Not even six months into his second term, Donald Trump’s administration has gutted national research institutes of their scientists and withheld further funding from universities and research centres. US academics now looking across the Atlantic to continue their careers have seen many opportunities pop up in recent months designed to attract researchers to Europe.The EU’s Choose Europe for Science is the chief draw, promising €500 million in “super grants” for researchers working in (or choosing to move to) a host institution in a Horizon Europe country. But national governments have been offering their own sweeteners over the past weeks. Some initiatives are explicitly for US researchers fleeing Trump. Others take a more subtle tone, saying the new funds are for researchers who feel threatened by their governments. So just how many European initiatives are there? Science|Business has rounded up what’s on offer.AustriaIn April, the association Universities Austria announced it was creating “docking points” for researchers moving to Austria. These are primarily for US researchers, but the scheme is open to any foreign scientists who no longer see the US as a “Mecca of research.”The government has launched its own portal on Euraxess for positions specifically targeting US researchers wanting to move to Austria. And while it isn’t providing any extra funding, it will review its University Organisation Act to raise universities’ strict limits on “opportunity hiring,” Currently limited to 5% of professorships, the limit will soon be raised to 10%. This extension will be reserved for researchers working in the US.BelgiumIn March the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB) and its Francophone sister Université Libre de Bruxelles (ULB) launched a scheme offering 36 postdoctoral positions, primarily to US-based researchers who are “seeing millions in research funding disappear for ideological reasons,” said VUB rector Jan Danckaert in a statement. VUB and ULB representatives told Science|Business that these positions are open to all international researchers, not just researchers from the US.Together the two universities are also providing 18 apartments at the Brussels Institute for Advanced Studies.In total the universities are offering 36 positions: 24 will be at ULB and 12 at VUB. Each position will last for 2.5 years and is being financed through a €2.5 million grant from the EU-funded Cofund project, a ULB spokesperson told Science|Business.The first call for applications will open in the summer and will be for 12 positions in ULB and six in VUB. Interested researchers can already contact ulb-europe@ulb.be FranceOf all the EU countries, France and its universities have been leading the pack in attempts to attract US researchers.In mid-April, France unveiled the Choose France for Science funding scheme, providing around €100 million to help welcome researchers from abroad. In a later speech, French president Emmanuel Macron noted that a third of the visits to the platform so far were from the US. The platform allows universities, research centres and other organisations to submit projects that host international researchers in different topic areas. Each project can receive up to 50% government co-financing, with the rest coming from institutions, local authorities or the private sector. Researchers can apply for funding through the Choose France for science platform. Later in April, France’s state research organisation CNRS also launched its own Choose CNRS for Science initiative. It is targeting all researchers facing politically-motivated cuts in research. “People would think of the United States under the new Trump administration but the same can be said for Argentina, for example,” said Alain Schuhl, director general for science at CNRS. Positions are open in four levels: postdoc positions lasting 2-3 years; senior researchers (3-6 years); associate professors; and full professors.. Some 3-5 year international chair positions are also available. Candidates can apply on the CNRS’s dedicated portal.In addition, some French universities are launching their own initiatives. Aix-Marseille University was one of the earliest to open its doors, launching its Safe Space for Science programme in March. As reported by vert.eco, the university will spend €15 million over three years to help integrate US scientists in the university and complete their work. The university has already received around 300 applications for 20 positions in its first call, and expects to make decisions by June. The University of Toulouse has an initiative to allow a dozen researchers from or working in the US to continue their research at the university. These posts are open to post-doctoral fellows and advanced researchers for the next three years, and can last between six months and four years. The positions are financed through the €95 million TIRIS initiative. Money for the initiative comes from the France 2030 programme, the Occitanie Region, the European Regional Development Fund and partner institutions. The selection process takes place in two phases, and can be accessed through the University of Toulouse’s website.The University of Paris-Saclay is also creating several new positions for US researchers. Five research positions are open explicitly for researchers working in the US, or who were planning a research project in a US institution but can no longer perform their work. Other initiatives specifically for US researchers include the Chateaubriand fellowship programme, offering 12 positions for PhD candidates, and a €3 million fund financed by the grande école CentraleSupélec for US-based researchers no longer able to do their work in the US. ItalyIn mid-April the Italian research minister Anna Maria Bernini launched a €50 million fund for proposals for researchers from foreign universities or research institutions to continue their research in Italy. Although not explicitly targeting US researchers, Bernini later seemed to suggest it was in the same line of thinking as the Choose Europe for Science scheme. The fund is aimed at young researchers who have won European Research Council Starting Grants or Consolidator Grants outside Italy. Researchers can apply for a maximum contribution of €1 million for a project lasting at most for 36 months. Proposals can be submitted up to June 4 at the ministry’s application portal. Norway In late May, the Norwegian government announced it was creating a scheme to recruit researchers from abroad in 2026, with the Norwegian research minister Sigrun Aasland noting in the announcement that academic freedom is under pressure in the US. The scheme, worth100 million NOK (€8.7 million), is not limited to US researchers. It will fund 30-50 positions in research centres and universities in Norway, according to broadcaster NRK. The Research Council of Norway is coordinating the funds and is expected to launch the first calls by early June. PortugalCiting the policies of the Trump administration, Portugal’s NOVA medical school announced that it would set aside additional budget to cover the salaries of “international researchers of excellence” for three years, including some relocation costs. Early reports suggest €2 million in funds will be provided by the Haddad Foundation and the Municipality of Cascais. A NOVA official told Science|Business that the initiative is in its advanced preparatory phase, and the school is working with the incoming Portuguese government to ensure a favourable tax treatment for internationally recruited researchers.The call for applications was scheduled for June 1 and will have a dedicated contact point on the NOVA Medical School website. Final decisions will then be made by mid-September.SpainSpain is a close second to France when making explicit attempts to attract US researchers. In April, Spain’s research minister Diana Morant presented an increased budget for the national ATRAE 2025 research programme, saying it has “a very special focus on researchers who are in the United States and who are despised by the current administration.”The programme, which supports researchers bringing their work to Spain, has an extra €45 million budget for 2026 and 2027. Projects selected from the US will receive an extra €200,000 grant on top of the standard €1 million package. The deadline for applications is June 9 and can be made on the Spanish Research ministry’s website. The regional government of Catalonia has announced its own €30 million programme called the Catalonia Talent Bridge. Catalonia’s president Salvador Illa noted the programme is in response to countries limiting academic freedom, particularly the US.The programme aims to create up to 78 positions across Catalonia’s 12 universities and 40 research centres. According to Catalan daily ARA, 45 of these positions will be long-term and 33 will last around three years. Seventeen new calls for applications will be announced this year, with 26 further calls each year until 2028, according to the paper. No calls for applications have yet been announced. SwedenIn April, Sweden’s education minister Johan Pehrson met with nine Swedish universities to discuss how to best attract US researchers affected by the Trump administration. This led to the Swedish Research Council creating a future programme for strategic recruitment and making calls easier to find online. One of those calls is the 2025 Ingvar Carlsson Award, a 45 million SEK (€4.1 million) grant aimed at US-based researchers who want to return to Sweden. It is funded by the Swedish Foundation for Strategic Research with up to 15 million SEK available for each grant, which will cover a research period at a Swedish university or college for five years. Applications can be made on the Foundation’s website. The deadline is 23 September 2025.In mid-April the Swedish Research Council also announced grants worth 2 million SEK for Swedish higher education institutions and other research organisations to recruit researchers prominent outside of Europe. The rolling call is open until 1 December 2025 and lasts for 12 months. Applications can be made on the Swedish Research Council’s website. Upcoming announcementsMore is to come, with several other governments planning initiatives that have not yet been announced. In the Netherlands, the Dutch Research Council (NWO) is developing a new fund to help international researchers to relocate and continue their research in the Netherlands. No funding or start date has been announced, but the NWO notes that budget cuts have made it a challenge to develop.In Germany, the new government’s coalition agreement includes a programme to attract top researchers from abroad to Germany through the 1000 Heads Programme. However no details of the programme have yet emerged. Germany’s research institutes are also making plans. In April, the president of the Humboldt Foundation, Robert Schlögl, announced on LinkedIn that he was pursuing more funding to attract US and other international researchers. However, the foundation is not yet able to estimate which of its programmes can be expanded because no federal budget has yet been adopted for 2025, a Humboldt representative told Science|Business. The Max Planck Society is currently raising funds from private donors to expand funding for its Lise Meitner Excellence Programme, the Max Planck Research Groups and Max Planck Centre programmes, a representative told Science|Business. The separate Max Planck Foundation has already set aside a two-digit million sum to fund additional research groups, though there has been no formal announcement yet. The Irish government has approved a plan to create a Global Talent Initiative to attract top international researchers to Ireland. The national research and innovation agency Taighde Éireann will run the initiative with an expected budget of €8 million per year. The programme aims to support 45 researchers over the next three years. The first call for applications is expected to launch this summer.Read More
Listed: Europe’s latest offers to US academics fleeing Trump
