Canada Lures Dozens of Top U.S. Researchers to Its Universities

Canada is actively poaching more than 60 senior academics from U.S. universities, including Harvard, under a new federal programme.

The initiative will fund 64 professors in fields such as climate science, medicine and technology, with a budget of C$504 million (US$362 million).

More than 75 per cent of the incoming scholars will have come from U.S. campuses. The drive follows criticisms by the Trump administration of left‑wing bias and campus antisemitism, coupled with a freeze of federal research grants that many say have been wasteful.

The uncertainty created by that policy has turned many researchers toward international opportunities.

Canada’s Industry Minister, Melanie Joly, said the government was "very glad" to welcome the new faculty, while also noting that the U.S. bailout decisions are out of Canada’s control.

One climate‑resilience researcher, Seth Guikema from the University of Michigan, will be leasing C$8 million to develop tools that help communities guard against storms and wildfires at the University of Western Ontario. He cited the US funding climate‑related research as a growing challenge.

Other scholars, such as former Harvard medical faculty Peter Caravan, are moving to the University of British Columbia to pursue cancer and chronic‑disease detection research.

Academics from universities across the U.S. – including the University of Southern California and Harvard – have noted the cuts to major grant agencies as driving them to Canada.

U.S. universities remain top ranked worldwide, yet the loss of talent could impact their long‑term prospects.