Lack of funding threatens science and research not only in the Czech Republic

While there are lively debates about the destruction of scientific and research potential of the Academy of Sciences itself and in the Czech Republic in general, the Polish Państwowa Akademia Nauk (PAN) faces a similar situation, as well as the EU's research infrastructures.

As PAN chairman Prof. Marek Konarzewski states in an interview given in Tygodnik powszechny, the Polish Academy at the moment lacks funds for minimum wages and is getting to the edge of imaginary bankruptcy. In mid-June, Poland's Ministry of Education and Science (MEiN) announced a budget of 82 million zlotys for 2023, but according to Konarzewski, this is an increase of only 5%, while inflation is at 11.5%, and despite the increase in recent years, it is still not close to the EU's target of 2% of GDP. In addition, the PAN has received just over half of the amount needed to compensate for the increase in minimum wages. In addition, the budget has not been augmented to raise the pay of the supporting administrative and technical staff, without which, however, science and research cannot be successfully implemented. The PAN Head Office can save somewhere else and provide a loan to endangered institutions, but it is only a very short-term solution.

In the interview, the PAN chairman mentions, for example, the Institute of Animal Genetics and Biotechnology in Jastrzebiec, which is in a dramatic situation and does not have enough funds to feed the animals. While Professor Konarzewski is not yet worried about the closure of institutes and believes in increasing the budget and negotiating with the government, as in the Czech Republic, he fears their closure through the outflow of top scientists abroad and the outflow of young perspective scientists, especially from the field of informatics or AI, to the commercial sphere. The doctoral scholarship at PAN amounts to only 2400 zlotys (less than 13,000 in CZK).

On the other hand, ScienceBusiness published in its article about high energy costs the problems of Research Infrastructures asking the European Commission for help. The European Strategy Forum on Research Infrastructures (ESFRI) has issued a report with 23 recommendations on how to deal with the increase in energy prices caused mainly by the Russian war in Ukraine. At the moment, "five synchrotrons across Europe have prolonged planned interruptions to operations due to running costs, while overall 80% of 173 research infrastructures say they are struggling with higher energy prices. On top of paying the bills, some 50 research infrastructures are facing shortages of key materials and products." Russia and Ukraine are crucial suppliers of some commodities, "for example, no substitute has been found for Russian supplies of high-quality diamonds for X-ray optics."

ScienceBusiness reports that the ESFRI report out of 23 recommendations 11 are addressed to Member State governments, other to the European Commission, research infrastructures and ESFRI itself.

Jana Kolar, ESFRI Chair and one of the authors of the report, warns that "if you take climate change into account, the 2030 targets can be achieved by the technologies and innovations we have now, but not by the 2050 targets. We need new discoveries. We can't afford to stop science for a few months."

Photo: pixabay