Three vice-presidents at Spain’s research council, the CSIC, have stepped down in protest at staff shortages that are putting the country’s success in Horizon 2020 at risk.
The CSIC funds and produces about 20 per cent of Spain’s research and oversees most of its participation in Horizon 2020. It used to employ 12 people to manage more than 750 EU research contracts, but this number was cut down to eight this year, an inside source told Research Europe.
Three vice-presidents at Spain’s research council, the CSIC, have stepped down in protest at staff shortages that are putting the country’s success in Horizon 2020 at risk.
The CSIC funds and produces about 20 per cent of Spain’s research and oversees most of its participation in Horizon 2020. It used to employ 12 people to manage more than 750 EU research contracts, but this number was cut down to eight this year, an inside source told Research Europe.
Three vice-presidents at Spain’s research council, the CSIC, have stepped down in protest at staff shortages that are putting the country’s success in Horizon 2020 at risk.
The CSIC funds and produces about 20 per cent of Spain’s research and oversees most of its participation in Horizon 2020. It used to employ 12 people to manage more than 750 EU research contracts, but this number was cut down to eight this year, an inside source told Research Europe.
to address career problems Prominent research funders worldwide have adopted eight principles to support the next generation of researchers, but researcher groups have criticised their lack of action on more immediate career concerns. The principles were finalised at a Global Research Council meeting that took place in Beijing from 26 to 28 May. The document emphasises diversity, interdiscipli- narity, transferable skills, career development, outreach activities, research integrity, mobility and encouraging young students to participate in research. It is intended as a reference document for funding agencies world- wide, to raise awareness about research training issues and to encourage funders to share best practice. Its actually quite powerful to have such a collective of agencies saying the same thing at the same time, says Amanda Crowfoot, director of Science Europe, an interest group for funders and research organisations, who attended the GRC meeting. Peter Tindemans, secretary-general of the grass- roots scientists organisation EuroScience, agrees that it is important for funders around the world to consider such principles, but says he is concerned that they are not really addressing the real and serious problem of the imbalance between permanent and temporary research positions. They dont seem to accept respon- sibility that the funding agencies have to do something about that. Theyve had all these sorts of principles before, adds John Peacock, president of Eurodoc, the European Council of Doctoral Candidates and Junior Researchers. It doesnt give us any concrete actions. Crowfoot, however, notes that the principles are intended to be used globally. Things that we may in Europe have been doing for quite a long time may be newer in some other countries where theyre still devel- oping their research systems, she says. Jennifer Rohn, chairwoman of the lobby group Science is Vital, describes the principles as lots of great ideas but no practical suggestions. She would like to see funders give younger researchers more autonomy, such as by opening up more grant schemes for early career stages, to give them greater independence. Giving younger people more ability to set their own fate would help, I think, she says. by Penny Sarchet psnews@ResearchResearch.com Spanish council short-staffed for Horizon 2020 Three vice-presidents at Spains research council, the CSIC, have stepped down in protest at staff shortages that are putting the countrys success in Horizon 2020 at risk. The CSIC funds and produces about 20 per cent of Spains research and oversees most of its participation in Horizon 2020. It used to employ 12 people to manage more than 750 EU research contracts, but this number was cut down to eight this year, an inside source told Research Europe. The reductions have come at a time when EU Frame- work programmes have increasingly become a lifeline for science in recession-hit Spain. Between 2007 and 2011, the country received more than 1.3 billion from Framework 7. Spains annual budget for public research, meanwhile, has been hovering at about 5.5bn. The CSICs three vice-presidents of scientific and tech- nical research stepped down simultaneously on 29 May in protest at the staff shortage. The staffing needs for the management of European programmes are pressing, says Jos Ramn Naranjo Orovio, who was associate vice- president of scientific programming. We did not have adequate support to solve the problem of recruitment, therefore we left. A spokeswoman from the CSIC, however, said that the vice-presidents resigned for personal reasons. Because of the staff reductions, the council employs just one person to manage the legal aspects of 750 con- tracts. Comparison with other countries is difficult as there are different systems for Horizon 2020 partici- pation, but the UKs University of York, for example, employs two people to oversee the legal aspects of just 40 such contracts. Naranjo describes the workload of the CSIC office as brutal. The CSIC is not the only institution to suffer from this problem; universities are also finding it difficult to hire enough people to manage their Horizon 2020 participa- tion, says ngel Pazos, executive secretary for R&D at Crue, the Spanish rectors association. But universities have been able to hire temporary staff, which is not pos- sible at the CSIC for bureaucratic reasons. According to Naranjo, the resignation of the vice-presidents is intend- ed to draw attention to this issue of red tape getting in the way, which he says can be quite easily addressed. We only have to streamline the process, he says. by Cristina Gallardo news@ResearchResearch.com