【By Guan察者网, Liu Bai】

“Thanks to Trump, we have seen this influx of talent!” said Heinz Faßmann, president of the Austrian Academy of Sciences.

Under the pressure of tightened immigration policies and reduced research funding, the outflow of U.S. scientific talent has become increasingly severe, and Europeans who are "snatching the chance" are delighted.

The U.S. "Politico" website obtained the latest data on September 29, which shows that top U.S. researchers are accelerating their migration to Europe and other regions. The number of American applicants for EU research fund projects increased fivefold in the latest round of bidding, which can be seen as a direct response to the Trump administration's cutbacks in research funding and the shrinking academic freedom environment.

The report believes that the new wave of interest among U.S. researchers in European research funding is closely related to the deteriorating academic research environment in the U.S. during the Trump administration.

This trend is a big victory for European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. In response to the Trump administration's drastic cuts to academic project funding, von der Leyen personally led efforts to attract American researchers. Through emphasizing academic freedom and increasing financial support for researchers willing to move to Europe, the EU has successfully positioned itself as a "safe haven" for researchers.

American scientists working in the lab, Visual China

The European Research Council (ERC) is a research funding organization established by the EU in 2007, responsible for funding basic research and cutting-edge technology projects. This year, the organization announced that it would double the additional funds provided to researchers wishing to move from the U.S., from 1 million euros to 2 million euros.

This means that these researchers can receive up to a total of 4.5 million euros in funding over a maximum period of 5 years.

The latest application data up to the end of August shows that this incentive measure has been very popular. In this round of applications, there were 114 applications from the U.S., while in 2024, the EU received only 23 proposals from American local applicants for this project, an increase of 400%.

However, the total number of applications for the project increased from 2,534 to 3,329, a growth of only 31%. Among them, the UK submitted 538 proposals; within the EU, Italy (445 proposals) and Spain (240 proposals) were the two countries with the most applications.

In fact, across the entire European region, countries, regions, universities, and research institutions have already launched relevant plans to attract talent by taking advantage of the U.S. cutting research funds.

In mid-September, EU Research Commissioner Katrín Jakobsdóttir stated at a meeting held in Brussels: "There are now more than 70 national and regional initiatives aimed at attracting researchers."

The Austrian Academy of Sciences announced this week that, through a new four-year researcher funding program (fellowship scheme) launched in June, 25 researchers have moved from U.S. research institutions to Austria. The academy stated that this "influx of talent" (brain gain) directly resulted from the policies implemented by the Trump administration in the fields of academia and research.

"They bring new ideas, new perspectives, and international networks, which are a great gain for Austrian science and an important driving force for enhancing our research's international visibility," said the academy's president Heinz Faßmann in a statement. "Thanks to Trump, we have seen this influx of talent."

The New York Times earlier noted that with the U.S. government cutting research budgets and tightening immigration policies, China and Europe have launched a talent recruitment boom, competing to provide funding and career stability for top researchers, attracting talent to settle down.

Several top U.S. scientists have warned that the series of measures taken by the Trump administration against the U.S. science community have caused serious talent loss, endangering the U.S.' long-standing research model and its leading position in relevant fields.

U.S. media cited an analysis from Nature magazine stating that since Trump took office, the number of Chinese and European scholars applying for U.S. graduate or postdoctoral programs has sharply declined, even stagnated; meanwhile, the number of U.S. postdoctoral researchers and graduate students applying for overseas positions has significantly increased.

In addition to the brain drain, Richard Huganir, director of the Department of Neuroscience at Johns Hopkins University, is also worried that the U.S. will be increasingly isolated from the international scientific community. Because foreign scientists are reluctant to come to the U.S., he had to cancel an international conference originally scheduled to be held at Johns Hopkins University; organizers had considered moving the conference to Oxford, UK, but later found that even international students in the U.S. were refusing to go abroad due to concerns about being unable to return to the U.S.

Marcia McNutt, president of the National Academy of Sciences, sighed that other countries such as China offer more stable career development for scientists starting their careers, "They will recruit the world's best, smartest, and most experienced talents."

This article is exclusive to Observer, and without permission, it cannot be reprinted.

Original: https://www.toutiao.com/article/7556102218823238179/

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