In the future, US universities will have to make do with significantly fewer government grants. The government wants to save $ four billion a year. Many scientists are now moving abroad – also to Germany.
US President Donald Trump plans to make massive cuts in the state budget. Now it also hits universities and other research institutions. The national health institutes (NIH) subject to the US government have announced a significant reduction in their grants. The NIH announced in online service X that its contributions to the so-called indirect costs of research institutions were reduced by more than four billion US dollars (around 3.9 billion euros) annually.
The “indirect” costs include the financing of equipment, maintenance of devices and the administration. According to its own statements, the NIH will in future cover their contributions for these costs to a share of 15 percent. So far, the NIH share has usually been 30 percent, an institution received up to 60 percent. It must be ensured that “as many grants flow as possible as possible in direct costs of scientific research,” said the message.
scientist condemn step
Scientists are alarmed. They warn of the devastating consequences of the cuts – for example for research on cancer diseases, Alzheimer's and Parkinson's. The former dean of the Medical Faculty at Harvard University, Jeffrey Flier, wrote on X, the government's procedure was designed to “harm institutions, researchers and biomedical research”.
The chairman of the US research institutions (COG), Matt Owens, assumes that “life-saving research and innovation” is paralyzed by the cuts. In a statement sent to the AFP news agency, Owens appealed to the NIH to withdraw the measure “before the Americans feel their harmful consequences”.
Anusha Kalbasi, a senior radiation on the ray at Stanford University, which receives the grants, described the step compared to the British BBC as “unimaginable catastrophe”. “Some places have private means that you can use for a while,” said Kalbasi. In many facilities, it is unclear how they could now pay for electricity, rent, water and the administrative staff.
“USA are a new talent pool for us”
Trump's approach is also closely observed in Germany. The President of the Max Planck Society (MPG), Patrick Cramer, told the Spiegel, Trump sending “Signals for Investigation” to the scientific institutes of his country. “Many American colleagues are unsettled. They fear that the research desired by Trump should be promoted and unpleasant scientists whose work does not fit into his world view.” Climate and earth system research, gender research and research into infectious diseases are particularly under pressure, said Cramer.
New funding applications would currently not be examined at the NIH, and approved funds would be freezing and checking on their topics. “This is a clear violation of freedom of science, because the choice of topics is the responsibility of the researchers and not the White House,” said the MPG President.
Cramer expects that as a result of the course of the Trump government, there will be an influx of top researchers from the USA to Germany: “The United States is a new talent pool for us.” The MPG received twice as many applications from the United States on the latest tender for the management of research groups as in the previous year.
