Call for EU to leverage academic freedom in global talent race

The G6 alliance of Europe’s largest research funders wants the EU to double down on protecting academic freedom and woo researchers from around the world who are looking for a safe haven. 

As academic freedom is increasingly under threat across the world, the EU should try harder to attract and retain global talent that would contribute to the bloc’s ambitious plan to revive the competitiveness of its economy, the G6 alliance said in a joint statement.

G6 leaders say Donald Trump’s attempts to politicise science by cutting the budgets of US science programmes should serve as both a warning and an opportunity for Europe. 

The G6 alliance consists of the French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS), the National Research Council of Italy, the Spanish National Research Council, the Helmholtz Association of German Research Centres, the Leibniz Association and the Max Planck Society.

“We argue that upholding academic freedom is absolutely essential. It's essential for Europe's competitiveness,” Patrick Cramer, president of the Max Planck Society and the spokesperson of the G6, said in a speech in Brussels on 12 May.

Antoine Petit, the outgoing chairman and CEO of CNRS, said that following the US budget cuts, countries like China are trying to attract top researchers. Europe is doing that also, but it should play its academic freedom card more strongly.

“To be frank, we will not attract our colleagues from the US to our salaries,” said Petit. “We have to attract them with other elements also. Research opportunities are clearly a magnet for talents, but academic freedom is as well.”

The European Commission has already taken steps to attract talent from abroad. In October 2025 it launched a €22.5 million pilot call as part of the Choose Europe initiative, which is intended to make the continent a more attractive place to pursue a career in research. Draft plans show that the Commission intends to more than double the budget for this scheme starting in 2027. 

While the G6 statement was hopeful that the US budget cuts could help Europe compete for research talent, it also cautioned EU member to see it as a warning. Threats to academic freedom come not only from outside Europe but also from within. The threats stem from “political, financial, and societal pressures that undermine the EU's knowledge base,” the statement said.

Related articles

• Research commissioner pitches EU to US scientists and investors
• Viewpoint: Europe holds a trump card, but must play it wisely
• Parliament to defend European Research Council independence

Martin Keller, president of the Helmholtz Association said the EU should also try to continue fostering collaborations with US scientists who decide to remain in the US. Keller said the number one lesson for Europe is to acknowledge that political shifts can be sudden and can happen anywhere, including in Europe. “This can also happen here,” he said. 

Maria Leptin, president of the European Research Council (ERC), agreed with the G6 statement that academic freedom is under threat, also in Europe. Budget cuts are inevitable, but when they become indiscriminate and affect entire fields like in the US, they constitute an attack on academic freedom.

“If funding for entire fields, whether it's [diversity, equity and inclusion], equality, gender studies, social studies, climate studies, is simply shut down, that is a huge constraint on academic freedom,” Leptin said.

The ERC is safe for now, Leptin said, but the US case shows that attacks on academic freedom can happen suddenly and the European research community should remain “alert.” 

This view was echoed by Cramer of the Max Planck Society. “[Academic freedom] is a moving target, so we have to stay aware.”