More than 1,600 people had responded to a Nature poll at the time of this editorial’s publishing. Of these, some 1,200 said that they are scientists working in the United States and are considering leaving the country. Of the almost 700 postgraduate students who responded, some 550 were considering leaving (see Nature https://doi.org/pffc; 2025). The respondents were self-selecting and so might not be representative of all US researchers. But the results are a strong indication of the despair that many scientists feel at the turmoil in US science.

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Many respondents to our poll cited Europe and Canada as favoured destinations. In a letter to the European Union’s research commissioner Ekaterina Zaharieva, 13 ministers for research, including those of the research powerhouses of France and Germany, urged the EU to seize the moment by “welcoming brilliant talents from abroad who might suffer from research interference and ill-motivated and brutal funding cuts”. Partly in response, the European Research Council is planning on doubling the amount of money it offers grantees relocating to the EU, to a maximum of €2 million (US$2.2 million) each.

The Netherlands’ government has asked its national research-funding council to establish a fund to attract top scientists who are looking to move because of the changing geopolitical climate. Universities in Belgium and France have advertised specific opportunities for US researchers.

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