European countries are luring American scientists as the Trump administration cuts federal research funding. For example, France launched a new program last week that welcomed funding recommendations from international researchers. The program is “science of choosing France”, from a national research institution, and was quickly praised by Yann Lecun, chief AI scientist of Meta (Meta).
“Scientists trying to attract the United States to France are [a] “Smart moves. French computer scientists have been on Meta for more than a decade, and he won the Turing Award in 2018 and won a pioneering job at Neural Networks along with Geoffrey Hinton and Geoffrey Hinton and Yoshua Bengio. Lecken moved from France to France.
In recent months, the Trump administration has reduced staffing at institutions such as the National Science Foundation, frozen grants, and has received funding from top universities, driving some scientists to seek opportunities abroad.
The country’s National Research Agency said France’s initiative positioned itself as a defense of academic freedom and invited universities and research organizations to host international scientists, a project that could be jointly funded by the French government as much as 50%.
“In France, research is a priority, innovation is a culture, and science is an infinite horizon,” the French president of the initiative, Emmanuel Macron, said in a LinkedIn post. “Researchers from all over the world, choose France, choose Europe!”
This is not the first time that Lekken introduced the state of scientific research in the United States last month, with researchers highlighting the opportunity in Europe that “attracts some of the best scientists in the world” as U.S. researchers supply “Blan Blan B Plan B” to the United States.
Some scientists have taken the lead. A recent poll of 1,650 U.S. researchers in the journal Science found that 75.3% of respondents are considering leaving the country due to research disruptions caused by the Trump administration. Europe and Canada ranked the highest among potential destinations, especially among early researchers – with 690 PhDs and 340 PhD students surveyed, of 548 and 255, respectively, indicating that they are focusing on careers abroad.
France has become a possible competitor. In addition to its “Choose French Science” program, the country’s Aix-Marseille University has launched a program to attract U.S. researchers, which has attracted 135 qualified U.S. applicants. Meanwhile, the French cancer research organization ARC Foundation recently pledged 3.5 million euros ($4 million) to support American scientists to continue working in France.
France is not alone in launching the welcome mat. In Brussels, the University of Frigeria Brussels has opened twelve postdoctoral fellows for international scholars, focusing on Americans. In the Netherlands, Education Minister Eppo Bruis is reportedly planning a new fund to attract international scientists to deal with changing the geopolitical landscape.
