Only a few hours after opening its new program for American researchers called Safe place for science In response to Trump administration policies, Aix Marseille University obtained its first request.
Since then, the University of the South of France known for its scientific programs, has received a dozen requests per day from what the school has considered “asylum” asylum seekers.
Other universities in France and elsewhere in Europe have also rushed to save American researchers fleeing drastic cuts in jobs and programs by the Trump administration, as well as the attacks perceived against whole research fields.
The stakes are not only individual jobs, but the concept of the free scientific survey, according to university presidents. They also rush to fill enormous holes in collective research caused by cuts, in particular in the fields targeted by the Trump administration, including studies on climate change, public health, environmental sciences, sex and diversity.
If movement becomes a trend, this could mean the inversion of long-term brain leak that has seen generations of scientists travel to the United States. And while at least certain Europeans noted that changes in the United States offer a unique opportunity to build stronger European research centers, most academics say that competition is not short-term motivation.
“This program is ultimately linked to indignation, to declare what is happening in the United States is not normal,” said Eric Berton, president of the Aix Marseille University, who assigned 15 million euros (nearly $ 16,300,000) for 15 three-year positions.
He said that the number of openings “was not much”, but the goal was to “give them a little hope”.
In France, Aix Marseille University is considered a leader in pressure to call on American researchers.
Since the start of this program, a cancer research foundation in Paris announcement He immediately took 3.5 million euros to accommodate American researchers on cancer. And last week, two Paris universities announced that they were offering positions to American scientists whose work has been reduced or interrupted by the Trump administration.
“We are researchers. We want to continue working at the highest level in these areas that are attacked in the United States, “said El Mouhoub Mouhoud, President of Sciences at Paris and Letters University.
The university plans to welcome 15 researchers who are already working on shared projects in targeted fields, including climate sciences, health, human sciences and gender studies, said Mouhoud. Consequently, projects would continue without hindrance and American researchers could benefit from “academic freedom to do their research,” he said.
“It’s good for everyone,” said Mouhoud.
Alarms in European scientific institutions have started to ring while the Trump administration began to reduce jobs and freeze scientific subsidies as part of its large cost reduction measures.
Shots on American centers have judged that the ultimate in science was announced week after week, notably at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the National Science Foundation, the US Geological Survey and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The National Instituts of Health, the largest World Funder Funder Biomedical Research, have dismissed 1,200 employees and suspended subsidy exams, which essentially extinguishes government funding for research projects in laboratories across the country.
The cuts intervene while certain federal agencies have deleted the conditions of websites and subsidy requests which are deemed unacceptable to the Trump administration, which seeks to purge the federal government of “awakened” initiatives. Among the terms considered taboo: “climate science”, “diversity” and “gender”.
Overall, actions have sent a thrill in the academic world and research institutes, worried scientists not only for their work, but the long -term viability of their research.
“”What we see today is actually censorship, censorship of fundamental values, “said Yasmine Belkaid, president of the Paris Institute in Paris, who moved to France last year after 30 years in the United States, where she had led the National Institutes of Health Center for Human Imunology.
“We could lose a generation of science, a generation of scientists, something we cannot recover,” she added. “It is collectively our duty to ensure that science is protected.”
Philippe Baptiste, French Minister of Higher Education and Research, was among the most frank and active European leaders on the issue. Mr. Baptiste, who led the French national center for space studies before joining the government, described the decisions of the Trump administration as a “collective madness” which required a quick and robust response from around the world.
“They make decisions,” he said, “which question the whole research stretches not only in the United States, but in the world because there are a large number of programs that we do jointly with the United States-on terrestrial observation, on the climate, on ecology, on the environment, on health data, on spatial exploration. It is inconvenient. “
Speaking of scientists with the national ocean and atmospheric administration with whom he worked in close collaboration in his past work, Mr. Baptiste said: “These people are of exceptional scientific quality, dealing with weather, climate and earth observation. And what is the idea? To say that we can no longer work on these questions? ”
Mr. Baptiste worked with the presidents of French universities to find a government program. He also put pressure for a response to the scale of Europe, in particular the drafting of a letter, also signed by government ministers in 11 other European countries, which requires coordinated effort and dedicated funding from the European Commission for startups, research and innovation.
More than 350 scientists have signed a Petition published This week in the French newspaper Le Monde, also calling on the European Commission to create an emergency fund of 750 million euros to accommodate thousands of researchers working in the United States.
A spokesman for the European Commission said that a meeting should coordinate the most effective response to the Trump administration for scientific research.
In Brussels, two sisters universities – Vrije Universiteit Brussels and Free University of Brussels – said they planned to market American students a program offering 36 postdoctoral positions open to international researchers from all over the world.
The positions, largely funded by the money of the European Union, will focus on climate research, artificial intelligence and other areas that schools consider socially important.
In the Netherlands, the Minister of Education, Culture and Sciences, EPPO Bruins, announced that he wanted to create a “short-term” fund to attract leading scientists in a variety of fields. Although he did not directly mention Mr. Trump, he hinted in a letter in the Dutch House of Representatives. “The geopolitical climate is changing, which is currently increasing the international mobility of scientists,” he wrote. “Several European countries respond to this and will attract international scientific talents. I want the Netherlands to continue to be at the forefront. ”
Ulrike Malmendier, a German economist who is a member of the first German economic council, urged European governments to increase investments in science to attract researchers outside the United States. “Development in the United States is a huge opportunity for Germany and Europe,” said Malmetier, professor at the University of California Funke media group. “I know that a lot of people think about leaving,”
The reports were brought by Jeanna Smilek from Brussels, Claire Moses from London, and Christopher F. Schuetze And Melissa Eddy from Berlin.
