Europe scrambles to help researchers escape Trump

EU science ministers are calling on the European Commission to stand ready to welcome US researchers threatened by Donald Trump’s ongoing tightening of restrictions on US science and provide them with concrete opportunities to pursue their work.

In a letter addressed to research commissioner Ekaterina Zaharieva yesterday and seen by Science|Business, 12 governments asked the EU to show solidarity and welcome “brilliant talents from abroad who might suffer from research interference and ill-motivated and brutal funding cuts.”

“The current international context reminds us that freedom of science can be put at risk anywhere and at any time,” they wrote. While the new US administration is not named in the letter, the implication is clear.

Since his return to the White House, Trump has been looking to limit support to academia. From ordering massive layoffs within federal science agencies, to terminating grants in certain research areas, to taking unprecedented control over university affairs, he has sparked as much outrage as distress within the US research community, which is now looking east for other options.

The letter, signed by France, the Czech Republic, Austria, Bulgaria, Romania, Slovakia, Estonia, Latvia, Spain, Slovenia, Germany and Greece, calls on the EU to secure dedicated funding through existing tools such as the European Research Council and Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA), “together with a dedicated immigration framework.”

“The Union of Skills’ initiative could be an excellent opportunity to coordinate our actions at national and regional levels,” they added, provided that it is carried out within the limits of the current Multiannual Financial Framework ceilings.

Finally, the signatories proposed holding a conference on the issue with EU research ministers and commissioners in the coming weeks.

Universities mobilise

Meanwhile, European universities and research institutions have already started to mobilise.

With its Safe Place For Science programme, launched earlier this month, France’s Aix-Marseille University hopes to raise up to €15 million and offer an employment contract to some 15 researchers over three years. While all nationalities are eligible to apply, the candidates must have been based in the US for a minimum of two years.

According to university president Éric Berton, the call has so far been answered by more than 100 scientists, mainly American.

“We are studying all requests, paying attention to the level of urgency and nature of the situation of the candidates,” he told Science|Business. “We would then like to be able to ‘keep’ these researchers within our university, if they wish to stay.”

Each selected scientist will receive a research budget of between €600,000 and €800,000, Berton said. The university, which in the past accommodated 25 researchers from Ukraine, Yemen, Afghanistan and Palestine, has begun to work with local institutions to assist potential newcomers with relocation and issues such as visas and employment for spouses and partners.

“We want to be a small beacon of hope for [American researchers] in the name of a Europe of knowledge, and to tell them that science cannot be censored,” Berton explained. “This is not an incentive to leave the US but an opportunity for those who can no longer work ‘normally’ to join a scientific framework that promotes freedom and academic excellence.”

The Université Paris-Saclay has also joined the effort with the announcement that it will deploy PhD contracts and fund stays of various durations for American researchers. Other options for hosting them include the Alembert research chairs for highly qualified international scientists and the Chateaubriand fellowship, which is open to PhD candidates enrolled in higher education in the US.

In neighbouring Belgium, the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB) has just opened 12 postdoctoral positions for international researchers, and more particularly US scholars, who will be granted €2.5 million as part of the MSCA programme. It is also collaborating with its francophone sister university, the Université Libre de Bruxelles, to attract American professors.

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Meanwhile, Ruben Puylaert, the spokesperson for Universities of the Netherlands, said that Germany, Sweden and the UK had also launched programmes to support US scientists. He now wishes to see his country follow suit, “both out of solidarity with scientists for whom academic freedom is under pressure and for reasons of an enlightened self-interest.”

“However, as universities, we cannot do this alone,” he told Science|Business, citing “huge budget cuts” that make it “financially impossible for many universities to provide a place for scientists who want to leave the US.”

At a time when many European universities are struggling with funding deficits, there is a concern that the continent will not be able to absorb all US researchers who are looking to relocate. 

“We therefore welcome initiatives from policymakers or society to make this financially feasible,” Puylaert said. “Unfortunately, a motion in the Tweede Kamer [Dutch House of Representatives] calling for this failed to pass yesterday.”

Restrictions reach Europe

A more restrictive environment for science in the US is also beginning to impact at least some scientists in Europe. 

Two of VUB’s projects with US partners – one on youth and disinformation and the other on transatlantic dialogue –  were recently cancelled due to “changed policy priorities,” VUB rector Jan Danckaert said. 

In addition, researchers funded by federal American grant providers at Dutch universities are now being asked to fill in a 36-question poll sent by the United States Geological Survey to disclose their institution’s compliance with the new US federal policy. 

Seen by Science|Business, the questionnaire asks about the nature, funding source and impacts of their research projects. It aims at ensuring that these do no violate any of Trump’s taboos, like climate change and diversity, all the while measuring their contribution, for example, to making the US independent from global organisations such as the United Nations, combatting the persecution of Christians or countering “malign influence, including China.”

Puylaert confirmed that two researchers from Wageningen University & Research had received the survey.

“We stand for academic freedom and are naturally keen to continue working with our American counterparts,” he said. “However, we see that this is, unfortunately, becoming increasingly difficult.” 

He pointed to other uncertainties around the continuation of projects supported by US funding. “We also receive signals that some researchers are struggling to get in touch with their US colleagues, or cannot reach them at all. There are also concerns about access to databases.”

In Australia, scientists have also reportedly received the same questionnaire as their Dutch counterparts. 

Chennupati Jagadish, the president of the Australian Academy of Sciences, fears that responses to the survey could lead to “reductions or cessation of US-Australian scientific collaborations” and has urged the government to engage with Trump, since the US constitutes the country’s largest research partner.

“Strategic guidance must be urgently provided to research institutions as they consider their response to the survey and as they are faced with choosing to uphold Australian law or retaining contracts with American organisations,” he added in a statement.

Universities from Australia’s Group of Eight, which have seen a handful of their researchers receive that questionnaire, also called on the country to turn to Europe and “double down on getting a seat at the table to access the world’s largest research fund, Horizon Europe,” its head Vicki Thomson was quoted as saying.