Trump's chaos and censorship affecting climate researchers at UU

‘I have never experienced anything like this.’ Ernst Worrell, a professor of Energy, Resources & Technological Change, recently heard from the American Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) that the project he had been working on for fifteen years would be terminated. No reasons were given for the sudden discontinuation. 

Worrell prepares analyses for the Energy Star programme. Many Americans recognise the Energy Star logo for energy-efficient consumer products. Worrell's research advises companies looking to work more sustainably. ‘It's a popular project, which makes it even harder to understand.’

The EPA is under fire in the United States because the agency was allowed to distribute 20 billion dollars in climate subsidies during the Biden administration. The Trump administration is now suspicious about how the money was spent. Over fifty percent of the agency's budget is at risk, which means another thousand researchers could be out of a job soon.

Some of Worrell's peers at EPA are now answering their emails with automatic out-of-office messages. In addition, EPA employees looked wary when Worrell spoke with them about the project. ‘They just nodded when I asked them if I should wish them luck. They didn't even dare to reply. I have also worked with people in China, and they seemed to be able to talk more freely.’

Strange conversations
Appy Sluijs, a professor of Paleoceanography, is also worried about his American peers. He researches drill cores in the ocean floor alongside employees of the US Geological Survey (USGS), among other institutions. The survey was in the news last week due to a politically charged questionnaire received by researchers in Wageningen.

‘I've had some pretty strange talks with colleagues from the USGS. They no longer want to discuss certain things and avoid terms like "climate change". They are terrified of mass layoffs, and it looks like researchers are being watched closely. I have never experienced this level of censorship.’

Sluijs notes that his American peers working at universities can still express their opinions. ‘Universities are mainly funded by individual states or private funding, where Trump has less influence.’

A matter of hope
Like Worrell and Sluijs, Michiel van den Broeke, a Professor of Polar Meteorology, is concerned about what is going on in the American government agencies, in his case the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the National Weather Service (NWS), where employees with temporary contracts have been dismissed or sent away during their probationary period. Some 1,300 people have been fired so far, and another 1,000 employees risk facing the same fate.

‘You could call it the operational branch of our discipline. Indirectly, we need them very badly in Utrecht. We ultimately use American weather forecasting models for climate change. They are at the beginning of the entire chain of observation and modelling, while we are at the end. We are going to feel that.’

According to the professor, we are dealing with a chaotic situation in which events are happening in rapid succession, and no one has an overview. Some colleagues in the US say they haven't noticed anything different so far, while others were fired. ‘It seems to be a matter of hoping it will not affect you.’

Van den Broeke is worried about research data being lost. ‘Our American colleagues asked us to make backups. We have done that for a few things.’ The Copernicus programme is also looking at data security at a European level. ‘But the tricky thing is you can never get a complete overview of what is out there and what is at risk.’

Core samples
Professor Appy Sluijs also expects scientists to no longer have access to data or be able to use research facilities. In his field of research, scientists usually collaborate in international consortia, such as the International Ocean Discovery Programme (IODP). ‘We already wondered what would happen to that during the Biden administration, but now it seems that the US will not play a role in international cooperation anymore.’

According to Sluijs, an American ship was used for decades to retrieve drill cores from the deep ocean, but that ship has now reached the end of its lifespan. ‘We no longer assume that the United States will provide us with a new one.’

He says things are uncertain now. ‘There are three large refrigerators that store IODP drill cores in the world. They are located in Germany, Japan and the US. We wonder what will happen to them, especially the cores taken by the American ship. I am considering all the possibilities right now. More than half of my research uses these cores, and the research done by many of my colleagues uses them too. If we don't have access to the drill cores anymore, our research will be affected directly.'

A hard blow
The EPA project is a small research assignment for Worrell, but he is very concerned about the US government's interventions in energy and climate research: ‘A lot of work is being scrapped. The Americans have a lot of data and good models. It's not that Europeans are completely dependent on American research, but collaboration is exactly what gives these projects strength and credibility.’

Van den Broeke: ‘The best research takes place in the United States. If that suddenly isn't the case anymore, that will be a hard blow for us.’ According to Sluijs, the US has ‘a pioneering role’ in climate research. ‘Now that the axe is coming down, we expect scientific progress to slow down.’

Key function
Ernst Worrell describes Trump's actions as ‘an attack on science and universities to suppress critical thinking. It comes straight from the authoritarian regime playbook. If something like this happens in a country that has a key role in science, we have a big problem.’

The researchers add that these events have a direct impact on scientists' travels between the United States and Europe. Worrell, Sluijs and Van den Broeke prefer to fly as little as possible, so they have no trips to the US planned right now, but some of their colleagues who were planning on visiting the US are now hesitating. Earlier this month, a French scientist was denied entry to the United States after critical statements about Trump's research policy were found on his mobile phone and work computers. Worrell advised a PhD student not to go to the United States for an international conference.

According to Appy Sluijs, European postdocs working in the US are also at their wits' end. ’They want to do their research at a good university in the US, but they are afraid they will not be allowed to enter the country anymore after visiting Europe. All kinds of crazy things are happening at the border.’

Van den Broeke: ‘That's how it goes, and it's exactly what they want. Everything is coming to a screeching halt. This is how they can target science, isolate it and damage it.’

Offended
Worrell expects Dutch universities to receive many applications from the US. ’There is a brain drain threat going on.’ Some of Sluijs' American peers are also considering moving to Europe.

However, the UU researchers are critical of Minister Eppo Bruins' plan to create an NWO fund to attract top scientists to the Netherlands. Van den Broeke thinks that “it sounds hollow considering the austerity measures being imposed on higher education”, while Worrell calls it a short-sighted policy. ‘Especially considering the minister wants the Dutch Research Council – in other words, Dutch science itself – to pay for it again. China is investing heavily in science, so we should not be putting the brakes on.’

Sluijs also describes the plan as cruel: ’The current cabinet snubs academia. They are cutting out funds drastically, which will cause excellent scientists currently working at universities to lose their jobs. It is nice to attract excellent scientists, but it is not as if we could offer them anything here.'

Other UU scientists have also expressed great concern about Trump's research and education policy. The epidemiologist Sanne Peters told RTV Utrecht that funding has been cut for a study into the differences between men and women when it comes to cardiovascular disease. Historian Iva Vukusic, an expert in the field of the International Criminal Court, also described how President Trump's sanctions are affecting scientists: they risk being fired if they support the court.

A spokesperson for UU stated in a written response that the Executive Board shares scientists' concerns about what is going on in the US. However, 'the number of researchers actively reporting such concerns to the university is still small, which makes it hard for us to estimate the concrete impact these events are having.’

‘There is so much going on, so much still up in the air. We have been discussing these concerns with UNL, the association of Dutch universities, thanks to which we've also brought the issue to the attention of the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science. We will continue to monitor what is happening in the US and the consequences this can have for our scientists and research projects. The follow-up steps will be defined depending on the outcome.'