{"id":179016,"date":"2025-05-14T13:03:58","date_gmt":"2025-05-14T11:03:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.erasmusmagazine.nl\/en\/?p=179016"},"modified":"2025-12-19T11:27:49","modified_gmt":"2025-12-19T10:27:49","slug":"how-trumps-attack-on-science-also-affects-dutch-researchers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.erasmusmagazine.nl\/en\/2025\/05\/14\/how-trumps-attack-on-science-also-affects-dutch-researchers\/","title":{"rendered":"How Trump’s attack on science also affects Dutch researchers"},"content":{"rendered":"

From astronomy to history, researchers in the Netherlands from all branches of science are feeling the impact of the assault on academic freedom in the United States. “American colleagues are too afraid to even talk about it for fear of reprisals.”<\/span><\/p>\n

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Lex Burdorf, professor of Determinants of public health at Erasmus University, tells that together with some colleagues, he wrote an article about the effects of climate change on construction workers\u2019 health. It was set to appear in an American scientific journal, but was rejected at the last minute. The vague reason: \u2018specific circumstances\u2019.<\/span><\/p>\n\t

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This investigative journalism article stems from a collaboration between Investico, Nu.nl and the Higher Education Press Agency. To map the effects that American science policy has on Dutch scientists, a questionnaire was distributed. Over two hundred researchers from twelve Dutch universities participated. The authors conducted in-depth interviews with forty of them. Articles based on this research will appear in Nu.nl, De Groene Amsterdammer, Erasmus Magazine and other higher education media.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\t<\/div>\n

Burdorf states: \u201cWe strongly believe this is due to Donald Trump saying: I don\u2019t want to see any research on climate change anymore.\u201d Meanwhile, the journal\u00a0is seemingly defunct<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Health differences between men and women<\/h2>

Donald Trump has only been president of the United States for a few months, and the repercussions for science are clearly visible. Trump cut science funds, shuts down climate research, bans words like \u2018diversity\u2019 and \u2018gender\u2019, and expels international students and researchers who don\u2019t meet his approval. He launched a full assault on academic freedom.<\/span><\/p>\n

In Burdorf\u2019s field, the new regime is leading to self-censorship among scientists, he explains. \u201cI am involved in research on health differences between men and women, but you can\u2019t say that anymore in the U.S. They talk about \u2018medicine aimed at specific groups\u2019 or \u2018personalised medicine\u2019. Bizarre, isn\u2019t it?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n\n\t

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\n\t\t\u2018I don\u2019t believe I would feel at home in a country where such bizarre things happen\u2019\n\t<\/blockquote>\n\n\t<\/figure>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n

In his emails to colleagues at American universities, he is careful with his words, as you never know where those emails end up. Hundreds of scientists are losing their jobs, and he doesn\u2019t want to put his remaining colleagues in jeopardy.<\/span><\/p>\n

He notices that he is turning away from the U.S. \u201cWith new research plans, we are less likely to invite Americans, because that could lead to trouble\u201d, says Burdorf. \u201cMoreover, I have decided for myself not to go to America for at least the next two years. I don\u2019t believe I would feel at home in a country where such bizarre things happen.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

One in three notices effects in the Netherlands<\/h2>

Burdorf is just one example of how the new course of the American government is also felt in the Netherlands. But there are more. Dutch researchers are losing American science funding or experiencing long-standing collaborations falling apart. Datasets are at risk of disappearing or is no longer accessible. Conferences have been postponed or cancelled.<\/span><\/p>\n

Together with NU.nl and the Investico platform, the Higher Education Press Agency conducted a survey this spring, which more than two hundred researchers from twelve universities completed. One third reports feeling direct effects from Trump\u2019s policies.<\/span><\/p>\n

In addition to well-known fields such as climate science and gender studies, areas like history, political science, paleontology and computer science are also affected. Sometimes the researchers are financially hit: 22 respondents say that promised funds have been stopped or withdrawn, for example by the American health institutions (NIH), or have become uncertain.<\/span><\/p>\n

We spoke in depth to over forty researchers. They described how the policies impact them and how uncertain they are feeling. Can they travel to the U.S. or not? Who can they turn to for advice if they lose their funding or data?<\/span><\/p>\n

Unsafe<\/h2>

Historian and television maker Manon Portos Minetti (pronouns she\/they) looks on in horror at the developments in the U.S. Portos Minetti is conducting PhD research in Leiden on the white, right-wing, evangelical media landscape in the U.S. \u2013 think \u2018televangelism\u2019 \u2013 and analyses how conspiracy theories in that circle contribute to the re-election of Donald Trump and the ideal of a \u2018pure\u2019 white America.<\/span><\/p>\n

Portos Minetti would like to conduct archival research and spend time in the U.S. as a visiting scholar. \u201cBut given my subject, people have now said: don\u2019t even try it. Under Trump, you are only allowed to highlight the positive side of American history, and I am doing the opposite.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n\n\t

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\n\t\t\u2018Under Trump, you are only allowed to highlight the positive side of American history, and I am doing the opposite\u2019\n\t<\/blockquote>\n\n\t<\/figure>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n

The implications are not only professional but also personal: as a queer person of colour with a Uruguayan background, Portos Minetti does not feel safe in the United States. They don\u2019t even know if they\u2019d be allowed into the country and wo\u2019nt try to find out.<\/span><\/p>\n

Travelling to the U.S. would contradict their principles during this time. Sometimes researchers complain about cancelled conferences or trips. \u201cI might be oversimplifying, but I think to myself: would you also have gone to Nazi Germany in 1939?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Astronomy<\/h2>

Gender, racism, climate change, diversity\u2026 Research into such topics is likely to be a target in Trump\u2019s regime. But even seemingly neutral disciplines such as astronomy are experiencing the consequences.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a disaster\u201d, says Simon Portegies Zwart, professor of astronomy in Leiden. \u201cI am in daily Zoom calls with American colleagues, but they are too afraid to talk about it for fear of reprisals. You never know who might be listening in. They are going from a reasonably functioning democracy to the China of the 1970s.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

At the American space agency NASA, diversity policies are now at risk of being dismantled, he explains. He also points to proposed budget cuts: \u201cIf those really happen, NASA will be nearly shut down.\u201d Planned satellites are being cancelled, and an important telescope is in jeopardy. Portegies Zwart notes: \u201cIt\u2019s also so short-sighted. Elon Musk\u2019s space programme is a result of publicly funded space research, and now they\u2019re cutting it.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Departments at NASA related to atmospheric science and oceanography deal with climate change, which somewhat explains why Trump targets them, but why astronomy and space travel? \u201cThe only thing I can think of\u201d, says Portegies Zwart, \u201cis that science produces people who think critically about the world. Those are not Trump\u2019s friends. It seems primarily motivated by resentment.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n\n\t

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