There are more elegant places than the French Embassy in the United States to organize a birthday. Although large – 1,000 square meters of white walls in their original state since the 1980s – the residence remains a bit austere. It also perhaps lacks a little history. Especially for French people, accustomed in Paris to the refinement of palaces or the ancient beauty of university buildings.
However, it is here, in Washington, among the grand pianos, contemporary sculptures and bay windows of the “Maison France”, that Inserm, one of the main French scientific institutions, has chosen to celebrate its 60th anniversary. More than a hundred women and men of science traveled from both sides of the Atlantic to toast there on October 29. That the National Institute of Health and Medical Research, its full name, has fallen under the American charm of the place seems unlikely. That he was convinced of the strategic interest of celebrating French research in the heart of the American capital, a week before the presidential election, seems a much more coherent explanation. Especially when we know that one of the candidates, now elected, is causing knee-jerk reactions among scientists across the Atlantic.
Many departures in 2017
In 2017, after the first election of Donald Trump, a slayer of the scientific method, researchers decided to leave the United States. France, which has long coveted American talent, then put in place a special procedure to bring them in, called “Make Our Planet Great Again”. This facilitated procedures and made it possible to obtain a position in environmental or climate sciences, fields whose conclusions the 47th American president refuses to hear.
There are 43 researchers who responded to the French call. Including leading figures, such as Camille Parmesan, 2007 Nobel Prize winner with the IPCC: “At the time, all my friends and colleagues who worked in these sectors within the American government took early retirement or changed jobs “, she remembers. The program has undoubtedly been useful to French sovereignty: 485 articles were produced, two-thirds in high-impact journals, according to a CNRS report that L’Express obtained before its release.
While Donald Trump’s campaign has once again given rise to numerous attacks against science, France has not yet renewed this initiative. But the evening organized by Inserm still served as a subtle reminder: there is no doubt that the talents working on American territory would be properly welcomed in the French laboratories, if a sudden desire to leave took them .
A subtle reminder
Without going so far as to launch an official call to come work in France – which Emmanuel Macron did in 2017 – Didier Samuel, the CEO of Inserm, acknowledges “closely monitoring” the evolution of the American scientific climate. “It is certain that we will observe what happens. It is possible that there will be requests to French laboratories,” concedes the big boss of the institution, with the diplomatic convolutions of circumstance.
Officially, in Washington, Inserm celebrated friendship with the National Institute of Health, its American counterpart, and by far its first partner. Out of the question, therefore, to give the impression of wanting to take advantage of local disarray. But, another coincidence of the calendar, it is also at this precise time of the year that the institution has chosen to “strengthen” its presence on site, intensifying, in addition to its partnerships, its representation in the American capital.
A new team has thus been established at the embassy. Enough to closely follow the consequences of Trump’s new mandate. On this subject, the scientists on site want to be much more wait-and-see than in 2017, when they took to the streets to demonstrate: “It is too early to say whether the campaign rhetoric will be translated into action,” indicates thus at L’Express the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), the first American scientific organization.
If he manages to follow through on his rhetoric, the 47th president of the United States could certainly be harmful to many scientific activities. For example, he recently targeted biomedical research, appointing Robert Kennedy Jr Minister of Health, also a candidate for a while. The man, nephew of John F. Kennedy, relays all types of fake news sanitary facilities, from tap water which would make you transsexual to Covid which would be invented from scratch. He also promises to bring the American health system into line.
Donald Trump, the unpredictable
But, as the AAAS points out, in the United States, it is Congress which has the last word. However, Parliament is traditionally attached to science. What’s more, Donald Trump is not strictly speaking “anti-science”: if he does not have rationality as his compass, he sometimes listens to scientists. On their advice, for example, he ended up paying billions to pharmaceutical laboratories to find a vaccine against Covid, a disease whose dangerousness he nevertheless denied and against which he recommended injecting bleach.
In the absence of a direction, it is difficult to know which scientists could really suffer from the new American directions to the point of wanting to leave. And therefore, to determine where to act first. Is this why the government has said nothing on this subject? “France has many assets to promote to scientists and researchers around the world, whatever their country of origin or the national political context,” indicates the Ministry of Research, when asked if it prepared for this eventuality.
The scientific institutions are not more precise: “We are obviously going to continue the policy of cooperation, it is a major partner country”, explains a CNRS communicator. “For the moment, it is too early,” says the Foundation for Medical Research, which regularly sets up aid programs for foreign researchers. Actions cannot be ruled out, but the organization points out that it is not focusing on the United States.
Numerous action levers
It will, obviously, take much more than bubbles and French petit fours to launch a rush to France. But bringing in disappointed Americans is not the only lever that can be activated, far from it: “It will be necessary to carefully monitor the new visa restrictions that could be imposed, as was the case with the “Muslim Ban”, which restricted access to nationals of certain Muslim countries. We will then have to be able to open our doors to those who could not travel to the United States for these reasons,” continues Didier Samuel.
The boss of Inserm was at the party on October 29. He also took the opportunity to meet a certain number of researchers of French origin based on site. A situation, again, to be looked at closely according to him: “Of course we would like to see some of them come back, or conversely, to prevent some from leaving,” he continues. As part of France 2030, the French industrialization and recovery project, several profiles of this type have already returned to France, bringing expertise that is sometimes unique in the world.
A less visible channel than “Make Our Planet Great Again”, but which has also borne fruit, thanks in particular to salary increases as well as the guarantee of ambitious funding, two elements that are often blocking. Professor Bana Jabri, who has been based in Chicago for twenty-five years, will take over the management of the Imagine Institute, specializing in genetic diseases, as part of this process. It also served to bring in Dr. Yasmine Belkaid, who previously led immunology research in Maryland. She is now at the head of the very famous Pasteur Institute.
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