US-bound scholars carry cares of the word on shoulders

Economic Times

10 hours ago

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Termination Biggest Fear
An Indian researcher applying for a doctoral position in medicine at a leading US university earlier this year decided to drop any mention of LGBTQ+ health disparities from the grant proposal.The project was reframed as a data-driven analysis of demographic trends in patient outcomes, instead of spotlighting gaps in healthcare access for sexual minorities. The core research remained the same, but the language was 'sanitised' to sidestep any political red flags in a shifting American research environment.As the Donald Trump administration's war on diversity, equity and inclusion ( DEI ), climate action and public health research intensifies, Indians seeking US grants and PhD positions are rethinking how to frame, and sometimes where they pursue, their academic ambitions, said consultants.'The concern, especially for those applying for PhD or post-doctoral positions, is two-fold — first, the fear that their proposed research might not receive funding and second, that even if funded, their work could be undermined or prematurely terminated if it falls out of favour politically,' said Vibha Kagzi, founder of ReachIvy.com.(Join our ETNRI WhatsApp channel for all the latest updates)Subject areas such as climate science, DEI and public health are increasingly being viewed as 'politically sensitive,' she said, prompting students to reassess whether their proposals are 'safe' to get through repurposed US funding filters.Since February, more than 2,100 National Institutes of Health grants worth $9.5 billion have been cancelled. At Harvard University alone, $2.7-billion National Science Foundation grants have been withheld.Universities including Brown, Cornell, Columbia, Princeton, Pennsylvania and Northwestern have faced funding freezes, affecting everything from Alzheimer's research to robotics.Piyush Kumar, regional director for South Asia, at IDP Education, said the ripple effects of the cancellations are evident. 'The recent adjustments to federal funding have impacted some top US institutions, especially those heavily reliant on government grants. This has affected a segment of students applying for Fall 2025 PhD intakes, with some reporting delays or pauses in research-related admissions due to funding constraints.'ForeignAdmits founder Nikhil Jain said anxiety levels among applicants are unprecedented. 'The biggest fear isn't about getting rejected: it's having funding pulled after you're already there,' he said. 'We've had students where NIH terminated their advisor's grant mid-PhD, and suddenly they're scrambling to find new funding or face visa issues.'Jain and his team are working closely with students to strip politically sensitive terminology from proposals. 'Any mention of DEI is toxic now, as is 'underrepresented communities'. Climate change has become 'extreme weather events'. We tell students to avoid 'structural racism', 'reproductive health equity' and 'environmental justice'. I've seen applications get flagged for using 'critical theory' or even 'gender' in the context of medical research. Students are self-censoring to an extreme degree,' he said.Many applicants are preparing two versions of their research statements—one for US funders, another for European bodies like the European Research Council (ERC). Interest in European destinations has surged, with enquiries for ERC grants up 13% since April, according to Jain.Acknowledging a 'tactical' shift in student applications, Kagzi said, 'While the core intellectual enquiry often remains intact, the language, framing and even methodology are being recalibrated.'Researchers are adding quantitative models, machine learning components or economic competitiveness angles to make their work more fundable, she said.Abhijit Zaveri, founder of Career Mosaic, said many applicants are opting for 'topics with broader applicability that might not attract undue attention, or raise questions in sensitive areas'.