Dutch political party wonders if 'threatened' scientists are a danger to knowledge security?

Worth 50 million euros, the Tulip Fund allows universities, universities of applied sciences, academic hospitals and research institutes in the Netherlands to bring threatened scientists from all over the world to the Netherlands.

2 million euros have been reserved for universities of applied sciences, which they can use to attract four foreign researchers to conduct practice-oriented research. The other institutions will receive 1 million euros per scientist. So, there is enough funding to fill 52 positions.

UU expects two such scientists to come to Utrecht.

Geopolitics
In a written consultation with the House of Representatives, the outgoing Minister of Education, Gouke Moes, summarised the considerations behind this fund. "The current geopolitical context offers an opportunity to attract leading scientists."

The geopolitical context he is referring to is the situation in the United States, where President Donald Trump has launched an attack on academic freedom. However, the fund does not focus specifically on the US, as the minister emphasised when asked by the political party VVD.

But that's not the only concern VVD has about the Tulip Fund. The party wonders how the government and the institutions will prevent sensitive information from falling into the wrong hands. Will knowledge security also be considered before “threatened” scientists start working here? The quotation marks around the word “threatened” are from the party itself.

Screening
When answering the question, Moes referred to the government's knowledge security desk, to which institutions can turn for questions in this regard. Other than that, it is up to each institution to make its own assessment. Since the fourth cabinet of Premier Mark Rutte, the Dutch government has been working on a bill that would enable the government to screen international researchers and master's students.

Another right-wing party, BBB (Farmer Citizen Movement), also posed questions about the Tulip Fund. They wonder whether the “strategic autonomy” of the Netherlands will be jeopardised if international researchers come here, and to what extent the domestic knowledge sector depends on foreign knowledge capital.

The Minister of Education, who is himself from BBB, had therefore to explain to his own party colleagues how important internationalisation is. He said that International scientists help train Dutch researchers and that international cooperation is important for knowledge and innovation.

According to Moes, foreign “knowledge capital” has helped put the Netherlands at the forefront of science. "Geopolitical shifts and challenges have made it clear that we need to pool our strengths and knowledge even more effectively across borders, also in order to increase the effectiveness and efficiency of our national efforts."

Emigrating
The Tulip Fund plan was launched in March. A week later, the scientific journal Nature published a widely cited news article about American scientists who would like to emigrate to Canada or Europe. In a survey, 75 percent of them said that they were considering this.

The results of that survey were confirmed a month later with additional data: between January and March, the number of Americans reacting to academic vacancies in other countries increased. Most applied for vacancies in Canada and Europe, but some also applied for vacancies in China.

Scientists' concerns go beyond drying up funding streams: their work is also affected by the political climate. For example, more than half of university staff in the conservative south would not recommend anyone to come and work there, according to the latest edition of Nature. Twenty-five percent of staff are looking for jobs elsewhere.