The United Kingdom has joined the race to attract international research talent disillusioned by the Trump administration’s attack on science and universities in the United States.
UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), the non-departmental government body sponsored by the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT), is investing £54 million (US$73 million) over the next five years in the Global Talent Fund.
The aim is to attract top international researchers in high-priority industrial sectors, such as life sciences, advanced manufacturing, clean energy industries and digital technologies.
The money will be spread between 12 universities and research institutions across the country to help bring some of the world’s leading researchers and their teams to the UK.
Ten universities have been selected for an equal share of the grants. They are: University of Bath; Queen’s University Belfast; the University of Birmingham; the University of Cambridge; Cardiff University; Imperial College London; the University of Oxford; the University of Southampton; the University of Strathclyde; the University of Warwick. The John Innes Centreand MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology will also receive grants through the talent fund.
Choose Europe
The UK initiative follows similar attempts to woo American scientists, such as the European Union’s Choose Europe seven-year ‘super grant’ programme, which, as University World News reported, is offering long-term support to the “very best” researchers.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced earlier this year that the EU was setting aside €500 million (US$563 million) from 2025 to 2027 to make Europe a “magnet for researchers” and called on US-based scientists whose work is under threat from President Donald Trump’s executive orders slashing science and undermining research freedoms, to relocate to Europe.
Universities in Asia are also putting out the welcome mat to both American scientists and international students looking for alternatives to the US due to the current uncertainty in the Trump administration’s policies towards universities and research.
Asian ‘sanctuary’
Singapore is among several Asian countries saying that its door is open as a ‘sanctuary’ for global talent, as University World News reported earlier this month.
Japan has allocated around US$700 million in an emergency package to attract talented researchers to Japan “amid an exodus of talent from the United States”.
“We will make utmost efforts to make our country the most attractive in the world for researchers,” said Minister of State for Science and Technology Policy Minoru Kiuchi at a press conference on 16 June.
The UKRI Global Talent Fund
announcement is more modest in its monetary value, but the ambition is similar: to attract and support the relocation of outstanding international researchers and research teams to the UK.
The 12 British institutions awarded a share of the global talent fund were selected on the basis of their organisational strengths in successfully receiving and using competitive international funding and recruiting and retaining international researchers, said UKRI.
“These awards will enable institutions to rapidly recruit and embed international research talent, while providing the necessary resources for long-term programme development,” it said.
Bath among the 12
Among the 12 institutions sharing the talent fund is the University of Bath, which intends to use its £4.35 million share to strengthen research capacity and “deliver high-impact innovation in priority areas”.
Professor Phil Taylor, the university’s vice-chancellor, said he was delighted that Bath was playing its part in attracting outstanding global academics to help power research in the UK’sindustrial strategy priority areas.
“This major investment recognises the vital role universities play in driving innovation and growth [and] we look forward to working with DSIT and UKRI to attract more bright minds to play their part in our innovation-fuelled and impact-focused research.”
The University of Bath said it will use this funding to appoint up to 15 world-leading researchers across four nationally strategic areas: clean energy, digital technologies, professional and business services, and life sciences.
MPs urged government action
The £54 million package of grants follows calls back in early May from the Science, Innovation and Technology Committee chair, Chi Onwurah, for the UK government to do more to support and attract scientists wanting to leave the US after cuts to US government science programmes and reports that several European countries and universities were already actively recruiting top US scientists.
Onwurah, a member of parliament for Newcastle-upon-Tyne, wrote to the Science Minister Lord Vallance asking for clarity on what the UK was doing to attract these scientists and whether the UK planned to implement a special visa system to reduce costs of attracting this talent.
The committee previously questioned Sir Vallance about whether the UK has the right strategies to attract global talent to the UK and whether the visa system needed to change to attract scientists from overseas. In 2024, UK visa costs were found to be 17 times higher than comparable countries.
UK ready to invest
UKRI International Champion, Professor Christopher Smith, said: “This government-funded initiative sends a powerful message: the UK is open to the world’s best researchers, and we are ready to invest in their success.
“It will be a complementary part of the broad array of support available across the UK research system, from UKRI programmes to Horizon Europe association and National Academy fellowships,” he said.
The financial support includes full relocation and research costs and full visa costs for researchers and their dependents, removing significant financial and administrative barriers to relocation.
“Using the Global Talent visa as a key enabler, we are creating a welcoming, flexible, and well-resourced environment where international talent can thrive.”
Lord Vallance said: “Scientific excellence so often relies on international collaboration, and the global talent fund will help carefully selected participating institutes with proven track records to attract outstanding researchers from across the globe to the UK’s world-class research ecosystem.
“By removing practical barriers around relocation challenges and costs, and through the delivery of a raft of new fellowships from both inside and outside of government, we are making it easier for talented researchers to build their future here and in turn drive groundbreaking discoveries that attract further investment,” he said.
Dr Diana Beech, a former government higher education adviser and director of the Finsbury Institute at City St George’s University in London, told University World News: “The allocation of the global talent fund is both timely and strategic given the rapidly changing state of global politics.
More needed than just extra funding
“While the choice of host institutions was predictable – with eight of the 12 belonging to the Russell
Group – it will take much more than just pumping additional funds into the UK’s most well-known universities to make the scheme a success.”
She said that despite current political uncertainty, the US remains a dominant force in global science, adding: “So, the UK must not only offe competitive relocation packages but also foster an environment where international researchers feel they can thrive long-term”.
Beech said: “This means taking action to stabilise the UK’s higher education and research sector and maintaining welcoming messaging to offset the growing threat of populist, anti-immigration politics on this side of the Atlantic.
“To continue enhancing the attractiveness of UK science, the Global Talent Taskforce will need to be agile and responsive to global trends, as well as recognise other pockets of excellence that exist elsewhere across the UK’s research and innovation sector in future rounds of the initiative.”
Follow Europe’s lead
Professor Jan Palmowski, secretary general of The Guild of European Research Universities, told University World News they welcomed any initiatives that strengthen Europe’s science base.
Palmowski said: “In some countries we have seen reductions in public funding for universities – not so in the UK – where challenges around funding arise from changes in overseas student demand.
“So, it is essential that governments increase their investment in Europe’s science base holistically.
“A great way to do this would be by following the European Commission’s lead in its most recent Framework Programme 10 proposal to scale up overall investment in R&I to ensure Europe finally achieves a stable 3% of GDP R&I investment.
“Another is to foster global science collaboration and increase investment in critical international projects that have been compromised by recent political shifts, for instance, research in climate change or sexual health.”
On the question of how much difference these special grants to woo international researchers will make, Palmowski said: “Of course, the numbers they can attract will not make a systematic difference.
“And the best response, in our view, to attacks on science is to ensure we support the global science system through global collaboration.”