As American scientists and researchers are hit with billions of dollars in federal funding cuts, new policies seeking to curtail freedom of expression on campus and limit the research that gets done, and significant job cuts, theres a sense that the nation has become hostile to many kinds of scientific inquiry.
In response, one European institution wants to offer a port in the storm.
Frances Aix-Marseille University recently launched Safe Place for Science, an effort to attract and support American researchers during what program sponsors call the new brian drain. As Denis Bertin, president of the Institute of Advanced Studies and the director of the Safe Place program, told Fast Company via a translator, he believes there needs to be a global collective response to make sure important research and scientific discovery isnt stopped during Trump’s presidency. He fully expects such efforts to expand both in France and across Europe more broadly.
Bertin has been alarmed about the anti-DEI policies being espoused by the administration, including reports that grant applications will be evaluated based on the appearance of common words and phrases.
Americans are so shocked and scared, theyre self-censoring, he said. I want to tell them theres a light at the end of the tunnel.
In just a week after the programs launch in on March 5, the university has already heard from more than 40 American researchers. The respondents represent disciplines as diverse as the humanities, gender studies, environmental research, and vaccination studies, and hail from schools like Stanford and Yale and organizations like NASA and the National Institutes of Health.
The funding cuts pushed by the Trump administration would be significant for university research. The loss of indirect funding support by the NIH, which supports basic medical and biotech research, would cut billions of dollars from university budgets. And efforts to defund organizations like the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration would severely harm American leadership in climate science.
Bertin said one female researcher has already arrived in France, an epidemiologist who studies how climate change impacts the spread of diseases in rural African women. Shes in the midst of finalizing paperwork. She wants to be discreet, he said, but she did tell France Info that Trump’s policies have “created a climate of utter uncertainty and fear. And even if I still have a job, and we receive funds, there is no information on whether the financing will continue.”
The Safe Place for Science program, which is receiving support from Frances Ministry of Education and Research, will spend 15 million euros, roughly $16.4 million, to support 15 researchers, with each receiving roughly 600,000 to 800,000 euros over three years ($653,000 to $873,000) to work at Aix-Marseille University. A coalition of local and regional governments and chamber of commerce officials are working together to help new arrivals with employment, school access, transport, and visas. In a statement, Renaud Muselier, president of the Provence-Alpes-Côte dAzur Region and deputy president of Regions of France, said, We are ready to welcome them and will make them true children of the country!
Bertin said other universities, including some in Toulouse, would soon be launching similar programs. Earlier this week in Brussels, the Vrije Universiteit Brussel announced it would open 12 postdoctoral positions for international researchers, with a specific focus on American scholars working in socially significant fields. Additionally, 18 apartments would be provided for international researchers.
While Science has reported that universities around the globe have seen an increase in applications from U.S.-based researchers, many of these schools also struggle with their own funding issues. On top of that, other governments havent always been quick to offer support in the form of simplified visas programs and financial assistance for overseas researchers.
There have already been efforts by overseas institutions to attract talented U.S.-based academics. The University of Helsinki has been running targeted campaigns directed at U.S. researchers for years to enhance our university’s visibility as an employer for international researcher audiences, said Jaana Nylund, the schools head of development, in an emailed response. Over the past two years, the number of U.S. applicants to the school has doubled.
This is not opportunistic. We do it as support, Bertin said of his schools new campaign. Were not closing off any avenues. Were open to anything.
He explained that the U.S. research cuts would do damage far beyond the U.S., due to the way research and inquiry in one country can influence ideas and work in others. Thats one of the reasons he falls back on long-standing transatlantic bonds in explaining his desire to help U.S. researchers.
The U.S. and Europe have always saved each other through history, and the program that we have set up, hopefully to have Americans at European universities, will be a fantastic response to the current situation in the U.S., Bertin said. It shows that we continue to help and save each other.
