US academics say travel ban harming research

(31 Jan 2017) Universities across the U.S. say President Donald Trump's ban on travellers from seven Muslim countries is disrupting research projects and academic exchanges in such fields as medicine and engineering.
For example, collaboration between HIV researchers at Harvard and in Iran is now in question.
"America exists in the world, that to be globally competitive one needs to be globally engaged and one needs to be globally responsible," said Harvard Medical School Professor Thomas Michel.
"I think that America, under the current direction being promulgated by our ruler is headed in the wrong direction. America will become less great as a consequence of these policies. I'm not a politician, I'm a scientist."
Michel had recruited Iranian scientist Soheil Saravi to conduct research in his lab and Prof. Soumya Raychaudhuri persuaded Iranian computational biologist Samira Asgari to reject offers from other research facilities to join his lab.
But both researchers were prevented from travelling to Boston to take up their position after the Trump administration moved surprisingly swiftly to implement his ban on admission of citizens from seven Muslim-majority countries.
Meanwhile, thousands of academics abroad have called for a boycott of conferences in America.
Some fear the travel ban could undermine vital research and cost the U.S. its role as the world leader in innovation.

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