Laura Bernardi is the Vice-President of the National Research Council of the SNSF. | Photo: Université de Lausanne

As troubling political winds sweep across the academic landscape, there is once again a threat to the role of diversity in scientific excellence. Since March 2025, the US federal government has implemented restrictions on research funding and hiring in areas it deems politically sensitive — from gender-based violence to climate science and vaccine research.

A colleague of mine, a distinguished sociology professor based on both sides of the Atlantic, writes that she and her peers in the United States are “appalled, angry, and afraid”, though also “active in donating to or working on behalf of the resistance”. Scientists can also resist through science itself, by communicating the invaluable contribution that research makes to public health, social cohesion and security in the very domains being targeted.

This resistance is not merely political; it is epistemic. It defends the foundational principle that rigorous, impactful research requires intellectual freedom and pluralism, not ideological constraints. It is naturally alarming that the US, a global scientific powerhouse, should wish to marginalise research into diversity, thereby joining countries like Hungary, where masters programmes in gender studies were banned in 2019. Yet, sadly, none of this is unprecedented.

At stake is not only who gets to ask scientific questions, but what questions can be asked at all. In science, diversity – of topics, methods, perspectives and people – is not a luxury; it is a necessity. Knowledge thrives on the interplay between discipline and disruption, analytical precision and openness to complexity. Research that homogenises itself in response to political pressure ceases to be science and becomes something else entirely.

Whether through defunding specific areas, silencing controversial topics, or undermining inclusive hiring and evaluation practices, attacks on research diversity are attacks on research quality itself. The Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF) is committed to defending this principle. Excellence, as we understand it, cannot be disentangled from diversity. Our mandate is clear: to support outstanding research in all fields and to do so with integrity, competence, and unwavering trust in the scientific process.

Arbitrarily limiting diversity in research will create a future of selective knowledge rather than one of inclusive excellence. At the SNSF, we choose the latter.