French President Emmanuel Macron has called on scientists worldwide to work in France or Europe amid the funding cuts for universities and research under U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration.
Macron did not mention the U.S., where hundreds of scientists have been dismissed in cutbacks to research that come amid a broader clash between Trump and Ivy League universities.
“Here in France, research is a priority, innovation a culture, science a limitless horizon. Researchers from all over the world choose France, choose Europe!” Macron said in a post on X.
Pro-Palestinian Protests On Campuses
Trump administration officials point to the wave of pro-Palestinian protests on campuses last year as a rationale for their demands of the universities.
However, critics among faculty and student groups say the measures are designed to chill speech and that campuses should be a place for freedom of expression and academic thought.
The threat to academics’ livelihoods at U.S. universities has given Europe’s political leaders hope that they could reap an intellectual windfall.
‘Choose France For Science’
France on Friday launched the “Choose France for Science” platform, operated by the French National Research Agency (ANR), which enables universities, schools, and research organisations to apply for co-funding from the government to host researchers.
“France is committed to standing up to attacks on academic freedom across the globe,” ANR said in a statement.
It added that “the international context” was creating the conditions for an unprecedented wave of mobility among researchers worldwide, and that France intends to position itself as a welcoming place for those wishing to pursue their work in Europe.
ANR said the platform would allow universities to submit projects to host international researchers, especially in areas including health research, climate and biodiversity, artificial intelligence, space studies, agriculture, low-carbon energy and digital systems.
(With inputs from Reuters)
