Nobel winners Abhijit Banerjee, Esther Duflo to leave US for Zurich

US-based alfred nobel laureates book of esther Duflo and Abhijit Banerjee testament before long allow the United States to join the University of Zurich, where they will establish a new centre for development economics, the institution said on Friday.

The University of Zurich (UZH) announced that a married couple, currently working at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), will join its economics faculty from July next year, AFP reported.

"We are delighted that two of the world's most influential economists are joining UZH," university president Michael Schaepman said.

Duflo and Banerjee won the 2019 Nobel Prize in Economics, alongside Michael Kremer, for their "experimental approach to alleviating global poverty."

While the statement did not specify why the Nobel-winning economists had decided to leave, they will be moving to Switzerland at a time when experts are warning that US President Donald Trump's cuts to research funding and attacks on universities' academic freedoms could lead to a brain drain, with some countries trying to attract US scientists.

Duflo, a dual US-French national, herself co-signed an editorial in Le Monde newspaper back in March denouncing "unprecedented attacks" on US science.

She and Indian-born Banerjee will each have an endowed professorship at UZH funded by the Lemann Foundation, the university said.

They will also establish and co-lead the new Lemann Centre for Development, Education, and Public Policy, with the aim of fostering policy-relevant research and connecting researchers and education policymakers around the world, it added.

Duflo said the new Lemann Centre would enable the couple, who will retain part-time positions at MIT, to "build on and expand our work, which bridges academic research, student mentorship and real-world policy impact".

Meanwhile, this year's Nobel Prize in Economics will be announced on Monday.

The 2025 Nobel Prizes recognised groundbreaking work across science, literature, and peace advocacy. In Medicine, Mary E Brunkow, Fred Ramsdell, and Shimon Sakaguchi were awarded for uncovering how the immune system learns to avoid attacking the body's own tissues.

The Physics Prize went to John Clarke, Michel H. Devoret, and John M. Martinis.

In Chemistry, Susumu Kitagawa, Richard Robson, and Omar M Yaghi were honoured for developing metal-organic frameworks (MOFs), while the Literature prize was awarded to Hungarian author László Krasznahorkai.

The Peace Prize was given to Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado, in recognition of her peaceful struggle for democracy and human rights under an oppressive regime.

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