Top US Researchers Rush to Relocate to Europe

U.S.-based applicants to a prestigious EU research scheme have increased five-fold.

September 29, 2025 6:13 pm CET

By Pieter Haeck, Politico

BRUSSELS — A recent call for a multimillion-euro program run by the EU’s top research council saw a fivefold increase in U.S.-based applicants seeking to relocate to European institutions to pursue their research ambitions, according to new data seen by POLITICO.

The fresh wave of interest from U.S.-based researchers for European research grant money comes amid an increasingly hostile climate for academic research under the Trump administration.

It marks a win for European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, who has personally driven efforts to attract U.S. researchers in a direct response to the Trump administration’s deep cuts to academic programs. Europe has positioned itself as a safe haven by emphasizing academic freedom and increasing the funds available for those who wish to relocate.

The European Research Council, the bloc’s funding arm for fundamental research, announced this past spring it would double the additional amount available for researchers who wanted to relocate from the U.S. from €1 million to € 2 million. That means those researchers are now eligible for up to a total of €4.5 million in funding over a maximum period of 5 years.

The incentive has proven extremely popular, according to data from the latest application round that closed at the end of August. There were 114 applications from the U.S., a 400 percent increase compared with the 2024 round when the EU received 23 U.S.-based proposals.

The total number of proposals increased by only 31 percent, from 2,534 to 3,329. That included 538 proposals from the U.K., while within the EU the most proposals came from Italy (445) and Spain (240).

Europe-wide, countries, regions, universities and research institutes have all initiated programs to benefit from the U.S. funding cuts. “There are now over 70 national and regional initiatives designed to attract researchers,” said European Research Commissioner Ekaterina Zaharieva at a gathering in Brussels in mid-September.

The Austrian Academy of Sciences this week celebrated what it described as a “brain gain” directly attributable to the Trump administration’s policies on academic and scientific research, as it announced 25 researchers who will relocate from U.S. institutions under a new 4-year fellowship scheme launched in June.

“They are bringing new ideas, new perspectives, and international networks — this is a great gain for Austrian science and an important boost for the visibility of our research location abroad,” said the academy’s president, Heinz Faßmann, in a statement. “Thanks to Trump we are seeing this brain gain.”