Stemming the tide

Andrzej KrauzeThe number of European researchers who leave Europe for greener pastures abroad has continued to make headlines on a regular basis in recent months. Time magazine, for example, reported in January that some 400,000 European science and technology graduates now live in the United States, and the European Commission says that only 13% of European science professionals working abroad intend to return home. More recent studies from Germany question whether the picture is as gloomy as these numbers suggest, but there's no question that legislators and funders of science in the European Union are spending a lot of time worrying about brain drain.Considering this, it isn't surprising that some people in the United Kingdom are trying to get as much mileage as they can from the contrast between British and US policies on embryonic research and somatic cell nuclear replacement. In just four weeks between mid-May and mid-June of this year, the Medical Research Council alone put out four press releases on new stem cell initiatives.The hope is that the more liberal UK regulations will encourage a counter-current flow of investigators back to Blighty. Indeed, Roger Pedersen, formerly based in California and now director of the UK's new stem cell center, told The Scientist's daily news service in early June that he expected the center to attract top US researchers who are unhappy with their government's lack of support for embryonic stem cell research. "I think what will be attractive is the stability in policy here," he said. "Some say the US policy will change after the presidential election, but that will still leave an embedded problem, which is the volatility of policy."But Pedersen's comment may highlight another factor that, while not as sexy as stem cell research, nor as likely to generate press coverage, may have a bigger impact on keep researchers in the United Kingdom: stability. This month, Britain's finance minister Gordon Brown is expected to reveal details of a new 10-year investment framework for science and development, which will be very welcome for a research community now at the whim of government science budgets defined in its 3-year spending reviews. In a speech to members of Britain's banking and investment community in late June, Brown emphasized how important he felt science was to the UK economy. He says the government's plans include: a National Centre for Excellence in science teaching; the reequipping of science laboratories; better funding of science, technology, and engineering postgraduate research; and measures to ensure universities can finance commercialization of university inventions.Back in January, when he first touted his intention to focus on science, Brown said this spending round would be more tight-fisted than the last. But science is one area expected to escape cutbacks. "It is precisely these British qualities – our global reach, our scientific genius, and now our stability – that are the vital assets for winning in a more harshly competitive global economy," he said.Both British and overseas scientists will be watching the details of Brown's plans very closely. And with countries such as Canada and Ireland actively recruiting American scientists with a strong research infrastructure and long-term funds, the United States should be paying attention, too. Scientists and advocates have made a real issue of restrictions on embryonic stem cell research in the United States, but it may be more fundamental differences that will have the larger impact.As Alan Leshner, chief executive officer of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, told The Scientist in May: "Countries have realized how essential a very strong scientific enterprise is to their futures. We are concerned ... they're going to invest more heavily, [and] coupled with a tightening of US borders and the fact that the US has been dependent on foreign scientists as a part of both the student and postdoc and scientific workforce, then we are at risk of losing our edge."

Stemming the tide

The Scientist Staff

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