A group of US-based researchers is due to start work at a French university in June, as scientists and academics scramble to deal with massive cuts introduced by President Donald Trump’s administration.
France’s Aix-Marseille University said its “Safe Place for Science” scheme, which in March became available to US scientists threatened by cuts to higher education in America, was flooded with applicants.
What did the French university say?
The “Safe Space for Science” scheme aims to attract US workers from fields such as health, queer studies, medicine, epidemiology and climate change.
Aix-Marseille said it received 298 applications for the program, of which 242 were deemed eligible, and their applications were under consideration since there were only 20 available posts. The applicants included 135 US citizens and 45 dual nationals.
“Our colleagues were frightened,” university director Eric Berton said. “It was our duty to rise to the occasion.”
Berton added that 10 European universities have contacted him about launching similar programs.
Berton is advocating for creating a “refugee scientist” status to allow more US researchers into France and Europe, a call echoed by former French President Francois Hollande.
Europe keen to attract gifted academics
With many US-based academics considering crossing the Atlantic amid growing threats to their livelihood, Europe is sensing opportunity.
At least 13 European parties including Germany, France and Spain have urged the European Commission in a letter signed in March to quickly move to attract gifted academics, according to Reuters.
The European Research Council, an EU body that finances scientific work, told the news agency it planned to double the relocation budget granted to researchers moving to the EU.
Germany looking to attract up to 1,000 researchers
Reuters also reported seeing negotiation documents in the lead up to the formation of Germany’s coalition government, where plans were laid out to attract up to 1,000 researchers.
“The American government is currently using brute force against the universities in the USA, so that researchers from America are now contacting Europe,” Germany’s chancellor-in-waiting, Friedrich Merz, said last month. “This is a huge opportunity for us.”
A White House official was cited by Reuters as saying the administration was prioritizing funding areas likely to bring returns for taxpayers “or some sort of meaningful scientific advancement.”
How likely is Europe to replace the US as a scientific hub?
Trump’s cuts have affected academics at top world universities such as Yale, Columbia, and Johns Hopkins, raising European hopes of attracting intellectual talent.
However, many have argued that despite the cuts and Europe’s attempts to seize the opportunity, the size of the existing gap between university spending in the US and Europe means the status quo would not change that quickly.
“I don’t foresee a rapid build-up of additional scientific capability that could match what the U.S. now has…for several decades,” Michael Oppenheimer, a professor of Geosciences and International Affairs at Princeton, told Reuters.
Edited by: Roshni Majumdar
