America's Brain Drain Becomes Europe's Recruitment Playbook

The Trump administration has frozen or terminated 8,007 grants across the National Institutes of Health, the National Science Foundation, and the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality since 2025, according to data from Grant Witness, which tracks federal research funding. Fewer than two-thirds of those grants — 5,187 — have been restored. Across all federal agencies, as much as $177 billion in grants has been cut.

The cuts are driving scientists out. The federal government lost more than 10,000 STEM PhDs in 2025 through firings, retirements, and resignations, according to an analysis of Office of Personnel Management data published by Science. The American Institute of Physics reports that in 2025 the rate of Physics PhD graduates leaving the U.S. hit its highest level in 30 years, with the departure rate for non-U.S. citizens doubling from the previous year.

Alex Worsham is one of them. A former U.S. military IT and cybersecurity specialist who spent six and a half years in uniform and later helped protect the Library of Congress and the Transportation Security Administration from cyberattacks, he moved to Norway this summer to pursue a PhD on the security of emerging technologies at the University of Oslo. He cites federal funding cuts and "restrictive" U.S. government oversight, and says funding now flows mostly toward research aligned with White House objectives.

"Researchers are passionate about what they do. If funding is restricted, people will go and seek that elsewhere," Worsham says. "The U.S. academic community is going to shrink significantly as researchers move to different parts of the world."

Europe moves fast

Europe's institutions are courting the exodus. In May 2025, the EU launched "Choose Europe for Science," a €500 million ($570 million) package of grants and relocation support that European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen pitched as a way to make Europe "a magnet for researchers."

The interest is measurable. U.S. applications for the European Research Council's senior-researcher grants nearly quintupled in a year, from 23 to 114, according to an analysis by Nature. The ERC's starting grant for early-career researchers drew 169 applications from U.S.-based scientists this year, up from 116 in 2025.

Aix-Marseille University welcomed its first cohort of American academics last year through its "Safe Place for Science" program, after a reported 298 applied from institutions including Berkeley, NASA, and Stanford. Germany's Max Planck Society has opened a recruitment track specifically for U.S. researchers. The Tulip Fund, a €50 million ($57 million) Dutch initiative, selected 34 researchers in its first round — 29 of them from or working in the U.S.

The commercial stakes are large. The combined enterprise value of European university spinouts totaled $473 billion, according to Dealroom. "European markets and international hubs have a prime opportunity to capitalize on growing uncertainty in the U.S. research environment by maintaining open, welcoming environments where top talent can thrive," says Howard Yu, a professor of management and innovation at IMD Business School. "Shutting out international talent directly threatens technological and corporate supremacy."

Will the applications follow?

The intent to move is real but the flood has not arrived. Some 28% of American STEM professionals would consider moving abroad if they left their job in the next year, according to specialist recruiter SThree — rising to 49% among those in their 20s, with 16% already relocating. Life sciences shows the strongest pull.

"It's hard to say we've seen a huge shift in applications yet, but the conversation has changed," says Margot van Soest, managing director for the Netherlands and Spain at SThree. "A few years ago it was mostly Europeans heading home. Now we're also seeing U.S.-born researchers and mid-career scientists looking to move."

Dave Bowers, global head at life sciences recruiter EPM Scientific, has seen only a "small uptick" in U.S. applicants for European roles, since the American job market "continues to be super competitive and robust." But candidates are more open to "internationalizing their career," he says.

Europe needs them. The Netherlands hosts nearly 2,000 life sciences companies and Eli Lilly's new plant in Katwijk is expected to create around 500 permanent jobs, yet only 18.6% of Dutch university students were enrolled in STEM subjects in 2023 versus an EU average of 26.9%. Europe's semiconductor industry faces a talent gap of about 10,800 skilled workers a year, with nearly 30% of its workforce set to retire by 2030, according to a report for the EU-funded European Chips Skills Academy.

Obstacles remain. Pay gaps, bureaucracy, visa delays, and language barriers add friction. Europe's congested energy grid is "already pushing some scale-ups to relocate abroad as they grow," van Soest says. In Utrecht province, home to the Netherlands' largest science park, no new grid connections have been available since July — and the freeze could last until 2031. "If that continues, we could see a brain drain of our own," she warns.

For now, the movers are building roots. "The people who move now will build labs, teams and networks in Europe, and that pulls others after them," van Soest says. Worsham earns roughly $60,000 a year as a doctoral researcher in Norway, pays into a pension, holds public healthcare coverage, and has a residence permit that allows him to buy property. "I've had a whole lot of support," he says, "much more than I anticipated."