Funding cuts could hamper European efforts to attract US diaspora

Increasing numbers of European governments and universities are hoping to recruit top researchers who feel that they cannot continue their work in the US, but these efforts could be hampered by budget cuts.

Twelve governments signed a letter to the European Union’s commissioner for research and innovation, Ekaterina Zaharieva, calling for the bloc to establish a plan to recruit academics “who might suffer from research interference and ill-motivated and brutal funding cuts”. The signatories included the Netherlands, France, Germany and Spain, plus Austria, Bulgaria, Czechia, Estonia, Greece, Latvia, Slovakia and Slovenia.

In France, the University of Toulouse has allocated an initial €6 million (£5 million) to welcome US researchers working in the fields of “living organisms and health, climate change [or] transport and energy, while Aix-Marseille University has announced plans to raise “up to €15 million” to host “around 15 researchers”, with a particular focus on “climate, the environment, health and human and social sciences”. Meanwhile, Paris-Saclay University has pledged to “launch PhD contracts and fund stays of various durations for American researchers”.

Vrije Universiteit Brussel, in Belgium, has opened 12 postdoctoral positions for international academics, “with a specific focus on American scholars working in socially significant fields”, while in Norway, MP Alfred Jens Bjørlo called on research and higher education minister Sigrun Aasland to “take immediate measures to facilitate the establishment of students and researchers from the United States in Norway”.

Dutch education and science minister Eppo Bruins announced that he had instructed the Dutch Research Council (NWO) to establish a fund to recruit “top international scientists”, stating in a letter to parliament, “We see that more and more scientists are looking for another place to do their work. I want more international top scientists to come and do this here. After all, top scientists are worth their weight in gold to our country and to Europe.”

Ruben Puylaert, a spokesperson for the umbrella body Universities of the Netherlands, called the move “good news”, telling Times Higher Education: “This will not only provide scientists under pressure with a place to continue their research, but will also benefit research and innovation in the Netherlands. We desperately need these scientists for our prosperity, health and safety, especially in these turbulent geopolitical times.”

However, the NWO noted that the initiative came amid dramatic government cuts to higher education and research budgets, commenting, “The size of the fund has not yet been determined and is a challenge in these times of cutbacks in research.”

Puylaert shared similar concerns. “I cannot stress enough that the significant cuts to education and research make it impossible for universities to contribute financially to the fund or to use their own resources to attract top foreign talent,” he said. “It is essential that the government provides additional resources for this and does not fund this by further cutting science budgets.

“Those same cuts as well as the threat of legislation to firmly push back internationalisation in higher education also mean that we will be less attractive to international talent.”

Elisabet Haugsbø, president of the Norwegian technical and scientific union Tekna, told THE that she would like to see her government launch a “fast track” for US researchers and students in science and engineering fields. “I really think that not only Norway but also Europe should look at this as an opportunity, because we need more competent scientists,” she said. “Just think of all the innovation we could do with a little bit more brain capacity, some new ideas and great minds. So I think this is a huge opportunity and we should grab it.”

The Norwegian Ministry of Education and Research announced that it would “investigate the barriers that international researchers face in Norway” and “remove language training requirements for fellows and postdoctoral fellows”. The ministry also suggested it could reconsider tuition fees for international students from outside the European Economic Area.

Robert Quinn, executive director of the US-based Scholars at Risk network, told THE that US higher education was “experiencing unprecedented levels of threats”, citing “financial threats” and “intrusions from the state on admissions, hiring, content of teaching, organisational hierarchies within institutions – and the list goes on”.

It would be “foolish” not to be concerned about a potential brain drain, he said. “Arbitrarily shutting down research that takes years to develop is just devastating to scholars, their teams and their laboratories, and there are going to be universities in Europe and all over the world that’ll be thrilled to have them.”

At present, Quinn said he did not foresee a significant relocation of US academics, even in fields under particular threat as the government targeted subjects related to diversity. “At the moment, I think most US scholars would have the ability to continue to explore opportunities in the US higher education space,” he said.

“But many of the subdisciplines simply aren’t going to have the capacity to absorb them,” he continued. “So, they’re going to be forced into difficult choices, and some may choose to look for opportunities in a place where it’s safer intellectually to keep doing that work.”

emily.dixon@timeshighereducation.com