The ongoing evaluation to 322 Portuguese research centers, much ink has raced, had another development: the results of features 131 scientific laboratories, unhappy with their ratings in the first phase of the process, reveal that ten of them were repescados and will thus move to the next phase, which will be set in the thick slices of cash for operating expenses over the next five years. Despite this change, released Thursday afternoon, the critical background to the evaluation process conducted by the Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) remain.
Physical Fiolhais Carlos, University of Coimbra, has been one of the most vocal voices against how this assessment is being made. This is because shortly after the announcement of the results of the first phase of the evaluation at the end of June – where about half of the centers did not pass to the next stage, so that little or no money would get – it was learned that the FCT had defined a previous 50% quota eliminations on the first part of the process
Therefore, the results for Carlos Fiolhais complaints do not change anything the underlying problem:. “This review is not serious. Not having been recovered ten centers that evaluation becomes serious. It is not! It was already bad and did not become good. “
One of the ten units now repescadas was the Centre for Research and Studies in Sociology (CIES) at ISCTE in Lisbon. Before the complaint, your note at the first stage was good – so it got in the way, since only the centers with Very Good, Excellent and Outstanding which is passed. Now the note was revised to Very Good.
“I’m partially satisfied,” says the director of the PUBLIC CIES, sociologist John Sebastian. “I remain very concerned with how the assessment is being made. Is not being fair and objective. “
What was the reasoning for the new note? “What once [the assessors] were told it was negative turned into a positive,” says the sociologist. Examples? “Studies of social inequality and migration, which were once a major fault on our part – the evaluators said it was an exhausted subject -., Were acknowledged by the panel as innovative national and international level”
Among the concerns of John Sebastian is the poor quality of foreign evaluators hired by the European Science Foundation (ESF), which commissioned the evaluation FCT under contract.
“The huge variations in quality of the various actors leave great instability “begins by saying sociologist, adding that the 50% cuts of units in the initial phase,” regardless of merit “, is” unacceptable. ” “It is unscientific and against any proper assessment process” believes. “This review is destroying an important part of the scientific heritage. There are teams of researchers, which took decades to build, which will be unstructured “
For all this, in the opinion of John Sebastian’s only one way out.” The only fair thing for the Portuguese science is suspend evaluation, regardless of whether or not past the second stage process terms, the way it was organized and the quality of the assessment. “
Also Carlos Salema, president of the Institute of Telecommunications (IT), another of the ten centers who passed the second round after being initially leaded, criticizes the process: “The evaluation was done badly, it was not serious and did us incalculable waste time and energy,” says the PUBLIC. And should “simply be thrown away, to do everything again.” “The arguments given to justify the [new] note did not convince me at all.”
For now, António Cruz Serra, president of the University of Lisbon, not to rule on the result of the resources while read the reports of the reviewers. On the evaluation, the annulment however does not advocate, said only: “I have said that the process was mishandled. My opinion is critical, not the general principle, but in particular the establishment of panels with people with little quality. “
Blunt, Carlos Fiolhais says that both the president of the FCT, Miguel Seabra, as Minister of Science, Nuno Crato, who supervises that the Portuguese science foundation funding, they can not deny what is written in the contract with the ESF. What is there is “. The first phase of the evaluation will result in a ‘shortlist’ half of research units that will be selected to proceed to Phase 2″
The officials from the Ministry of Science have argued that the value of the cuts in the initial phase was only an estimate based on previous evaluations, which Carlos Fiolhais rebate: “Miguel Seabra lied, lied Minister. And by the way, is a bad idea flunk half the units. “
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