Timea Steingart
Apr 25, 2025
BRAIN DRAIN — As the Trump administration slashes billions in funding for research, conducts mass firings of federal employees, and cracks down on institutions of higher education, American pain is turning into European gain
BRAIN DRAIN — As the Trump administration slashes billions in funding for research, conducts mass firings of federal employees, and cracks down on institutions of higher education, American pain is turning into European gain.
Across the EU, an effort is underway to capitalize on the U.S. brain drain, hoping to tap into the exodus of intellectual talent from universities and the federal government. European universities are courting top American scientists and researchers en masse with offers of “academic asylum.” The European Research Council has doubled the funding it offers researchers to move to the continent to €2 million ($2.3 million). A bloc of 12 EU nations are working together to fast-track visas, Horizon Europe grants, and relocation stipends in an effort to poach U.S. brainpower in accordance with their own strategic priorities.
In a letter addressed to the EU Commissioner for research and innovation, Ekaterina Zaharieva, officials from those nations urged coordinated action to attract scholars and researchers “who might suffer from research interference and ill-motivated and brutal funding cuts” and called for integrating the U.S.-trained researchers into Europe’s innovation ecosystem. It’s part of a broader, ongoing strategy designed to boost EU competitiveness with the U.S. and China over the long term and position Europe as a leading center of research and innovation in the 21st century.
Dr. Danielle Beckman, a Brazilian-born neurovirologist currently at UC Davis, is one of the many scientists affected by recent federal funding cuts. She came to the U.S. in 2017 with a dream of developing treatments for Alzheimer’s disease using primates. She trained for eight years under one of the country’s top neuroscientists and had planned to stay in the U.S and open her own lab, she told POLITICO Nightly. But those plans unraveled after her five-year National Institutes of Health (NIH) grant fell into “suspended review.” Initially, the grant was set to be reviewed in March, then pushed to April, and now has no date at all.
Beckman says she was also advised by NIH colleagues to remove references to virology from her faculty applications, since that focus was “hurting” her chances. She told POLITICO Nightly she was warned that grants with terms like “mRNA,” “virus,” or “vaccine” were being quietly pulled without explanation.
“Everyone I know is looking for chances outside the U.S. now. It was completely the opposite before. The U.S. was always the place to be if you wanted a scientific career. In Brazil, me and my friends used to dream of being part of an American university. Not anymore,” she said.
“It’s mainly impacting early-career scientists like me — people who can’t afford a pause in their careers. And who would want to come to a country where you can be expelled even with a work visa, or have your rights revoked just for disagreeing with the government?”
While many in Europe see the moment as a chance for the continent to show solidarity and affirm its commitment to academic freedom, it’s also a strategic opportunity: The EU can position itself as a global sanctuary for science while filling critical talent gaps in areas like artificial intelligence, where expertise is essential for enhancing Europe’s competitiveness and security in the face of geopolitical challenges posed by Russia and China.
Prominent universities have led the way. In Brussels, the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB) has opened 12 postdoctoral positions “with a specific focus on American scholars,” backed by €2.5 million ($2.7 million) from the EU’s Marie Skłodowska-Curie programme. In France, Aix-Marseille Université launched a €15 million ($16.2 million) initiative called Safe Place for Science.
“In a context where some scientists in the United States may feel threatened or hindered,” the university explained, “we aim to provide an environment conducive to innovation, excellence, and academic freedom.”
The French university confirmed to POLITICO Nightly that it had received 197 completed applications for the program by March 31, primarily from researchers in climate change, disaster governance, immunology, infectious disease, mRNA, and human and social sciences.
Other top European institutions — including Paris-Saclay University and Stockholm’s Karolinska Institute — have also taken steps to recruit new scholars and scientists. In Germany, the Max Planck Society, Germany’s premier research institution with 84 institutions and 31 Nobel laureates, is now actively scouting U.S. talent. According to Spiegel, MPG president Patrick Cramer now sees the U.S. as a “new talent pool” for Germany. He is planning visits to Los Angeles, San Francisco and Washington to meet candidates in person. And he’s not being shy about his mission:
“I’ll plan to meet top researchers one-on-one,” Cramer said. “I’ll tell them: I’m from Max Planck Society — would you be interested in coming to Germany? And if so, what would you need?”
And it’s not just scientists making the pitch.
After speaking with several American professors about what they considered to be a growing chill around academic freedom on their campuses, Helmut Brandstätter, an Austrian member of the European Parliament (MEP), sought to make Europe’s message clear: it is still a place where science is respected.
“To all the brilliant minds: Come to Europe!” he urged in a recent video message to U.S. scientists on X. “We promote science, not like a health minister who says ‘just live healthy and you won’t get measles.’”