EXPLAINED: How Germany is preparing for a looming US 'brain drain'

Local Germany

09-05-2025

Citing far-reaching job and funding cuts at US universities and research institutions, Trump's actions have endangered science and well-being worldwide, the President of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, Robert Schlögl, said recently.
In response German research institutions and universities are making moves to work more closely with US researchers. But despite some initial fervour around the idea of attracting the US's top talent, most are taking a more cautious approach.
Here's how some of Germany's leading research institutions are responding, including some of the opportunities for US researchers they are pushing.
Will the US suffer a brain drain?
The German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) suspects that the situation in the USA could lead to a global shift.
"Top talent from countries like India, China or Brazil, who would have previously gone mainly to the USA, are now considering whether other countries could be a better option," said DAAD spokeswoman Cordula Luckassen.
Large-scale "brain drains", or the exodus of qualified scientists, have occurred many times in history. Germany suffered its own brain drain around 1933, after the National Socialists came to power when Jewish and dissident academics fled the country.
Luckassen suggests that in the DAAD offices in the US, there is a growing interest in Germany as a science location among international doctoral candidates and postdocs. Many of these academics currently work or study in the US on temporary visas and in temporary positions, often financed by federal funds.
What's the reaction in Germany?
But while some might expect Germany's leading research institutions to move to sweep up top researchers from the US, so far they appear to be taking a softer approach.
Tim Urban, press spokesman of the Leibniz Association, told DPA that he wouldn't pursue a 'targeted poaching of American colleagues,' because it 'risks weakening American science even further'.
The Max Planck Society (MPG) aims to provide the so-called Transatlantic Program with more funding, which would open up options in Germany for scientists who cannot continue their research in the USA.
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In response to a recent call for applications, the MPG received twice as many applications from the USA as in the previous year, President Patrick Cramer
recently said in an interview
with
Der Spiegel
.
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Meanwhile at German universities, the impact of the US' political shift is currently being felt.
A spokeswoman for the University of Leipzig suggested there is an increase in interest among American partners for close cooperation. The Humboldt University in Berlin has reportedly received isolated direct inquiries from US scientists in recent weeks, as has RWTH Aachen University.
"If the situation in the US gives rise to opportunities to strengthen the profile of Goethe University through suitable appointments, we will of course take advantage of them," said the press office of Frankfurt University.
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Where's the funding?
Of course, efforts within Germany to actively lure in top talent from the US could be expected to ramp up depending on developments on the US side – especially for researchers in fields that are being actively targeted by the Trump administration, such as climate, inequality and life sciences.
But currently institutions in Germany, and really across Europe and the world, don't have the budget to support nearly as much research as the US had been supporting in recent decades.
David Ho, an American oceanographer and climate researcher
wrote on social media app Bluesky
that, 'The US spends more on research and development than any other country in the world,' adding that if China and Japan are removed, the US spends almost as much as all other countries combined.
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So for German institutions to have a real shot at attracting top researchers, they'll need to come up with significantly more funding for science.
Some efforts are beginning to come together toward that end. For example, President of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, Robert Schlögl, announced that he would support more top researchers from the USA with appropriate financial support and grant them temporary residence and work opportunities.
Also, in a guest article in
Der Spiegel
last month, leading German scientists called for the development of a so-called "Meitner-Einstein Program", to effectively
poach outstanding researchers from the US
for German universities and research institutions with financial backing from the Federal Ministry of Education and Research.
With reporting by DPA.