Don’t feel guilty about poaching scientists fleeing Trump, US science body tells Europe

Europe should press ahead with schemes to attract US scientists wanting to escape cuts by the Trump administration, an American science body has urged, as this will preserve research areas and careers currently under attack.  

Several European governments, individual universities, and the EU itself have rolled out talent attraction programmes to poach disaffected US researchers. But there’s been squeamishness about appearing opportunistic in the midst of US scientists’ misfortune, with some Europeans arguing the main priority should be to support their colleagues across the Atlantic. 

However, Europeans shouldn’t feel guilty, said Erica Goldman, director of policy entrepreneurship at the Federation of American Scientists. “I see it as an act of generosity rather than opportunism,” she told a Science|Businesswebinar on the future of transatlantic research relations under Trump, held on May 6. 

The previous day, the European Commission pledged to spend €500 million to the end of 2027 on a Choose Europe scheme to attract scientists. While not specifically targeting US researchers, it’s clearly a response to the cuts and firings the American research system has endured so far under Trump. 

France, Norway and Canadian hospitals have also launched programmes to poach scientists. Germany could also spend part of a vast new stimulus package on recruitment. 

Commenting on these initiatives, Goldman said she didn’t “perceive it personally as poaching.” Instead, it could allow “whole careers that might be lost” to continue outside the US. 

What’s more, it’s possible that US scientists decamping to Europe may return when the climate is again more favourable. “The strength of international collaborations built during this time will likely move back with them,” she said. 

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In a further blow to cooperation last week, the world’s biggest biomedical funder, the US National Institutes of Health, said it would halt new sub-awards to foreign research organisations, citing the need for better transparency and security. 

This will stop US research organisations that win NIH awards from sub-contracting part of their projects to European counterparts, potentially ending a key funding vehicle for transatlantic biomedical research. 

This move by the US could have implications for the EU’s own openness to US scientists. Brussels allows Americans to access money from health calls in its Horizon Europe research programme, explicitly because the NIH is open to funding Europeans. 

With the NIH ending international sub-awards, Goldman wants European funders to further open up their grants to the US so that collaboration can continue. 

This might be a tough political ask, given that the US is shutting down reciprocity. But, said Goldman “there is a long view here.” 

“Reciprocity might not be immediately possible,” she acknowledged, but in the future, the US might once again be more willing to fund European researchers.