The number of early-career researchers is expected to fall by 78% this year as a result of the enormous cuts to scientific research in the U.S. | Photo via Unsplash.
What you probably already know: The Trump administration has already cut more than 4,000 grants to at least 600 colleges and universities across the U.S. for scientific research, and that was just existing grants. The president has also stated he wants to institute a 40% cut in the National Institutes of Health’s budget, and his overall government spending bill put forth a 34% cut in research spending. House Republicans said last week they wouldn’t support such a large cut to the NIH but some level of reduction will likely make it through. That has experts concerned that the U.S.’s role as a leader in scientific research globally could begin to slip as researchers seek opportunities elsewhere.
Why? While these proposed cuts might seem to save Americans money, it’s likely they will have the opposite effect. Every dollar the U.S. government spends on scientific research results in $2.56 in economic impact, and the industry supports more than 400,000 jobs. In 2024, research that was initially funded by the government drove $95 billion in new economic activity, according to the Science Coalition. It also results in improved health outcomes for millions of people. NIH researchers have won Nobel Prizes and their work has supported the Human Genome Project and the development of the mRNA vaccines that were initially developed for HIV and then used to stop the deadly spread of Covid-19.
What it means: “Whether you live on the East Coast or in the Southeast, you have less money to do the kinds of biomedical research that is really the backbone of science and the therapies we enjoy today,” says Leigh Morgan, CEO of Imaginal Leadership Strategies and outgoing chairwoman of Fred Hutch Cancer Center in Seattle. Research that looked at outcomes for certain populations, she says, has been completely disrupted as the Trump administration seeks to kill anything that looks like a diversity initiative. This, Morgan said, is not only going to delay important research — it’s going to result in a slowdown in new treatments for disease, as well as a reduction in the number of scientists seeking opportunities to study in the U.S. “Once you cut their funding, what are they going to do?” Morgan says. Scientists can’t just take a few years off and go unpaid. “They will go elsewhere or have to shift their careers. You can’t just all of a sudden say ‘let’s start that research again.’ It doesn’t work that way.”
What happens now? The National Science Foundation has estimated that the number of early-career researchers in the U.S. will fall by 78% during the 2025/26 school year as a result of the cuts. Faculty jobs are disappearing as universities reel from the cuts and research assistant positions are disappearing even faster. The journal Nature conducted a poll earlier this year that found that 75% of scientists are considering leaving the U.S., and many are seeking opportunities in Europe or Canada. “France, Germany and Scandinavian countries are recruiting like crazy,” Morgan says. France has created “super grants” that last seven years for outstanding researchers and is adding funding to support scientist immigration. Choose Europe for Science is funding more than half-a-billion dollars in the next two years to recruit researchers from the U.S. “They’re saying ‘come on over because we are more stable in terms of how we think about and value science,’” Morgan says.
— Story by Emily Parkhurst
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