As the Trump administration continues to slash funding for research, many of us are considering our options elsewhere. A number of initiatives have been announced by other countries to attract researchers whose funding is under threat. This page is an attempt to consolidate those efforts.
It’s important to point out that while foreign funding opportunities do exist, and while they will undoubtedly be appreciated by those who receive them and provide benefit to the countries in which they are based, they are not remotely enough to make up for the US research awards that have already been terminated. About $11 billion in existing research funding been cut so far, while the newly announced efforts altogether total perhaps $600M, or about 5% of that. Cuts at Harvard alone have been $2.65 billion.
The following only examines initiatives that are new or recently enhanced on account of the situation in the US. Ongoing programs such as Germany’s Alexander von Humboldt Foundation Fellowships, the European Postdoctoral Fellowships of the EU’s Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions, and Spain’s Ramón y Cajal fellowships for mid-career researchers are not considered.
If you find inaccuracies on this page or have additions, do reach out to me at jmlilly@psi.edu.
Funding Calls for Individuals
The European Research Council
The European Research Council accepts grant applications from non-EU based researchers of any nationality. These are substantial grants, up to $2.8M (2.5M €) for a Starting Grant for researchers with 2-7 years of experience since their PhD, $3.4M (3M €) for a Consolidator Grant for those with 7-12 years of experience, and $3.9M (3.5M €) for an Advanced Grant for those with “a track-record of significant research achievements.” These numbers include an additional €1M for researchers expecting to relocate an EU Member State or an Associated Country. “Research projects funded by the ERC can last up to five years and can cover frontier research in any scientific domain, including social sciences, humanities and interdisciplinary studies.” Applications for the Advanced Grant open on May 22 and close on August 28, 2025. Dates for the other competitions do not seem to have yet been announced, but last year the Starting Grant and Consolidator Grant competitions opened on July 10 and September 26, respectively. The total budget for all ERC grants is $3 billion (2.7 billion €), but it is not clear what portion of this might go to foreign researchers, as these funds also have to support EU researchers.
France
The French government has been vocal in emphasizing that the funding crisis in the US is an opportunity for France and for Europe. The Choose France for Science program welcomes applications from international researchers in any field of science, although researchers from certain fields are particularly encouraged to apply. Applicants must first contact a proposed host institute, which then co-applies to the funding opportunity together with the researcher and which would be responsible for coming up with half the funding. Grantwriting is expected: “Successful applicants commit to submitting a competitive European or international project (e.g. ERC, EIC pathfinder, etc.) within two years of their arrival.” The total budget and total number of positions being offered are not specified. Applications are currently open at the above link.
CNRS, France
The French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS), is inviting applications from researchers in any scientific field and of any nationality. These include 2 to 3 year postdoctoral positions, tenure-track junior professor positions that begin with an initial 3- to 6-year contract, apparently tenured associate and full professor-level positions, and an International Chair position, a “3- to 5-year appointment tailored for renowned researchers.” Grantwriting is expected: “All successful candidates are expected to submit an ERC (European Research Council) application within one year of their recruitment.” CNRS’s deputy CEO for Science states that “We’re concentrating our efforts on bringing to France very high quality researchers, promising young scientists or research frontrunners” and that around 50 of the junior level positions could be offered per year. The total budget and total number of positions at other levels being offered are unclear. Applications, which are currently open, involve simply filling out this online form.
Netherlands
The Netherlands Institute for Advanced Study in the Humanities and Social Sciences (NIAS) has a short-term Safe Haven Fellowship to support scholars, artists, writers, and journalists “whose work is restricted or obstructed by state or non-state entities, by offering them temporary relocation and enabling them to continue their work”. Originally designed for war refugees, its scope has been expanded to include US researchers. Scientists who apply are expected to have three years of experience since their PhD. This program offers five-month fellowships with a monthly stipend of $4K (3.5K €) and subsidized accommodation; the total budget and total number of fellowships to be awarded and not clear. Applications are open until the end of the year.
Sweden
The Ingvar Carlsson Award from the Swedish Foundation for Strategic Research seeks to attract a handful of US-based, Swedish-affiliated researchers for five-year positions. Applicants must have an “ongoing tenure track or tenured research position at an American academic institution”, be 7–12 years from their PhD (adjusted for parental leave), work in the natural sciences, engineering, or medicine, and be Swedish-ish, with “an active or previous Swedish citizenship or a Master or PhD degree from a higher educational institute (HEI) in Sweden.” They also need to arrange for a Swedish university to agree to offer them a permanent position once the funding ends. Since the total funding is $4.6M (46M SEK) and individual awards are worth $1.55M (15 SEK), it seems that there will be three such awards given. The application deadline is September 23, 2025, and the project must start in the first half of 2026.
Norway
The Research Council of Norway has announced a $10M (100M NOK) program to attract experienced international researchers. The call is expected to be published in May, presumably at the Research Council’s web site, but does not appear to be listed yet.
Dalhousie University, Canada
Dalhousie University in Halifax, Canada, is inviting “exceptional researchers from around the world” to apply to become one of its nominees for the Canada Excellence Research Chair Competition. This prestigious competition awards either $3M ($4M CAD) or $6M ($8M CAD) over a period of eight years “to support world‑renowned researchers and their teams to establish ambitious research programs at Canadian universities.” Thirty-four chairs were awarded in the previous competition four years ago for all of Canada, so one expects this initiative of Dalhousie’s could result in no more than a handful of international research teams being supported. Applications to become one of Dalhousie’s nominees are relatively brief and are due soon, June 30, 2025.
Funding Calls for Institutions
Awards in this group are designed to enable institutions to recruit researchers. For these programs, an individual does not apply directly. For most of these a particular researcher is identified in the application; it therefore seems you would likely need to have a prior contact within the host country in order to benefit, unless an institution happens to contact you out of the blue. The last program described, the EU’s Choose Europe for Science 2025, is an exception, as this program generates positions which can subsequently be applied for.
The European Union
The European Union’s Choose Europe for Science 2025 program is a pilot program within a larger set of fellowships called the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions or MSCA. This program is aimed at institutions in the EU and associated countries in order to enable them to recruit researchers of any nationality who have not recently resided in the country of the host institute. The budget for the entire program is $25M (22.5M €), with a beneficiary institution able to receive a maximum of $4M (3.5M €) to recruit at least three researchers for four or five years. Thus, this would support a minimum of 18 researchers at six different institutes with a maximum average award of $1.3M per researcher. The identities of the supported researchers are not specified at the time of the grant application. The proposal window opens on October 1, 2025, and closes on December 3, 2025. We should therefore expect to see positions opening up on account of this program next year sometime, which are to be posted on the EURAXESS web site.
Spain
The Spanish goverment’s ATREA program is designed to attract established researchers of “recognized international prestige … such as being within the top 10% of researchers in their area of specialization globally” with the goal of promoting “the advancement towards a more competitive Spanish System of Science, Technology, and Innovation.” This year’s call has a budget of $45M (40M €) with maximum grant amount of $1.1M (1M €), or $1.35M (1.2M €) if the researcher has been located in the US for the past five years. Each award will support a single researcher for 3 or 4 years. This means it could fund 33 researchers if all were taken from the US. Public research organizations apply with a particular foreign investigator in mind, and are obligated to create a permanent position in that individual’s field and fill it by the end of the award. Applications opened on April 24 and will close soon, on June 9, 2025.
Sweden
Sweden has initiated a program enabling Swedish universities to host international “prominent researchers” in any field, who have been based outside of Europe for the past two years, for yearlong stays. Each award is worth $200K (2M SEK), though the total number of such awards is not listed in an obvious place. These visits must begin between June 1, 2025 and March 1, 2026. Applications are open and are assessed on a rolling basis until the end of 2025.
Finland
The Research Council of Finland has launched a program to support Finnish universities to recruit “high-level researchers from outside Finland”. The program has $56M (50M €) of funding and each award can be for up to $2.8M (2.5M €) per award, supporting a minimum of 20 researchers and possibly also team members. The funding period begins during 2026 and will last for five years. The applications are in two phases, a letter of intent phase, which opened on April 15 and which does not identify the particular researcher, and a full application with a particular researcher in mind which opens on October 29, 2025, and closes on May 13, 2026.
Proposed Initiatives
The following initiatives have been proposed but have not yet materialized into concrete funding opportunities.
Australia
The Australian Academy of Science has announced a Global Talent Attraction Program to attract US researchers. This program is currently in a preliminary state, as it now calling for donations rather than applications.
University Health Network, Canada
The University Health Network, Canada’s largest health research organization, has announced a program called Canada Leads to “recruit 100 world-leading early career scientists” in medical research for an initial two-year position. Fundraising is currently underway, with $11M ($15M CAD) already secured to support the first 50 researchers. The Canada Leads website has a link if you’d like to be kept informed as this funding call develops.
Denmark
There has been a proposal by the head of the Danish Chamber of Commerce to create a fund that would bring up to 200 US researchers to Denmark over the next three years. However, this seems to be at the idea phase.
Netherlands
It has been reported that the Netherlands Education Minister has proposed the creation of a program to attract leading international scientists. The initial proposed budget for this program is $28M (25M €), however, the details and the timing have not yet been specified.
Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Netherlands
There are reports that Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB) has opened twelve postdoctoral positions in response to the funding crisis in the US, however, these are not currently listed on VUB’s job posting site. In addition, VUB states that it “allocates funding and a contact point for outstanding scholars looking to relocate to Brussels,” however, it is unclear whether there will be concrete funding opportunities or simply informational support.
Germany
The incoming German government has floated an initiative, called 1,000 heads—maybe it sounds better in German?—to attract a large number of researchers, but so far there are no details. In addition, the Max Planck Society, a non-profit affiliation of German research institutes, has recently proposed the creation of a Max Planck Transatlantic Program. This would fund additional postdoctoral researchers, temporarily support junior faculty, and perhaps offer a few outstanding scientists director-level positions.
Closed Initiatives
Deadlines for applying to the following funding initiatives have passed.
Aix-Marseille University, France
The Safe Place for Science at Aix-Marseille University was one of the first concrete programs aimed at attracting US researchers whose work has been threatened by the Trump administration. The anticipated budget was $17M (15M €) for three-year positions. Almost 300 applications were received for about 20 positions, and the call is now closed.
Belgium
The Brains for Brussels by Innoviris, the Brussels Institute for Research and Innovation, was seeking “high-level researchers, currently working abroad or in the private sector, to carry out pioneering research relevant to the Brussels-Capital Region”. This program, for which applications closed on February 17, 2025, will provide support for three years, renewable for an additional two years. The total budget or total number of researchers supported by this program are unclear.