France President Emmanuel Macron invited scientists around the world to work in France or Europe as the new government of US President Donald Trump began cutting funds to universities and research agencies.
Read more: Trump cuts at Harvard affect space travel to tuberculosis research
Macron did not mention the United States, where hundreds of scientists were dismissed amidst research cuts that occur amid a broader confrontation between Trump and Ivy League universities.
“Here in France, research is a priority, innovation a culture, science a boundary horizon. Researchers from around the world, choose France, choose Europe!” Said Macron in a post at X.
Trump government authorities point to the wave of pro-Palestinian protests at universities last year as a justification for their requirements. However, critics between groups of teachers and students say the measures are designed to repress discourse and that universities should be a place for freedom of expression and academic thinking.
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The threat to the subsistence means of academics in US universities gave Europe’s political leaders the expectation that they could gather intellectual fruits.
On Friday, France launched the “Choose France for Science” platform, operated by the National French Research Agency, which allows universities, schools and research organizations to request government co-finance to receive researchers.
“France is committed to facing the attacks on academic freedom around the world,” the agency said in a statement.
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The statement added that “the international context” is creating conditions for an unprecedented mobility wave among researchers around the world, and that France intends to position itself as a welcoming place for those who wish to do their work in Europe.
The agency said the platform will allow universities to present projects to receive international researchers, especially in areas such as health research, climate and biodiversity, artificial intelligence, space studies, agriculture, low carbon energy and digital systems.
(Reportagem de Geert De Clercq)
