The European Academy of Microbiology (EAM) finds current actions that threaten to substantively reduce funding of academic research in the United States of America to be deeply concerning.

The USA has traditionally been an open, exceptionally generous, and hospitable country that has welcomed and supported foreign academics seeking better opportunities or affected by budget cuts, persecution or other challenges in their own countries – the academic diaspora. Many of these academics have been and are exceptional. Over time, they have become inspirational leaders in their fields of speciality. Consequently, the USA attained, and continuously strengthened, a dominant position in the global effort to advance frontiers of knowledge, innovate, and develop the benefits resulting from new knowledge. Research and innovation are drivers of economic and societal development; education is the driver of research and development prowess.

The brain gain

On one hand, the policy of welcoming and supporting foreign academics is a vital humanitarian endeavour ­in the best tradition of global citizenship, without which a huge amount of unique research talent and the advances resulting from it would have been, and would continue to be, lost to humanity. On the other, this talent – the brain gain – has massively benefitted the American state and its people. But now swingeing cuts in research budgets in the USA threaten the activities of the research community and its programmes, and the livelihoods of many academics.

It is now time for the Europe and the rest of the world to respond to the developing research funding crisis in the USA by expressing the same generosity and spirit of global citizenship traditionally shown by the USA and its institutions. Governments, research institutions and funding agencies worldwide should enthusiastically welcome researchers from the USA and mobilise the necessary resources – academic positions, funding, research programmes and initiatives – and specifically adapt associated logistics and administrative procedures and requirements, like visas, health insurance and pensions, for this purpose.

Socioeconomic benefits

Other countries not only have a moral and humanitarian imperative to support researchers who risk being discarded from their current positions and programmes but, in so doing, will experience a significant boost and enhancement of their own national research and development programmes. Thereby, they would reap significant economic and societal benefits that were previously enjoyed by the USA.

Leadership in this endeavour is emerging in individual organisations (e.g. see news from France’s Aix-Marseille University and Science|Business), but a global effort is urgently required. Welcoming and supporting a reverse researcher diaspora is not only essential for the global research ecosystem but also a huge opportunity for brain gain that, for diverse reasons, must not under any circumstances be missed.

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The mission of the European Academy of Microbiology (EAM) is to amplify the impact and visibility of microbiology and microbiologists, promoting excellence in the field across Europe and globally. It fulfills its mission through targeted programs and activities at the edges of the discipline, and communication to scientists, stakeholders and the public.