On my recent flight back to the United States, the thought of being stopped at passport control made me consider leaving the country for good.
I was returning from a climate change and religious conflict workshop during the Little Ice Age, which I helped organize in Marseille, France this past March at the Iméra research institute. Following the Trump Administration’s stance, the topic is now essentially ineligible for federal funding if it involves the word “climate,” part of a broader trend of limiting scientific research within the federal government.
Iméra’s leadership invited me to a meeting with university officials and government ministers to give an American view on the widespread research crisis. The event was larger than expected, featuring a press conference where I voiced my concerns regarding the Trump Administration’s actions.
I have been observing a coordinated effort to undermine the academic research and education supported by various institutions and organizations.
I know many colleagues and former students whose research funds and grants have been suspended or canceled. Others have lost their jobs or contracts. Grant competitions and peer reviews are becoming increasingly politicized, which restricts the scope of permissible research. The integrity of knowledge acquisition suffers when politicians, instead of experts, dictate research funding based on personal preferences.
Aix-Marseille Université (amU) decided to launch a program to attract researchers facing such challenges. I became one of the 298 applicants, having already planned a year-long visit as a professor. The initiative provides three years of research funding. amU has allocated €15 million to the program and is urging the French government to match it, with the aim of employing 39 researchers instead of the initially planned number.
This program is part of a larger European effort to entice American and international researchers currently in the U.S. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has expressed the desire to establish the continent as a “safe haven” for researchers, with France pledging an additional €100 million.
There appears to be substantial interest from the U.S., evidenced by the high number of applications to amU’s program. Data also indicates a 41% increase in U.S. applicants seeking jobs in Canada, a 32% rise in Europe, and a 20% rise in China, compared to the previous year. The Australian Strategic Policy Institute sees the Trump Administration’s attacks on research as a “once-in-a-century brain gain opportunity.”
This situation is remarkable, considering the U.S.’s historical role as a sanctuary for researchers and academics. In 1933, numerous prominent scientists fled Germany when Adolf Hitler rose to power. Later, during World War II, many intellectuals and artists escaped occupied Europe, including Hannah Arendt, who famously fled through Marseille.
Since then, American research universities and laboratories have depended on a globally accessible system for recruiting top talent. The federal government has facilitated this system by offering visas to faculty and students and allocating billions in funding through competitive, peer-reviewed grants.
This strategy helped make the U.S. system of higher education a global model.
These research universities are unofficially connected to a wider network of regional state universities and small private colleges that frequently offer affordable higher education to middle- and working-class Americans. The expansion of regional state universities in the 1960s and the growth of community colleges since the 1970s have greatly increased access to higher education, serving as a crucial path for upward social mobility for many Americans.
These institutions have also been a base for activism and protest, so attacking them will weaken free speech and assembly, as well as other democratic ideals.
Currently, I am on the shortlist for amU’s “Safe Place for Science.” Regardless of whether I am chosen, I expect to collaborate on research projects with French academics using French or E.U. funding in the coming years, given the disruption in the U.S. sector.
Moving to France, or another country, will require adjustments. However, a U.S. brain drain is clearly beginning, as researchers and scientists pursue opportunities where academic freedom and research are still valued.
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