Academic Freedom Under Threat as Nobel Prizes Approach: Trump Policies Raise Concerns Among Scientists

Stockholm:

With Nobel Prize announcements approaching next week, the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences has expressed concern that academic freedom faces significant threats in the United States and globally, warning that political interference could have enduring negative consequences.

Donald Trump has implemented or proposed numerous measures during his second presidential term that critics believe will impede educational advancement and scientific research.

Ylva Engstrom, Vice President of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, which is responsible for awarding the Nobel Prizes in chemistry, physics, and economics, described the Trump administration's changes as irresponsible.

"I think in both the short and long term, it can have devastating effects," she stated in a Reuters interview. "Academic freedom... is one of the pillars of the democratic system."

The Trump administration has rejected claims of restricting academic freedom, asserting that its measures aim to eliminate waste and enhance American scientific innovation.

Engstrom, who also serves on the board of the European Federation of Academies of Sciences and Humanities, is not personally involved in any of the three committees selecting winners for the chemistry, physics, or economics prizes.

The Nobel prizes, widely considered the world's most prestigious scientific awards, will begin announcements next week, starting with medicine or physiology on Monday and concluding with economics the following week.

Established by Swedish dynamite inventor Alfred Nobel, these awards recognize outstanding achievements in physics, chemistry, literature, and peace, with each prize including 11 million Swedish crowns ($1.2 million).

Trump has repeatedly stated he deserves the Nobel Peace Prize, though experts consider his chances extremely minimal.

The Trump administration has proposed significant budget reductions for the National Institutes of Health, the largest global funder of biomedical research, and intends to dismantle the Department of Education to reduce federal involvement in education while increasing state control.

Additionally, the administration has indicated it would prioritize grant funding for programs focused on "patriotic education" and has mandated that universities cap international undergraduate enrollment at 15%.

"For research, it's going to be a big dip in what the American scientists can do and what they are allowed to do, what they can publish, what they can get money for. So this is going to have big effects," explained Engstrom, who chairs the research policy committee at the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences.

In response, the White House emphasized via email that the United States remains the world's largest funder of scientific research.

"The Administration's targeted cuts to waste, fraud, and abuse in both research grant funding and visa programs are going to strengthen Americans' innovative and scientific dominance," the statement noted.

Trump has also engaged in disputes with several prestigious universities—some whose faculty may soon receive Nobel prizes—threatening to withhold federal funding over issues including pro-Palestinian demonstrations against Israel's Gaza campaign, campus diversity initiatives, and transgender policies.

British-American economist Simon Johnson, who received the 2024 Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences for his research on institutional impacts on prosperity, indicated that while it remains uncertain how Trump's actions will affect academic freedom, they would definitely hinder economic growth.

"These policies are absolutely, unambiguously very negative and particularly for job creation," stated Johnson, a professor at MIT Sloan School of Management.

"All engineering and science-type activities, I think, are going to be affected," he continued. "Life Sciences is a particularly dynamic sector at the moment and NIH is, for whatever reason, being targeted with truly massive cuts."

The Nobel Foundation, which oversees Nobel's will and legacy, acknowledged that challenges to academic freedom exist, as they have throughout the Foundation's 124-year history, and assured that it was "keeping a watchful eye."

"We protect knowledge," said Hanna Stjarne, chairwoman of the foundation. "We protect... freedom, the opportunity for researchers to work freely, for writers to be able to write exactly as they want, and for peace initiatives to be taken in all kinds of conflicts that exist all over the world."