{"id":805898,"date":"2026-03-05T15:19:13","date_gmt":"2026-03-05T15:19:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/805898\/"},"modified":"2026-03-05T15:19:13","modified_gmt":"2026-03-05T15:19:13","slug":"weve-lost-a-generation-of-scientists-us-talent-turns-to-france","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/805898\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cWe\u2019ve lost a generation of scientists\u201d:\u00a0US\u00a0talent turns\u00a0to France"},"content":{"rendered":"

The French government has announced grant funding for 46 researchers coming to the country under its \u2018Choose France\u00a0for Science\u2019 initiative<\/a>,\u00a0launched last year in a bid to attract international talent pivoting away from an increasingly hostile US research environment.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

With 41<\/a> of the total relocating from US institutions,\u00a0stakeholders have\u00a0said the departures illustrate the damaging repercussions of funding cuts and visa volatility under the Trump administration, making it harder for\u00a0scientists to pursue research and keep labs running.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI worry the US is doing historic damage to our reputation as a global science leader, both in the funding structures and also in how we welcome global scholars,\u201d\u00a0American Council on Education (ACE) vice president Sarah Spreitzer told\u00a0The\u00a0PIE News.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI believe we\u2019ve already\u00a0lost a generation of scientists who otherwise would\u2019ve come to the US but have decided to do their studies in another country, or those postdoctoral students\u00a0that\u00a0suddenly saw their opportunities slip in 2025 and decided to start a career in industry.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Spreitzer said the\u00a0combined\u00a0uncertainty around federal funding, the politicisation of grant programs and the volatility of visa programs\u00a0was\u00a0driving talent away from the US \u2013 something ACE warned the administration about amid sweeping research funding cuts\u00a0and confusion around grant competitions last year.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen top researchers\u00a0depart, other nations\u00a0benefit\u00a0from their knowledge, ideas, and innovations, from the mentorship they provide to students and early-career researchers, and from the companies and technologies they help create,\u201d\u00a0said Toby Smith, senior vice president for government relations and public policy. at AAU.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cBrain drain puts America\u2019s long\u2011term scientific leadership and competitiveness at risk,\u201d warned Smith, urging the government to restore research investments and reaffirm its support for breakthrough science.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Of the US researchers turning to France,\u00a0eight of them are from Columbia University, which saw $400 million in federal grants frozen in 2025 and the majority of\u00a0its $1.3bn in annual government funding placed on hold.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Consequentially, the New York university\u00a0was forced to\u00a0terminate\u00a0several\u00a0National Institutes of Health (NIH) projects and lay\u00a0off\u00a0almost\u00a0180 employees,\u00a0before\u00a0settling<\/a>\u00a0with the administration for\u00a0$200m to restore its funding.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

France\u2019s\u00a0talent strategy\u00a0is one of several\u00a0drives to attract US\u00a0scientists, including the European Commission\u2019s\u00a0\u20ac500m\u00a0\u2018Choose Europe\u2019<\/a>\u00a0program, launched\u00a0last spring\u00a0as widespread student visa revocations and grant funding cuts swept the US.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Spreitzer\u00a0said\u00a0spring 2025\u00a0was a time\u00a0of heightened uncertainty\u00a0for the field, warning that questions remain about the stability of NIH and the National Science Foundation (NSF), with the latter undergoing \u201creorganisation\u201d and NIH missing over half of its directors.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

What\u2019s\u00a0more, she said the administration was clearly trying to \u201cshake up\u201d traditional research funding models, as well as\u00a0attempting\u00a0to involve political appointees in the scientific peer review process.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n

The administration\u00a0needs to understand they are making changes that are going to have a long-term impact<\/p>\n

Sarah Spreitzer, ACE<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u201cSo, if you\u2019re a\u00a0scientist who\u2019s looking to grow their work, trying to hire postdocs or mentor graduate students\u2026 you may start looking to other countries that can provide a more stable environment,\u201d said Spreitzer.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

When the French National Research Agency (ANR) launched the initiative in April 2025, it said France was \u201ccommitted to standing up to attacks on academic freedom across the globe\u201d.\u00a0The\u00a0\u20ac30m initiative\u00a0is backed by the French government, which co-finances up to 50% of each\u00a0research\u00a0project.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Back in the US, visa volatility is adding to the uncertainty of the research ecosystem,\u00a0as stakeholders\u00a0widely anticipate<\/a>\u00a0a\u00a0forthcoming rule\u00a0to\u00a0end duration of status and set fixed\u00a0four-year\u00a0time limits\u00a0on student visas\u00a0\u2013\u00a0meaning\u00a0virtually every\u00a0doctorate student would need to extend their visa to complete their studies.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

What\u2019s\u00a0more,\u00a0Spreitzer highlighted the knock-on impact of the brain drain for\u00a0high need fields such as engineering and\u00a0nursing and\u00a0said the departure of international talent would reduce opportunities for domestic students to learn from international peers.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI think the administration\u00a0needs to understand they are making changes that are going to have a long-term impact, not just on the US economy, but on our overall innovation and research enterprise,\u201d said Spreitzer.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

She warned of fewer courses available to domestic students if universities are unable to hire international faculty through the H-1B visa program,\u00a0which has been subject to\u00a0numerous\u00a0changes<\/a> during Trump\u2019s second term.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Notably,\u00a0both Florida and Texas recently\u00a0froze H-1B hiring<\/a>\u00a0at all public universities\u00a0\u2013 with stakeholders warning of repercussions going far beyond scientific teaching, harming states\u2019 housing,\u00a0transport\u00a0and healthcare, among other infrastructure.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

While\u00a0the news of faculty\u00a0departing\u00a0the US for Europe\u00a0indicates\u00a0how \u201cdire\u201d the attacks on academic freedom have become, Trinity College \u2013 Hartford professor Isaac Kamola\u00a0urged colleagues not to give up defending it, emphasising the rarity of research mobility opportunities.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cContingency, dwindling jobs and rampant underfunding of education, not to mention family and professional obligations, means that a lack of mobility is actually the norm across the academic profession.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s why\u00a0it\u2019s\u00a0important to be fighting to preserve academic freedom, and for administrators to take up the cause alongside their faculty,\u201d\u00a0Kamola told\u00a0The\u00a0PIE.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The French government has announced grant funding for 46 researchers coming to the country under its \u2018Choose France\u00a0for…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":805899,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5309],"tags":[233191,110012,2000,299,36,1166],"class_list":["post-805898","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-france","tag-aau","tag-ace","tag-eu","tag-europe","tag-france","tag-trump-administration"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/116177244458528535","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/805898","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=805898"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/805898\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/805899"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=805898"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=805898"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=805898"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}