Increasing numbers of scientists are eyeing opportunities in Australia, Canada, China and Europe amid threatened cuts to funding.

A brain drain hitting American universities is expected to gather pace before the start of the new academic year as funding cuts and attacks on academic freedom have led increasing numbers of academics to question whether they wish to stay in the United States.

Last month, the historians Timothy Snyder and Marci Shore, who are married to each other, announced their departure from Yale University to join the University of Toronto, citing concerns over the direction of American democracy during  Donald Trump’s presidency.

Meanwhile, professors who face funding cuts and uncertain futures have quietly signalled their availability within academic circles – and are now fielding unexpectedly high-paying offers from institutions abroad.

Quentin Parker, an astrophysicist and director of the Space Research Laboratory at the  University of Hong Kong, said he had heard several high-calibre Chinese-American physicists were considering opportunities outside the US, including in China.

David Lesperance, an immigration and tax specialist at the Canadian law firm Lesperance & Associates, said he was helping “high-profile US tenured professors and top-level researchers” explore relocation options in Canada, Australia and Europe, with many hoping to begin new roles by September.

“Many of them work in medical research, AI, physics, and computer science – these are the hot ticket fields right now,” Lesperance said.

He said one American client was weighing offers from Britain, Australia and China. “He’s passionate about his research, and the decision will come down to which place offers the best funding, lab support and staffing,” Lesperance said.

While younger academics are often expected to be the most mobile, Lesperance said he had been struck by how many senior professors were preparing to leave.

He said some of them could have comfortably retired, but were deeply committed to finishing the work they have spent years on. “The last thing they wanted is for their project to be stopped halfway.”

Some clients were caught off guard by the strength of the offers they received. “Some told me they never realised they were ‘worth that much’,” Lesperance said.

“Of course not – they were never on the market before. These institutions likely never imagined such top experts would be willing to leave the US, and they know there is competition,” he said.

Lesperance, who has advised clients on cross-border relocation for more than 35 years, said the brain drain was “a loss for the US, but an opportunity for other countries".

Both Lesperance and Parker noted that the outflow of top researchers was being compounded by a sharp decline in new talent coming in. International students — who have been key contributors to US research — are increasingly looking elsewhere.

Indian students, who recently surpassed Chinese students as the largest international student group in the US, were now having second thoughts, Parker said. One of his research assistants in Hong Kong, an Indian national, had received a PhD offer from a US university – but could not even secure a visa interview.

Parker now planned to offer him a position in Hong Kong. “The US is turning isolationist,” he said. “It’s imploding.”

Republished from South China Morning Post, 19 June, 2025

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