Researchers campaign for the defense of science – Express

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Association Research Grant for Scientific Research (ABIC) launched this Thursday at City University of Lisbon, a campaign to appeal to the development of science in Portugal, ” hostage strategies for financial strangulation researchers and R & D “institutions

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According to André Janeco, doctoral fellow of the Institute of Plasmas and Nuclear Fusion, Instituto Superior Técnico of Lisbon University and president of ABIC, the campaign, which will run until October with a series of actions, kicks off with an open letter signed by 50 persons , to deliver “the guardianship of Science in Government”

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In the letter, the scientific community refers not to accept that universities are “not only cut the ability to contribute to the scientific development, but is limited to preparing them critical thinking.”

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The document further notes that the R & D institutions “should not be held hostage to an orientation that favors the widespread cutting of funding, led from the scientific paradigm of mass production “

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According to the ABIC, the campaign seeks to raise the serious consequences for the country’s politics and government strategy, express widespread disagreement in the scientific community and give clues to an alternative course

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“We want this initiative to be a vehicle for public discussion on a strategy for funding research in Portugal, joining the growing number of voices who criticize the criteria of Foundation for Science and Technology and denounce the precariousness and lack of recognition of the work of most researchers, “added André Janeco

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Scholarship unhappy with cuts and delays

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Those responsible for ABIC recall that in 2013 the FCT funded just a “small” number of projects . research, 231, while the previous year had been 647 “And for the tender Investigator FCT were approved less than 15% of applications, only 209 of a total 1480″ refer

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The drastic reduction in the number of scholarships – 853 assigned a set of 5,794 candidates – is another major concern of the ABIC. The fellows are shown appalled at the “serious delays” in payment of grants, “in some cases happen only from the second half of 2014″

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Among the subscribers of the open letter are Filomena Parada, Vice President of the European Council of Doctol Candidates and Junior Researchers (EURODOC), Federico Gama oak, researcher and vice president of Executive Council of the World Federation of Scientific Workers (FMTC) and Carlos Fiolhais, professor of the department of Physics, University of Coimbra, one of the most critical policies and funding criteria for applying the FCT voices

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Armenian Carlos, secretary general of the CGTP is the other subscribers of the letter in defense of science

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