Effect of major policy changes to US science funding on PhD students and postdoctoral researchers

 Shortly after major policy changes to US science funding began in early 2025, the authors of this study surveyed 916 young biomedical scientists – PhD students and postdoctoral researchers – about their career intentions and expectations. 

The results document a dramatic shift in sentiment. 

• Barely half of respondents now say they are likely to remain in academia, down 22 percentage points from how they felt six months earlier. 
• The fraction likely to stay in the United States fell by 21 percentage points. 
• Even satisfaction with having pursued a PhD in science declined by 16 percentage points. 

These are not the complaints of established scientists defending their budgets, but rather the stated intentions of the next generation – the scientists who would, in ordinary times, become the principal investigators of the future.