ekaterina Zaharieva, the commissioner responsible for research and innovation, told the same MEPs that she was considering a “special passport” for scientists. She explained: “In order to attract and retain talent in Europe, we need to look at the incentives and conditions for third-country nationals. The use of the term ‘passport’ is intended to convey the idea of addressing the mobility of researchers in Europe.” This idea is now being discussed with her counterpart in charge of home affairs and migration, Magnus Brunner, as part of a strategy on EU visa policy to be presented later this year.
Although Zareiba did not directly address the US political landscape, she suggested that “recent global developments” present “an opportunity for Europe to position itself as an attractive destination for top talent and research excellence.” She is currently reviewing the implementation of the Student and Research Guidelines and the Blue Card Directive to attract outstanding students and researchers from leading organizations in third countries, and will explore options for providing “stronger support to member states and their embassies to ensure the timely issuance of long-term visas and residence permits.”
Maria Leptin, president of the European Research Council, is keen to support researchers willing to move to Europe, but has warned that the ERC’s capacity to act is limited. When the war in Ukraine broke out, the council reached out to researchers it funded in Ukraine and helped encourage the absorption of researchers and support staff as refugees – an action it could also implement as an immediate emergency measure in similar cases.
Under existing programmes, the ERC can offer an additional €1 million per researcher to cover start-up costs for researchers moving to the EU from third countries. The organisation is waiting for the approval of the next Horizon Europe budget before it may update the size and number of grants, including incentives for moving to Europe.
All of those interviewed indicated that they were not happy about what was happening. According to Leptin, the ideal outcome would be for the restrictions in the US to be lifted. "What we have to hope for is that this is just a temporary event, and that the US research community will organize and explain to its representatives how damaging this is to everyone across the US," she said.
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Today, Germany is on the right side of history. Besides, what will they do in the US with a curtailed research system and scientific censorship? Incidentally, it's very similar. In those countries, authoritarian leaders arose who were willing to sacrifice everything for ideology.
It's funny.. From World War I and II, scientists fled from Europe and Germany to the USA and the scientist thinks that scientists have a short memory..
The progressives destroyed Europe and the prestige of its academies. The connection between capital and research is disastrous. Trump's steps are bringing the world back from disintegration and anarchy in which it is not even possible to determine a person's gender, and a presidential decision was made at the end of Obama's term to abolish segregation in the restrooms, bringing back to sanity the destructive process of abolishing heritage, borders, and favoring frontier workers over citizens of the country.
Even if these political issues concern the very existence of the scientific field after centuries of development?
Trump will remove the United States from its status as the number 1 superpower and as a superpower in general – a free choice of its citizens. The laws of physics do not change when the public chooses. This could lead to the collapse of Western civilization, as the British Ministry of Defense report presented by Cezanne Roy – one of the scenarios in it.
The wisdom of the masses is a slogan perhaps without a cover. The masses, from what I have seen, want to remain uneducated, some of them, devoid of morality and decency, with a tyrant who will make decisions for them. A religious tyrant or a political tyrant.
Nostradamus is right.
Personally, I hope the site will stay away from political issues.
As long as Europe's security relied on the military power of the United States, it could waste its money on immigrants, worthless research, and socialism. Now that the United States will cease to be Europe's de facto military and Europe will have to finance its own defense, it will become more capitalist than the United States.