Europe is now recruiting academics, researchers disenchanted with U.S.

U.K., France, among others have set up funds to help U.S. researchers relocate to the continent

- Noemie Bisserbe & Nidhi Subbaraman

French President Emmanuel Macron has a message for American academics like Nathan Perl-Rosenthal: Forget the U.S., come to France!

Perl-Rosenthal, a history professor at the University of Southern California, met Macron at a conference in Paris in May, weeks after the U.S. government canceled a grant funding his research on maritime history. Perl-Rosenthal was impressed by Macron's commitment to defend l'esprit critique and academic freedom.

"He winked at me when I said I worked on the rise of mass politics," Perl-Rosenthal said. He is considering a permanent post in Paris.

Macron and his European peers are angling to turn President Trump's overhaul of U.S. academia into their gain. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen in May said she would establish a fund of about $575 million "to make Europe a magnet for researchers." The U.K. in June said it would spend about $75 million over five years to cover relocation costs and research for foreign scientists moving to the U.K.

Macron, at the Paris conference, pledged another $115 million to help foreign researchers relocate to France. "If you love freedom, come and help us remain free, conduct research here, help us become better, invest in our future," Macron said.

Europe, once home to Louis Pasteur and Albert Einstein, for centuries led the world in discoveries that explained the natural world. The U.S. took the lead after World War II, as European émigrés went to work alongside Americans in university labs flush with federal funding.