Britain has a rare opportunity to lure American talent

Mint

4 days ago

Americans like Britain. Ask restless American graduates where they would most like to move, and it often tops the list. So it is no surprise that, as the Trump administration has attacked America's top universities and slashed funding for research, American interest in British-based science and tech jobs spiked. Britain has a rare opportunity to snap up disillusioned American boffins, as well as global talent that might once have chosen America. Will it seize it?
It faces competition. In April Canadian and European institutions pledged tens of millions of dollars to fund international talent. In May Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the European Commission, urged researchers to 'choose Europe for science', with a package worth €500m ($580m) over three years. Britain was late to the party. On June 22nd it unveiled the Global Talent Fund, a £54m ($72m) scheme to support 11 'world-class' researchers to relocate to Britain with their teams, with funding for five years. Groups such as the Royal Society have set up their own schemes too, taking the UK's total commitments to around £115m.
The point of such programmes is to lure the sort of researchers who might one day win Nobel prizes. But plenty of less-established talent is also up for grabs. Many American universities are cutting places on graduate programmes and have frozen hiring for postdocs. Academics in America also report that young researchers from overseas are turning down job offers there.
Britain has some advantages to attract such people. Language is one. In data from Indeed, a jobs site, Anglophone countries have seen the biggest jumps in American interest in science and tech roles (see chart). In June more than a quarter of American clicks on international science positions went to Britain (Canada got more than a third). English-speaking countries also appeal to the same globally mobile cohort who like America. According to Studyportals, a directory of university courses, students who search for America-based bachelor's and master's degrees are most likely to browse for British ones too.
Brand is another advantage. Britain has more stellar institutions than any other European country or Canada. It produces just 3.4% of the world's academic papers, according to one measure, but 6.1% of those in the top 1% of citations (the only country which does better by this criterion is Singapore).
Britain's handicaps are cost and red tape. Moving there means a lengthy visa process, high visa fees and a hefty NHS surcharge—all to be paid upfront. For a family of four relocating for five years, the sum can exceed £20,000. Some British research funders will pay for the applicants' moving expenses, but few cover partners and dependents. And after all that a professor at Oxford may be paid half as much as one at Harvard.
Alongside the Global Talent Fund, Britain has announced a task force to target and support incoming researchers. There is talk of fast tracks for some. But the world's best scientists won't come if they have to pay for the privilege.