MARSEILLE, France (CN) — Aix-Marseille University has a long tradition of bringing artists and researchers in precarious situations — people struggling to conduct their work in war zones or while facing security threats — onto its campus. People from Ukraine, Afghanistan, sub-Saharan Africa and the Palestinian Territories fleeing war or persecution have found a home there over the past decade.
Now, it’s welcoming Americans.
This week, Aix-Marseille University officially launched its $16.3 million Safe Space for Science program, designed to support scientists who can no longer carry out their work in the U.S. It will host at least 15 scientists over the course of three years. Demand is already high — the university received 50 applications before the platform even went live.
“We academics must be the guarantor of this intellectual freedom and knowledge,” Denis Bertin, the president of the Institute of Advanced Studies at the university, known as IMERA, told Courthouse News. “Without science, we wouldn’t have vaccines, we wouldn’t have cancer treatments, we wouldn’t have operating stations to drink water from the source.”
In roughly six weeks since taking office, U.S. President Donald Trump has launched an unprecedented crackdown on science. A federal judge paused the administration’s freeze on payments of federal grants, but it has fired hundreds of federal scientists and said it would block any grant liked to diversity, equity and inclusion. The government is looking to cut the National Science Foundation’s budget by two-thirds.
Robert N. Proctor, a science historian and professor at Stanford University, told Courthouse News he sees the world entering into an “age of ignorance.”
“The immediate damage is to science as a profession,” he said. “Thousands of scientists are being fired from federal research positions, and dozens of universities are implementing hiring freezes.”
Annika Barber runs a research lab at Rutgers University that studies sleep and circadian behavior. The current climate is like nothing she has ever seen, she told Courthouse News. She turned to activism, organizing the Stand Up for Science rally in New Jersey.
Though Barber was worried when Trump got elected, she said his actions are far more drastic than in his first term. And she already feels uncertain about her future. Her five-year NIH grant is up for annual review soon, before funding can be freed up for next year.
Typically, a program officer looks at straightforward criteria: Did the scientist conduct the proposed experiments? Did they spend the money in outlined categories? Were data sets made available?
Barber worries that what should be standard procedure for her already approved grant is now threatened by the administration’s crackdown on diversity language.
“What many scientists are finding is that the NIH has instituted new levels of review to flag any grants that they believe advance any aspect of diversity, equity and inclusion,” Barber said. “The type of grant that I have is called an R35, and requires a component called ‘a plan for enhancing diverse perspectives’ — many people have found that their non-competing renewals of these grants are suddenly either not happening or are so slow they can’t tell what’s happening.”
Barber also started tracking how many National Institutes of Health meetings have been scrapped since Trump took office.
“Almost 150 NIH study sections did not meet as scheduled since the beginning of the year,” she said. “If each of those sections was supposed to review 100 grants, we’re talking about 15,000 grants that haven’t been reviewed on schedule this year.”
Some see it as counterintuitive that the government would gamble with the country’s status as a beacon of scientific innovation.
Paul Byrne, the NASA PDS Geosciences Node Director, told Courthouse News that the new administration could want to be seen as “doing something,” but isn’t taking a genuine approach to rationalizing, streamlining and optimizing scientific research in the United States.
The consequences could be dramatic. Eric Berton, the president of Aix-Marseille University, told Courthouse News that cuts imply a reduction in scientific and human progress, along with questions about academic freedom.
“It’s the foundations of science that are under attack, but also the language used to understand and explain the world as it is,” he said. “We hope that our initiative will be followed by other universities in France and Europe. … We know that will not be able to solve this alone.”
The university is working with local police to streamline a visa process for Americans joining the program. Technical structures are already in place, since the university has a history of welcoming foreign researchers.
Barber said news of the program is already buzzing in her professional circles. She saw an announcement on Blue Sky a few days ago, and by then, someone had already posted it in one of her group chats.
“All of us were very, very heartened to see this announcement from Marseille,” she said. “It’s like, the one piece of good news that everyone is sharing.”
Trump’s policies could have a resounding impact on the landscape of scientists in the U.S.; from young people making career decisions, to American researchers looking to leave, and international talent who might choose to go elsewhere.
“Why would early-career scientists and engineers choose to pursue careers in those fields, especially with the federal government, when a new administration can come in and seemingly unilaterally decide what research is acceptable and what’s not?” Byrne said. “The most likely outcome of all of this is going to be a massive self-own for the country.”
Barber believes that the U.S. will lose its position as a global leader in science and hopes other countries will pick up the slack.
“Who else will fund research at that level?” she said. “Whoever can do it will be able to recruit a lot of talented scientists.”