France launches the platform “Choose France for Science” for the reception of international researchers

The French ministry in charge of research wrote in the wake of this statement that in the current international context that “generated today the conditions for an unprecedented wave of mobility among researchers throughout the world”, France wants to become a “place of welcome for those who want to continue their work in Europe, relying on the ecosystem and research infrastructure of our country”.

Reception projects in priority fields

France thus committed to “tackle” the attacks against academic freedoms throughout the world. The “Choose France for Science” platform, managed by the French Agence nationale de la recherche (ANR, national agency for research) as part of the France 2030 plan, will allow universities, schools and research entities “request cofunding from the State to welcome researchers”.

In practical terms, the platform will allow institutions submit projects of international researchers’ reception, and specifically in relation with the following priority fields:

• research in health;
• climate, biodiversity and sustainable societies;
• digital technology and artificial intelligence;
• space studies;
• agriculture, sustainable food, forests and natural resources;
• carbon-free energies;
• components, systems and digital infrastructures.

Each reception project, the statement explains, may be “funded by institutions in collaboration with, depending on the case, local authorities and the private sector”. In addition, this mechanism may also provide “complementary funding by the State through France 2030 up to 50% of the overall amount of the project”. 

Evaluation criteria

The launch of this online platform will enable French research institutions to “begin to study the relevance of the research projects submitted by the applicants” and to be able to “prepare very concretely the hosting of those who will be selected”.

Applicants will be assessed according to a number of criteria, including:

• the quality of the submitted research project;
• the context of the application;
• the motivation to continue their research in France;
• the ability to obtain funding for the project.

These criteria are supplemented by a commitment “to submit a competitive European or international project within two years of their arrival”.

A meeting for European research, in Paris on 5 May

Philippe Baptiste, the French Minister for Higher Education and Research, was interviewed on the public radio station France Info the day after the Macron announcement. Baptise pointed out that this new momentum in welcoming international researchers is “a collective effort’ that ‘must be made at European level”.

As the Minister explains, “we are in the process of initiating things at French level, because I believe that we are a spearhead on this matter, and we believe in it a great deal, but it is true that it is at European level that the effort must be made, and that is why, on 5 May, it is the Europe of research, the Europe of science, that will be in Paris with President Macron”. And he continued saying “the President is planning to bring together the European research and science community to discuss the decline in academic freedom that we are seeing around the world”.