As Trump's policies worry scientists, France and others put out a welcome mat

Boston Globe

25-03-2025

At stake are not just individual jobs, but the concept of free scientific inquiry, university presidents say. They are also rushing to fill huge holes in collective research caused by the cuts, particularly in areas targeted by the Trump administration, including studies of climate change, public health, environmental science, gender, and diversity.
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If the movement becomes a trend, it could mean the reversal of the long-term brain drain that has seen generations of scientists move to the United States. And while at least some Europeans have noted that the changes in the United States provide a unique opportunity to build stronger European research centers, most academics say that competition is not the short-term motivation.
'This program is ultimately linked to indignation, to declare what is happening in the United States is not normal,' said Eric Berton, president of Aix Marseille University, which has earmarked 15 million euros (nearly $16.3 million) for 15 three-year positions.
He said the number of openings "wasn't much," but the goal was to "give them a little hope."
In France, Aix Marseille University is considered a leader in the push to bring in American researchers.
Since that program started, a cancer research foundation in Paris announced it was immediately putting up 3.5 million euros to welcome American cancer researchers. And last week, two universities in Paris announced they were offering positions to American scientists whose work has been curtailed or halted by the Trump administration.
'We are researchers. We want to continue to work at the highest level in these fields that are being attacked in the United States,' said El Mouhoub Mouhoud, the president of Université Paris Sciences et Lettres.
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The university plans to welcome 15 researchers who are already working on shared projects in targeted areas including climate science, health, humanities, and gender studies, Mouhoud said. As a result, the projects would continue unfettered and the American researchers could enjoy 'academic freedom to do their research,' he said.
"That's good for everyone," Mouhoud said.
The alarms at European scientific institutions began sounding as the Trump administration started slashing jobs and freezing science grants as part of its broad cost-cutting measures.
Firings at US centers, deemed the pinnacle of science, have been announced week after week, including at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the National Science Foundation, the US Geological Survey, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The National Institutes of Health, the world's largest funder of biomedical research, fired 1,200 employees and put grant reviews on hold, essentially turning off the tap of government funding for research projects in labs across the country.
The cuts come as some federal agencies have removed terms from websites and grant applications that are deemed unacceptable to the Trump administration, which is seeking to purge the federal government of 'woke' initiatives. Among the terms considered taboo: 'climate science,' 'diversity,' and 'gender.'
Taken together, the actions have sent a chill through academia and research institutes, with scientists worried not just for their jobs, but also the long-term viability of their research.
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What we see today is actually censorship, censorship of fundamental values‚' said Yasmine Belkaid, president of the Pasteur Institute in Paris, who moved to France last year after 30 years in the United States, where she had led the National Institutes of Health's Center for Human Immunology.
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"We could lose a generation of science, a generation of scientists, something that we cannot recover from," she added. "It is our duty collectively to make sure that science on the whole is protected."
Philippe Baptiste, the French minister of higher education and research, has been among the most outspoken and active European leaders on the issue. Baptiste, who led the French National Center of Space Studies before joining the government, described the Trump administration's decisions as 'collective madness' that required a swift and robust response from around the world.
Baptiste has been working with the presidents of French universities to come up with a government program. He has also pushed for a Europe-wide response, including drafting a letter signed by government ministers in 11 other European countries, which demands a coordinated effort and dedicated funding from the European Commission for startups, research, and innovation.
More than 350 scientists signed a petition published this week in the French newspaper Le Monde, similarly calling on the European Commission to set up an emergency fund of 750 million euros to accommodate thousands of researchers working in the United States.
A European Commission spokesperson said a meeting was being planned to coordinate the most effective response to the Trump administration cuts to scientific research.
In Brussels, two sister universities — Vrije Universiteit Brussel and Université Libre de Bruxelles — said they planned to market to American students a program offering 36 postdoctoral positions open to international researchers from around the world.
The positions, largely funded by European Union money, will focus on research in climate, artificial intelligence, and other areas the schools view as socially important.
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In the Netherlands, the minister of education, culture, and science, Eppo Bruins, announced that he wanted to set up a fund 'in the very short term' to attract leading scientists in a variety of fields. While he did not mention Trump directly, he hinted at it in a letter to the Dutch House of Representatives. 'The geopolitical climate is changing, which is currently increasing the international mobility of scientists,' he wrote. 'Several European countries are responding to this and are going to attract international scientific talent. I want the Netherlands to continue to be at the forefront.'
Ulrike Malmendier, a German economist who is member of Germany's leading economic council, urged European governments to increase investment in science to attract out-of-work researchers from the United States. 'The development in the USA is a huge opportunity for Germany and Europe,' Malmendier, who is a professor at the University of California, Berkeley, told Germany's Funke media group. 'I know that a lot of people are thinking about leaving.'
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