Czech researchers are gaining more foreign colleagues – and those colleagues are staying

In 2025, the Czech Republic attracted a record number of foreign researchers from third countries. A new analysis by EURAXESS Czech Republic shows that scientific mobility is changing: entire families are arriving, and many researchers are choosing to stay permanently.

Science as a family affair

In 2025, EURAXESS Czech Republic – the national centre for international researcher mobility support, operated by the Centre of Administration and Operations of the CAS, v. v. i. – processed a total of 946 residence permit applications. Three quarters were submitted by researchers themselves, with the remainder filed by their partners and children. This ratio is one of the most significant findings: in practice, international scientific mobility increasingly resembles family relocation rather than a short-term work stay.

The Czech Republic is ceasing to be a mere transit point

The dominant instrument of entry remains the long-term residence permit for the purpose of scientific research – granted in 605 cases, accounting for roughly two thirds of all applications. A different figure, however, deserves particular attention: 55 applications for permanent residence, representing approximately six per cent of the total. This signals that a portion of researchers is transitioning from temporary stay to permanent settlement – and that the Czech Republic is becoming a long-term professional and personal destination for them, not merely a stopover.

Gender asymmetry persists

Incoming researchers are strikingly young: the 20–39 age group accounts for four fifths of all R&D&I workers. Mobility is thus concentrated in the period of most intensive career development. Men slightly outnumber women among researchers (61%), while in the category of accompanying partners women form a clear majority (71%). This mirror-image asymmetry suggests that scientific mobility reproduces traditional family role divisions – and that accompanying partners face specific challenges related to career interruption.

Seventy-two nationalities, four key institutions

In terms of researchers’ origins, India dominates with nearly a third of all cases (31%), followed at a considerable distance by Ukraine (9%) and Iran (5%). The ten most represented nationalities together account for approximately 70% of all arrivals. Mobility is thus geographically diverse – encompassing 72 different nationalities in total – yet driven by a narrow group of source countries connected to Czech institutions through long-established ties and recruitment channels.

In institutional terms, research mobility is concentrated among a handful of major players: Charles University receives a quarter of all incoming researchers, CTU another twelve per cent, FZU ten, and IOCB nearly nine. These four institutions together employ more than half of all registered researchers. They effectively function as “hubs of scientific mobility” – workplaces with established processes and know-how that hold the entire system of foreign talent recruitment together.

Administration remains the biggest obstacle

A persistent obstacle remains the administrative burden of the entire process. Language barriers, the complexity of legal procedures, and limited availability of accessible information create an environment of uncertainty that discourages potential applicants before they even arrive. It is precisely for this reason that the study’s authors emphasise the indispensable role of support structures – and warn that the Czech Republic’s future attractiveness for foreign researchers will depend not only on the research capacity of institutions, but also on the ability to offer a stable and predictable environment for the life of the whole family.

The study is available at the Zenodo repozitory (only in Czech).