Netherlands recruited 29 top scientist leaving U.S. under Trump
The fund the Netherlands established to recruit leading scientists mainly attracted American researchers leaving the United States under the Trump administration. Of the 34 top scientists recruited last year, 29 came from the United States, the Ministry of Education, Culture, and Science reported.
The Tulip Fund was established by the previous Cabinet shortly after Donald Trump took office in America and implemented massive cuts affecting the academic world. The Schoof I Cabinet injected €25 million into the fund, and the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO) contributed the same amount. The fund provides a maximum of €1 million per scientist for a period of five years.
The 29 researchers from the United States are both American scientists and European scientists who wanted to return, the Ministry said. The scientists are affiliated with top American universities like Harvard, Yale, Columbia, and Stanford, as well as research institutes like the National Cancer Institute.
The scientists not from the U.S. came from Israel, Turkey, the United Kingdom, and Singapore, among others.
The recruited scientists' fields of research range from artificial intelligence (AI) to medical sciences and the energy transition.
“The arrival of these scientists is good news for the Netherlands,” said Education Minister Rianne Letschert. “Every additional top scientist means more access to new knowledge, networks, and perspectives for current researchers in our country. This makes our science stronger and less dependent on other countries.”
The Dutch government launched this fund after the Trump administration cut billions of dollars from scientific institutions, specifically limiting climate and medical science. The Dutch government never said that the developments in the U.S. prompted the fund but didn’t deny it either. Other European countries, including Germany and France, launched similar funds.
