Ron Mangun

Ron Mangun (George Mangun) is a neuroscientist who studies the neural mechanisms of attention, and who left the University of California, Davis, after more than three decades to join the University of Birmingham in the United Kingdom alongside his wife and research partner, Tamara Swaab.

The couple's move was supported by the UK's Global Talent Fund, a $70 million programme designed to recruit researchers from abroad. Rachel O'Reilly, a professor at Birmingham who helped recruit the pair, said the funding offers "a little bit certainty at a time of uncertainty" for colleagues still in the US system.

Mangun described the move as more than a reaction to the current state of US science, calling it an opportunity to try something new and work alongside a different group of top scientists while maintaining emeritus positions at UC Davis. He said he believes American voters will eventually restore research funding and the nation's commitment to science.