Canada courts US researchers amid Trump science curbs

Canada is trying to attract US-based researchers as some scientists leave American posts over funding restrictions and pressure on universities under President Donald Trump's administration.

American epidemiologist Sheryl Magzamen has moved from the University of Colorado to the University of Montreal. She cited grant withdrawals affecting research on links between climate change and health, and said watching academic freedom decline in the United States had been difficult.

Major Canadian institutions have publicly said they want to recruit leading US-based researchers who may be looking to move. Canada's largest hospital group, the University Health Network, said last year it would open its doors to foreign experts including US scientists studying vaccines.

Canada has also launched a CAN$1.7 billion, or US$1.23 billion, 12-year programme to recruit researchers globally. Industry Minister Melanie Joly said last month that while some countries were cutting research and turning away from academic freedom, Canada was doubling down on science and research.

Molecular biology professor Phillip Zamore is due to leave the University of Massachusetts for McGill University in Montreal in April. He described the climate toward science in the United States as hostile and said Canada continued to value scientific work.

Quebec City's Laval University has hired 15 researchers from the United States during Trump's second term. Laval rector Sophie D'Amours said the effort had been helped by what she called state control over science in the United States.

Canada is not alone in seeking US talent. The European Union has allocated 500 million euros, or US$581 million, from 2025 to 2027 to attract US-based researchers, and France said in May it had identified 60 foreign scientists it wanted to recruit, most of them based in the United States.