Academics now working abroad praise access to safe environments, resources and new opportunities

A year since Russia escalated its war against Ukraine with a full-scale invasion, Ukrainian researchers have expressed thanks for the support they have received from colleagues and institutions around Europe, which they say has allowed them to live and work safely, as well as expand their professional networks and knowledge.

“I am so grateful for the opportunity to carry on with my research,” says Stefaniia Demchuk, who was working as an assistant professor in the Department of Art History at Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv a year ago, before being forced to flee with her son. She is now working as a research fellow at Masaryk University in the Czech Republic, which she has been using as a base to communicate about her work.

“Being there, in safety, made me wonder how should I both thank my host university and be useful to my country in my own, academic way,” she says. “I can say that working as hard as I can is the best way to deal emotionally and intellectually with all the challenges the war [has] brought to us.”

These were sentiments echoed by many of those who shared their accounts with Research Professional News, some of which have been published in more complete form.

Viktoriya Kulyk, a professor of economics who was based in Ukraine and also moved to the Czech Republic with her daughter, where she now works at the University of South Bohemia, says she is “very grateful to my colleagues at [the] university for their support. During this difficult time for me, I was able to be with my daughter in safety and continue working in my profession.”

Many of the displaced researchers welcomed the ability to access resources for their work, opportunities to build up collaborations and knowledge in a new environment, or simply to live in safety.

A secure environment

“There’s no place in Ukraine to hide from this aggression,” says Olha Pyroh, a professor of economics who was based at Lviv Polytechnic National University and is now carrying out research comparing the economies of Ukraine and Canada at L’Université de Sherbrooke in the latter country. “All territory of Ukraine is being bombed and shelled every single day.”

Olga Barvinok, a historian who was based at Uman University and is now at the German Historical Institute in Warsaw, says the welcome many Ukrainian researchers have received from abroad has been a huge help.

“We all found ourselves away from home with our children but the understanding of the situation by the host party, their sincere desire to help, has caused us to overcome many emotional, domestic, professional difficulties,” she says, while describing the support she herself has received as “invaluable”.

Olena Puhachova, a sociologist who fled Ukraine and is now working at the University of Romania, says she was “provided with all conditions for comfortable living, research and teaching activities” in her new base.

New networks

One thing many Ukrainian researchers are grateful for is the ability to build new networks. For Barvinok, who left Ukraine with her 15-year-old son, there are “opportunities to work in archives, as well as establish contacts between scientists, exchange experience [and] opinions, and form new research prospects”.

Kulyk also says she has benefited from new ties, as “The experience of working with Czech colleagues [has] enriched me as a professional and as a person.”

A day before the anniversary of the escalation, the EU announced support for 124 more Ukrainian researchers through its dedicated MSCA4Ukraine scheme. The European Commission said 111 postdoctoral researchers and 13 doctoral candidates would be supported to continue their work in 21 countries, with many moving to Germany, the Czech Republic, France, Spain and Belgium.

“The scheme will allow organisations to host these researchers for a period [of] between eight months and two years,” it said. “When conditions permit, the scheme will also enable selected researchers to re-establish themselves in Ukraine to help rebuild and safeguard the country’s research and innovation capacity.

“Available support will allow them to maintain links with their research and innovation communities, carry out research placements and develop new projects.”

Marking the anniversary of the escalation, the European Council of EU national leaders issued a joint statement pledging to continue supporting Ukraine “in political, economic, humanitarian, financial and military terms”. They said: “All Ukrainians deserve to live in peace and choose freely their own destiny.”

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Funding increased by 12.5 per cent as Spanish government bids to “rescue science from precariousness”

Spain has announced that it will increase funding for its centres and units of research excellence by 12.5 per cent on last year’s amount, bringing the total new allocation to €60.75 million.

The uplift is for centres in receipt of the Severo Ochoa excellence status or research units with the María de Maeztu excellence label. These awards recognise centres and units that “stand out for their relevance and impact at international level”.

Through an annual call for applications, research centres and units are awarded funding for four years and those with excellence status are given priority access to other research initiatives.

Announcing the funding uplift on 22 February, the government said it wanted to “rescue science from the historical precariousness it has suffered in our country”. It comes amid a wider push from the government to strengthen the Spanish research system, including by passing a wide-ranging bill to boost R&D careers in August.

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National Centre for Research and Development promises “full cooperation” with inspection

Poland’s National Centre for Research and Development (NCBR), a public research funder, has announced that it is being inspected by the country’s Central Anti-Corruption Bureau.

The NCBR did not say in its announcement on 22 February why the inspection was taking place, but the development follows previous announcements relating to a possible crime involving the centre.

On 15 February, the funder said that earlier in the month its then interim head Paweł Kuch had contacted the Regional Prosecutor’s Office in Warsaw “about the possibility of a crime having been committed regarding potential irregularities in the process of selecting a project submitted under the Fast Track Digital Innovations competition”.

The Regional Prosecutor’s Office told Research Professional News that the Central Anti-Corruption Bureau had been entrusted with the case.

The NCBR said it would cooperate with the inspection and was unable to provide any further information. It declined to comment.

Update 24/2 – This article was updated with the information from the Regional Prosecutor’s Office

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Researchers struggle to take advantage of initiative to boost participation in underdeveloped research countries

A new measure in the Horizon Europe programme to boost the performance of countries struggling to win money is failing to achieve its goals, research organisations have suggested.

‘Hop-on’ allows organisations from ‘widening’ countries that are underperforming in Horizon to join ongoing projects. Data on the new feature in the 2021-27 Horizon Europe R&D programme are limited, with just two rounds so far. But observers say projects receive too many queries and that coordinators often add groups they have worked with before, contrary to the purpose.

“The Hop-on instrument surely needs improvements,” Anna Vosečková, a national contact point at Technology Centre Prague in the Czech Republic, one of the widening countries, wrote in a recent position paper.

Some NCPs, who serve as advisers in EU member states, defended the tool and warned it may be too early to make judgments. Rui Munhá, NCP at Portugal’s government science funder FCT, said: “We are still facing the early stages of the funding scheme, so it is better to wait before we draw conclusions.” He added that coordinators receiving too many queries “is part of the process”.

But Vosečková and others have called for changes to address what they see as difficulties finding opportunities to join projects.

Potential joiners can find projects through a funding portal for abstracts and contact the project coordinator, who will sift potential partners and submit a formal application to add them.

Marta Oliveira, a project coordinator at the Institute of Science and Innovation in Mechanical and Industrial Engineering in Portugal, said some coordinators receive hundreds of emails about joining.

Her institute has found that it can only join projects with organisations it already has relationships with, she said. Extra information about what coordinators need might reduce queries and boost participation.

For now, perceived problems are expected to continue. Vosečková told Research Europe: “Of course the coordinators will pick established partners, as they can start work immediately without any supervision.”

She added that although the deadline for this year is not until the end of September and coordinators will have “lots of time to look for a newcomer”, she was “rather afraid they will not do it and [instead] choose an easy way to pick someone they already know”.

A spokesperson for Slovenia’s science ministry said it it observed issues with the “openness of eligible consortia to open up to widening partners” and that it believed the transparency of the scheme “should be increased”.

NCPs “discuss [Hop-on] quite often, since obviously it does not function as proposed”, said Jānis Ancāns of the Latvian Council of Science. “If this continues, we’re afraid the European Commission will reduce funding for it, which would be a real shame.”

This article also appeared in Research Europe

Update 23/2 – This article was updated with the comment from the Slovenian science ministry. 

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Government shocks sector by cancelling budget for Horizon membership

Switzerland’s exclusion from EU programmes is causing increasing harm to the country’s research, sector leaders there have warned.

The EU has prevented Switzerland ‘associating’ to the €95.5 billion 2021-27 Horizon Europe research and innovation programme owing to disagreements on the relationship between the country and the bloc.

This month, leading Swiss institution the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne (EPFL) said the full effects of this research ostracism “will only be felt in the long term” but warned “the first signs of its erosion are emerging”.

Days later, Swiss academia was rocked when the govern-ment announced it would stop budgeting for the country’s contribution to Horizon Europe. Countries that associate to Horizon normally pay a fee in return for their researchers having access to funding.

Yves Flückiger, rector of the University of Geneva and president of the association Swiss Universities, wrote on Twitter that the announcement “almost sounds the financial death knell for Swiss participation in Horizon Europe”.

The Friedrich Miescher Institute for Biomedical Research told Research Europe the announcement was “very bad news indeed”.

A spokesperson for the government tried to downplay the announcement’s significance. They said association to Horizon Europe “as soon as possible” remains the goal, that the money will instead be earmarked for other national measures to substitute for Horizon grants, and that money for association could be applied for from parliament when needed.

But the EPFL warned that national-level alternatives are “reaching their limit”, while a spokesperson for Swiss Universities said: “On a political level, it is not a very elegant signal that the [government] no longer believes in an association.”

Unequal impacts

Some organisations say they have been able to make do so far.

A spokesperson for the Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute said it is still joining consortia and finding other funding for collaboration, while Mario Jenni, chief executive of the science 
 park Bio-Technopark Schlieren-Zurich, said he has not observed the park becoming less attractive to top researchers and students. 

But EPFL said it had been invited to participate in 20 per cent fewer collaborative EU projects than in preceding years. It also said that two quantum technology projects it had been invited to join were rejected by EU evaluators in 2022, “largely due to the presence of a Swiss partner”.

That statement followed a report from the European Commission last month that the EU’s €1 billion Quantum Technologies Flagship research initiative is being hampered by a “skills gap in quantum technologies”, with qualified researchers “rare or non-existent”.

Researchers in Switzerland think the country could help. “The participation of Switzerland could certainly ease out the situation,” said Anna Fontcuberta i Morral, a physicist at EPFL. Klaus Ensslin, a physicist at ETH Zürich, agreed that “a lot of additional bright minds could contribute to the quantum flagship” if Switzerland were to associate to Horizon Europe.

The problems flagged by EPFL reflect the situation more broadly, according to a spokesperson for the Swiss Academy of Sciences.

“You will certainly find other concrete examples for consequences already now when talking to universities,” they said, adding that—as flagged by the EPFL—existing problems are “minor” compared with “potential long-term negative effects”.

The Swiss government said it remains “ready for negotiations with the EU”.

The Commission did not respond to a request for comment. 

This article also appeared in Research Europe

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University affected by EU funding freeze says its researchers are “indispensable” to Europe

A Hungarian university set to be cut off from the EU’s Erasmus+ academic mobility programme has said its students have the “right” to participate in such programmes.

The University of Sopron (pictured) is one of 21 Hungarian universities for which the EU has frozen new funding from Erasmus+ and the bloc’s Horizon Europe research and innovation programme over concerns about their independence from political interference.

“We believe that our students and instructors have the right to participate in international mobility programmes as citizens of the EU, and the right to participate in shaping the future of Europe and Hungary,” the university told Research Professional News.

It added: “We hope that the decision-makers will soon realise that the European community needs the knowledge and creativity of our students and colleagues. And our researchers are indispensable for Europe.”

The university cited its recent invitation from the University of Oxford to be a founding member of the international association of Nature Positive Universities against biodiversity loss, among other things, as “proof” that it “has a place in Europe”.

Funding ban

In December 2022, the Council of EU member state governments agreed to prevent 21 Hungarian universities that operate as ‘public interest trusts’—whose governing bodies contain members linked to Hungary’s right-wing prime minister Viktor Orbán and his political party Fidesz—from getting new EU funds, to protect the EU budget from breaches of the rule of law.

Since then, the EU and Hungary have been in talks to lift the freeze on access to EU funding. The universities will receive funding again only if the Council reverses its decision, which it has said will not happen unless Hungary addresses its concerns.

Attila Fábián, rector of the University of Sopron, said that if the EU does not reverse its decision the university will organise international mobility opportunities for its students using its own resources.

While the university argues that its students deserve to take part in international mobility schemes, others in Europe have said the EU taking action is in the best interests of Hungarian researchers and students.

‘In researchers’ interests’

Kurt Deketelaere, secretary-general of the League of European Research Universities, told Research Professional News that the EU “has to” take action if it believes its funds are not being used properly. Horizon Europe and Erasmus+ “cannot afford unsanctioned abuse of funds”, he said. “This is in the interest of all researchers and students in general, and the Hungarian ones in particular.”

Leru has a partnership agreement with the seven-member Central European Universities (CE7) group, which includes Hungary’s Eötvös Loránd University. As this university has not become a ‘public trust foundation’, Deketelaere said Leru’s cooperation with it had not been affected.

Research Professional News has asked the Council of the EU for comment.

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National Centre for Research and Development says it is fully cooperating with prosecutors

A government research funder in Poland has announced that there is a “possibility” it has been involved in a crime regarding project funding.

On 15 February, the National Centre for Research and Development (NCBR) announced that on 8 February Paweł Kuch, its interim head at the time, had contacted the District Prosecutor’s Office in Warsaw (pictured) “about the possibility of a crime having been committed regarding potential irregularities in the process of selecting a project submitted under the Fast Track Digital Innovations competition”.

The agency said it “guaranteed full cooperation in clarifying all issues related to the case”, adding: “The preparatory proceedings are at an initial stage, and the disclosure of any information relating to the proceedings may have a negative impact on its course.”

The District Prosecutor’s Office in Warsaw did not respond to a request for comment by the time this story was published.

Asked for additional information, the NCBR referred Research Professional News to previous announcements, including ones from 2 and 3 February decrying “false information that misleads the public opinion” in media articles raising questions about a decision around funding reportedly worth almost 55 million złoty (€11.5m).

On 14 February, before its statement about a potential crime, it denied “untrue allegations and media publications that the NCBR has awarded and paid funds to entities that do not guarantee the proper implementation of projects”.

‘False information’

On 13 February, the NCBR announced that Jacek Orzeł had been appointed as its acting director on 9 February. Kuch, who began a six-month term as interim director on 9 August 2022, has left the agency.

Both the NCBR and Kuch have strongly denied speculation that his departure has anything to do with the events related to the investigation.

 “With regard to false information that Paweł Kuch was dismissed from his function, we deny these reports and explain that the only and exclusive basis for which Paweł Kuch ceased to act as acting director of the centre is the passage of time for which he was appointed,” the agency said in its 14 February statement.

Kuch declined to comment on the investigation to Research Professional News but said that the only reason for his departure was that the term of his appointment had ended.

“As I notified the prosecutor’s office, the case is in the hands of authorities, and any other statements could hinder the process,” he said. On his departure, he added: “As the time expired, by virtue of the law, my tenure also expired.”

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Campaign is “strong sign of will” to raise awareness, implement preventative measures and apply sanctions

Heads of Swiss universities and research institutes have backed a new campaign against sexual harassment in academia.

Swiss Universities, a group representing higher education institutions across the country, is starting a Sexual Harassment Awareness Day involving online talks and events at universities, which will take place for the first time on 23 March.

The group said it is launching the campaign in partnership with several Swiss research institutions and other academic organisations to identify the causes and consequences of sexual harassment, because preventing it requires knowledge and awareness.

Yves Flückiger, rector of the University of Geneva, said the fact that all rectors across the country are backing the campaign is “a strong signal of the will expressed by all to raise awareness, implement preventive measures and, if necessary, take exemplary sanctions”.

Growing ‘risk factors’

Various studies have found that sexual harassment takes place across higher education, according to the campaign website. It adds that there are a growing number of “risk factors” in universities that can increase the likelihood of inappropriate behaviour, including precarious employment conditions and a lack of diversity at management level.

In a video for the campaign, Swiss rectors and research institute presidents said sexual harassment and sexism can be compounded by the nature of relationships between students and lecturers, and between doctoral students and supervisors.  

“These relationships often involve imbalances of power and assaults typically arise within an asymmetrical power dynamic,” said Günther Dissertori, rector of ETH Zurich.

The rectors urged people to report harassing behaviour and to be supportive of others so sanctions can be put in place. Luciana Vaccaro, rector of the University of Applied Sciences and Arts of Western Switzerland, added that there is still a “lot to do” to tackle sexual harassment at universities.

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European Investment Bank and member states commit €3.75 billion for ‘fund of funds’

The EU’s investment bank and five of its member states have launched a new venture capital fund of funds, with initial commitments totalling €3.75 billion, to help European “technology champions” grow.

Launched on 13 February, the European Tech Champions Initiative is designed to “help plug financing gaps and thus reinforce Europe’s strategic autonomy and competitiveness”, the European Investment Bank said.

The EIB has put up €500 million for the fund of funds, which will invest in venture capital funds that in turn will invest in companies. It said it would “channel much-needed late-stage growth capital to promising European innovators” seeking to raise over €50m. The national backers are Belgium, France, Germany, Italy and Spain.

“Europe’s tech startups often do not have sufficient capital to compete on a global scale and are pushed to relocate overseas,” the EIB said. “Closing this scale-up gap could create a large number of highly skilled jobs and boost growth.”

According to the EIB, the fund is expected to grow with “further commitments”.

France’s industry minister Bruno Le Maire (pictured at the launch) said the initiative was “a striking example of what we can achieve collectively to strengthen the EU’s economic and industrial sovereignty”.

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Resignations announced in response to EU concerns about independence that could see funding cut off

Several Hungarian politicians have resigned from the boards of universities in the country, according to local reports, after the EU blocked the institutions’ access to its R&D and academic mobility funding schemes over concerns about their independence.

In December, the Council of EU member state governments agreed to prevent 21 Hungarian universities operated as ‘public interest trusts’—whose governing bodies contain members linked to Hungary’s right-wing prime minister Viktor Orbán and his political party Fidesz—from getting new EU funds, to protect the EU budget from breaches of the rule of law.

Since then, the EU and Hungary have been in talks to lift the freeze on access to funding from the bloc’s Horizon Europe research and innovation programme and Erasmus+ academic mobility programme. The universities will only be able to receive funding again if the Council reverses its decision, which it has said will only happen if Hungary addresses its concerns.

On 9 February, Hungarian newspapers reported that several politicians had resigned from their posts as heads of university boards of trustees, including justice minister Judit Varga and finance minister Mihály Varga.

While some figures within or close to government remain on university boards, according to reports, the government said further resignations are expected from state secretaries, deputy state secretaries and government commissioners.

Gergely Gulyás, the minister in charge of Orbán’s office, reportedly said Hungary would like to reach an agreement with the EU as soon as possible.

After talks between the two sides in January, the EU commissioner for research and education, Mariya Gabriel, and the budget commissioner Johannes Hahn said the Commission “trusts that Hungary will take adequate and effective measures as soon as possible to remedy the situation that led to the adoption of [these] measures, in view of possibly starting the regulatory procedure for the lifting of the measures”.

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Unlike for its European neighbours, Covid-19 did not hamper Poland’s spending growth, research agency says

Poland is catching up with the rest of Europe on its R&D spending, according to new official figures from the country.

Polish total spending on R&D reached 1.44 per cent of the country’s GDP in 2021, the National Centre for Research and Development announced on 17 January, up from 1.39 per cent in 2020.

The centre said Polish spending on R&D as a share of GDP has almost doubled in the past decade and is “beginning to reach a level comparable to the countries of southern Europe”, where growth in R&D spending is “noticeably slower”.

It cited 2021 R&D spending of 1.43 per cent in Spain, 1.44 per cent in Greece and 1.49 per cent in Italy, and also flagged that Poland’s 2021 R&D spending intensity exceeded that of Luxembourg on 1.01 per cent and Ireland on 1.06 per cent.

But Polish R&D spending is still well below Europe’s biggest spenders: Austria, Belgium, Germany and Sweden all spent over 3 per cent of their GDP on R&D in 2021.

Average EU R&D spending has been about 2.2 per cent of GDP for several years, despite the bloc having a longstanding target of 3 per cent.

The centre said the Covid-19 pandemic had not hampered the growth of R&D spending in Poland, unlike in other European countries.

It also reported that the number of Polish companies active in research increased by about 16 per cent on the previous year and 45 per cent on 2017. The number of people employed in R&D also increased by 8 per cent in a year to about 306,000.

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“Participatory and in-depth” evaluation aims to strengthen higher education and R&D institutions

The Portuguese government has appointed an independent committee to examine the legal system that underpins universities in the country.

Portuguese science minister Elvira Fortunato and higher education secretary Pedro Nuno Teixeira said the country’s Legal Regime of Higher Education Institutions needs to be evaluated to strengthen universities and R&D institutions.

Announcing the move on 16 January, Fortunato and Teixeira said the committee will carry out a “participatory and in-depth reflection on the legal and organisational framework of higher education”. It will also look at ways to promote better communication both within universities and with the local communities in which institutions are based.

The committee’s conclusions, which are set to be published in December, will become subject to a process of public discussion with the academic community, students, trade unions and civil society representatives, the government said.

Alberto Amaral, former chairman of the Portuguese Higher Education Evaluation and Accreditation Agency, will chair the committee.

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Former ERC head and multiple Fields medallists involved in International Centre for Mathematics in Ukraine

A new international centre for mathematics is being founded in Ukraine, with the involvement of some of the world’s top mathematicians and the support of the Ukrainian government.

The mission of the new International Centre for Mathematics in Ukraine (ICMU) is to “support top-level research in mathematics, with special emphasis on training younger generations of scientists and the development of mathematics in Ukraine”.

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has taken a toll on the country’s research sector, with many institutions damaged and researchers displaced. But amid the ongoing war, a group of mathematicians of Ukrainian origin joined forces to create the new research centre, building on the country’s strong maths tradition.

The location of the centre is yet to be determined. With the intention of running thematic programmes and fellowships, researchers will be invited to attend the centre physically only once it is safe to do so. In the meantime, events will be arranged with partner institutions worldwide.

Top-level leadership

The ICMU’s coordination committee includes Maryna Viazovska, a Ukrainian winner of the Fields medal, which is considered as prestigious as a Nobel prize. The centre’s advisory board also boasts another three Fields medalists—Vladimir Drinfeld, Peter Scholze and Efim Zelmanov.

Viazovska, who is based at the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, in Switzerland, said the ICMU “will follow the models of other established institutions for fundamental research”.

The first support meeting for the creation of the ICMU was held on 12 January at the Institut des Hautes Études Scientifiques, on the outskirts of Paris.

Following the meeting, French mathematician Jean-Pierre Bourguignon, former president of the European Research Council, said he was “very honoured” to have been elected as the first member of the ICMU’s board of trustees.

The ICMU, which is supported by the National Research Foundation of Ukraine, has as its founding and principal donor the algorithmic trading company XTX Markets, which has committed up to €1m in match funding for donations and pledges in 2023.

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EU suspends Horizon Europe and Erasmus+ funding for 21 Hungarian universities

The EU has cut off 21 Hungarian universities from new funding from its Horizon Europe R&D programme and its academic mobility programme Erasmus+.

The decision affects universities operated as ‘public interest trusts’, whose governing bodies contain members closely linked to Hungary’s right-wing prime minister Viktor Orbán and his political party Fidesz. The Hungarian government has converted the majority of universities in the country to be run as such trusts since 2021.

The European Commission confirmed to Research Professional News that it contacted Hungarian National Agencies implementing Erasmus+ towards the end of December 2022, asking them to “ensure that they do not enter into any new legal commitment with public interest trusts” as these were affected by a Council of the EU decision taken days earlier to protect the EU budget from “breaches of the principles of the rule of law in Hungary”.

It said that the measures also affect Horizon Europe and that they apply only to new grants, not to ongoing grants or commitments in place since before the 15 December Council decision.

“No new grant agreements may be signed with such entities and the entities maintained by them (e.g. those universities concerned) as from 15 December,” the Commission said.

Aim for transparency

It added that the measures “aim to ensure the transparent use of EU support by public interest asset management foundations and do not of course intend to impede academic mobility, research and innovation in Hungary”.

Ensuring such transparency was one measure among 17 that the Hungarian government agreed to in order to access EU funds, the Commission said.

It said the Council decision was taken following a Commission analysis of the situation in November.

The Commission said it would continue to monitor the situation and take further action as appropriate on its own initiative, at the request of Hungary or before 15 December 2023.

Any decision to lift the measures will be taken by the Council following a proposal by the Commission.

‘Serious disadvantage’

Koloman Brenner, a member of the Hungarian opposition party Jobbik, called on the government to “immediately” start negotiations so that the affected institutions would be released from control by the public trusts. He said that around 80 per cent of all Hungarian universities are currently run by the trusts.

“Active Fidesz ministers and persons connected to the party have no business in the boards of trustees,” he said.

He added that universities being cut off from Erasmus+ and Horizon Europe funding was a “very serious disadvantage for both university students and lecturers, and it also hinders research collaboration”.

In a statement to Research Professional News, the Hungarian government said it would “continue to consult on the continued smooth provision of funding for higher education” until a March deadline for contesting the decision.

“Hungary has fulfilled all its commitments and therefore does not accept the European Commission’s decision, which—via the exclusion of universities from direct EU tenders—discriminates against public interest trusts and the universities they manage,” it said. “Similarly to other EU funds, this issue is scheduled to be settled by 16 March 2023.”

Update 11/1 – This article was updated to include information and comment from the Commission.

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Contracting agency to make payments for €561 million National Plan for Housing in Higher Education

The Portuguese government has reported progress on what it claims is its largest-ever investment in accommodation for the country’s higher education students.

On 5 January, the government announced that a national agency responsible for investments under the National Plan for Housing in Higher Education had been approved to make contract payments.

The long-term plan to rehabilitate old buildings and create new ones in areas where accommodation demand outstrips supply is backed by €561 million in funding, of which €447m is from the EU’s Covid-19 recovery fund.

Some of the projects are already underway—Portugal’s government noted that of 131 projects contracted late last year, 54 had begun work.

Between 2021 and 2026, residences are expected to increase from 157 to 246, and beds from 15,073 to 26,868.

One side-effect of increasing accommodation might be to mitigate price increases, which have alarmed officials.

Portugal’s prime minister, António Costa, said that the cost of accommodation can be a greater financial barrier to higher education than the cost of tuition.

“Having affordable accommodation is an essential condition for more people to be able to attend higher education,” he said.

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Business investment drives R&D spending to 1.68 per cent of GDP, still below EU average

Portugal’s total spending on R&D once again hit a new high in 2021, rising to €3.6 billion according to final government data.

Late last year, the government announced that R&D spending in 2021 was the highest since records began in 1982, topping the former record of €3.2 billion in 2020.

Spending has now risen for six consecutive years, according to the government.

Growth was driven primarily by the business sector in 2021, which the government said increased its R&D spending by 16.8 per cent on the previous year.

But there was growth in all spending categories, it said, with the higher education sector—where 51 per cent of all full-time equivalent researchers were concentrated—increasing its R&D spending by 3.2 per cent.

Portugal still spent just 1.68 per cent of its GDP on R&D in 2021, below the EU average of 2.19 per cent. The bloc has aimed for years to reach a target 3 per cent but continuously fallen short.

The government wants Portugal’s public spending on R&D to hit 1 per cent of GDP by 2030, and private spending to hit 2 per cent, to meet the EU target.

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Study of Austrian attitudes towards science finds lack of interest, but not necessarily distrust

Austria is “on the right track” towards increasing appreciation for science among its citizens, according to the country’s minister for education, science and research.

Martin Polaschek (pictured) was commenting on results from his ministry’s programme to strengthen trust in science and democracy in Austria. The programme was launched in September 2022 in response to concerns about Austrians’ apparent scepticism towards science compared with people in other countries.

As part of the programme, the government commissioned Austria’s Institute for Advanced Studies and the University of Aarhus in Denmark to carry out a study exploring this apparent scepticism and its causes.

Interim results given to the government and summarised in a press release published on 3 January suggested that a lack of interest in science is more common than distrust of science among the Austrian public, according to the ministry.

“A lack of interest should not be equated with a lack of trust or with scientific scepticism,” the ministry said.

“The first interim results show that the measures of the [ministry’s] Trust in Science and Democracy strategy have taken the right path,” said Polaschek.

But he added that “the study clearly shows that we need to take action” and promised to introduce science ambassadors into schools to motivate pupils to “be scientifically curious”.

“It is a personal concern of mine to be active here and to strengthen interest in science and confidence in our democracy,” Polaschek said.

Study director Johannes Starkbaum of the Institute for Advanced Studies said the topic of scepticism towards science was “being discussed more intensively in Austria” at present.

But he said there had been “no differentiated debate about what forms of scepticism towards science exist in society and what causes may be responsible for this” prior to the presentation of the preliminary results.

European context

The ministry referenced a 2021 European survey which it said found that interest in science was low in Austria compared with other EU countries. The survey found that 21 per cent of Austrian respondents said they were not interested in science, according to the ministry, compared with an EU average of 18 per cent.

It also found that 31 per cent of Austrian respondents expressed scepticism towards climate change, 23 per cent towards the origin of viruses and 21 per cent towards cancer research, the ministry said. But it added that only 6 per cent expressed scepticism towards all three topics, and that scepticism was higher in the EU more generally.

“There is a tendency to agree with these statements among people with lower satisfaction with democracy and their own life, who also have comparatively less education and dissatisfaction with their economic situation,” the ministry said.

In its summary of the study it commissioned, the ministry said results indicated there was a connection between perceptions of science and “consumption of certain (populist) media formats and trust in the media”.

It pointed out that science is a part of society and said that scepticism towards science “does not have to mean rejection of scientific methods but can refer to criticism of the connections between science and other areas of society, such as politics or business”.

The ministry said the study team is working on a sociological and historical analysis of attitudes towards science in Austria to better understand changes over time and relations between science and society.

A version of this article appeared in Research Europe

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Over 4,000 new positions created for researchers, technicians and civil servants

The Spanish government has announced it is boosting the number of staff at Spain’s public research organisations by creating more than 4,000 new positions.

On 31 December, the Ministry of Science and Innovation announced it had published a call for 2,467 places for researchers and technicians at the country’s public research organisations. The move is set to increase by 26 per cent the number of staff in “stable” posts at three organisations: the Spanish National Research Council; the Centre for Energy, Environmental and Technological Research; and the Carlos III Health Institute.

The ministry also said it will increase civil servant positions for these organisations by 1,670, which it said was part of the country’s largest offer of public employment in the past 15 years. Of these new positions, 899 are for research staff and 771 for technical and management staff.

The moves are part of a multi-year effort by the government to increase Spain’s public spending on science and create better working conditions for researchers in the country.

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Polish academy launches three-year programme for Ukrainian research teams, while universities offer remote fellowships

European institutions are increasingly looking to support researchers who have stayed in Ukraine, including through a new long-term programme to support cross-border teams led from Poland.

Following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the Polish Academy of Sciences (PAS) teamed up with the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) in the US to offer support to researchers fleeing the conflict, many of whom went to Poland.

But as the war drags on, not only are the initial support schemes offered by European institutions for displaced researchers reaching their end-point, but there is also increasing recognition of the need to support those who have remained in Ukraine.

On 7 December, PAS and NAS announced a three-year scheme for supporting Ukrainian research teams with up to 2.7 million Polish złoty (€576,500). The principal investigator would be based in Poland at a PAS research centre but would be free to build their own research team including members working in Ukraine.

Talent preservation

“We decided to change our programmes from supporting individual scholars to team funding to create more opportunities for predoctoral researchers and to allow for transborder cooperation,” Anna Plater-Zyberk, head of international cooperation at PAS, told Research Professional News.

“We hope that this will help to keep talents in the science enterprise,” she added.

Plater-Zyberk said PAS expects to support between seven and 10 research teams, with the potential for more in future. Funding provided by NAS, donated by a range of US-based organisations, will support up to five of those teams.

NAS president Marcia McNutt said the programme will make sure Ukrainian researchers “remain positioned to help Ukraine’s rebuilding and recovery process”.

Remote fellowships

Other research institutions across Europe are looking at how to continue providing support.

Speaking at an event held by the European University Association on 8 December, Florian Kohstall, head of the Academics in Solidarity mentoring programme at the Freie Universität Berlin, outlined how his university is supporting 25 Ukrainian scholars through remote fellowships.

“The situation in Ukraine is that not everybody can leave the country, especially men have to stay, and we also have a lot of internally displaced scholars within Ukraine,” Kohstall said.

He said the funding available through the remote scholarships—€1,500 a month for three months—is “limited” but that the university is looking at how to extend the scheme.

“From a three-month scholarship, you cannot expect publications or joint research projects,” he added. “The main purpose really…is the reintegration into the research environment.”

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Research included in attempt to reassure countries of a future as members in the bloc

The EU has said it will “deepen” its collaboration on research, innovation and education with Western Balkan countries.

The move came as part of the Tirana Declaration, agreed by leaders from both sides on 6 December, which includes reassurances for Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Serbia that they are on course to become members of the EU at some point, as fears grow over rising Russian influence in the region.

In the declaration, the EU committed to working more closely with the countries in multiple areas.

“The EU will further deepen its sectoral cooperation with the Western Balkans in areas of common interest, such as justice and home affairs, the economy and the EU internal market, energy, transport and digital policy, civil protection, health, social policy, education and research and innovation,” the declaration says.

It outlines that the EU is already gradually associating Western Balkan countries to its R&I and education programmes. In October the EU announced that all Western Balkan countries will be allowed to fully participate in its scheme for financing cross-border collaborations among higher education institutions, called the European Universities Initiative.

The declaration adds that the EU is working to integrate all Western Balkan countries into its Erasmus+ programme, which supports academic mobility as well as the European Universities Initiative. North Macedonia and Serbia are already associated to Erasmus+.

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Pandemic recovery funds earmarked for research and innovation included in proposed freeze

The European Commission has proposed to withhold billions of euros from EU member state Hungary, including funds for research and innovation, over concerns relating to the rule of law.

A list of 27 measures must be implemented before Hungary can access €5.8 billion from the EU’s Covid-19 pandemic recovery fund, the Commission said on 30 November.

In addition, it has proposed freezing a further €7.5bn in EU regional cohesion funds that Hungary was due to receive. 

EU member state governments will vote on whether to withhold these regional funds by 19 December, while they are expected to make a decision on the recovery funds within four weeks.

R&D among recovery plans

Hungary’s plan for spending its recovery funds, which was approved by the Commission on the day of its announcement, includes measures to improve the country’s R&D and higher education environments.

For example, the plan allocates €184 million to setting up national laboratories to foster cooperation between universities, research institutes and businesses across five topic areas.

When the prospect of the funds being withheld was raised earlier, various people in the European research sector backed such a move, owing to the Hungarian government being found to have violated EU laws on academic freedom.

The recovery funds would provide a major boost to Hungary’s economy, equating to 3.8 per cent of the country’s 2021 GDP.

Comprehensive reforms needed

But no funds will be released unless Hungary implements “a comprehensive set of key institutional reforms to strengthen the rule of law”, the Commission said, adding that the reforms would “serve to protect the financial interests” of the EU.

These reforms have been translated into 27 milestones that the Commission has said must be “fully and correctly implemented”.

Hungary’s minister in charge of EU negotiations—former EU commissioner Tibor Navracsics—is reported to have said he is confident Hungary will carry out all the measures required.

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Two new funding programmes launched with “minimal bureaucracy in submission and management”

Portugal is working on ways to cut bureaucracy in its research system, according to the country’s minister for science, technology and higher education.

“The bureaucratic burden of our researchers is significant. We are working on new procedures associated with the introduction of simplified costs applied to project management,” Elvira Fortunato (pictured) said during a talk to mark World Science Day in Lisbon on 24 November.

“The goal is to focus more on the activity of researchers in the science they produce, and less on the bureaucracy and justification of expenditure that still permeate the day-to-day of a researcher.”

Fortunato said that simplifying the administrative load involved in applying for research funding will be a “delicate” task. Talks between national funder the Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) and other national and European bodies will be needed so that the process reflects the allocation of state budget and EU funds, she added.

New funding schemes

As part of its efforts to cut red tape, Portugal launched two new funding programmes that will have “minimal bureaucracy in submission and management”, said FCT vice-president Francisco Santos.

One of the schemes is the ERC-Portugal Programme to Stimulate European Funding, which will encourage more and better applications to the EU’s prestigious European Research Council funder.

A Restart Programme is intended to support researchers wanting to resume their scientific careers after taking parental or adoption leave.

The government also announced it will create contracts to stimulate the employment of researchers in non-academic sectors.

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European Investment Bank to provide €119 million loan to support six research centres

The EU’s investment bank has agreed to provide a €119 million, 25-year loan to Greece to support the upgrade of six research centres.

Announcing the investment on 24 November, the European Investment Bank said the money will go towards the construction of new research buildings, the renovation of existing ones, and the purchase of new scientific equipment for the centres.

Greece hopes the investment will generate more than 500 jobs for researchers and that it will boost the number of PhD students and postdocs by generating job opportunities for them.

Tackling brain drain

Since the 2008 financial crisis, Greece has struggled to retain and attract researchers. Many within the country had to find work abroad due to a lack of opportunities at home.

Greece’s finance minister Christos Staikouras said the loan “will reinforce the country’s research infrastructure and create new working positions, mainly for highly skilled research professionals, thus contributing to brain-gain—the return to Greece of specialised scientists who left the country during the financial crisis of the past decade”.

The loan will back upgrades at the following centres:

• Centre for Research and Technology—Hellas

• Foundation for Research and Technology—Hellas

• Biomedical Sciences Research Centre “Alexander Fleming”

• National Hellenic Research Foundation

• Athena Research and Innovation Centre

• Biomedical Research Foundation, Academy of Athens

The investment comes following a wider push from Greece since 2014 to tackle its loss of skilled academics by developing national research infrastructures.

Infrastructure advice

Separately, the EU’s Policy Support Facility, which advises countries on their research systems at their request, reviewed the Greek policy for research infrastructures over the course of 10 months and released its report on 17 November.

While the review found that a national research infrastructure programme has had a “significant” impact on developing the Greek R&D system, it said most of the infrastructures are not sustainable in the long term.

This is due to a variety of factors, according to the report, including gaps in funding that could undermine staff retention and the purchase and maintenance of equipment.

The panel made recommendations, including that Greece should put in place a medium-term infrastructure funding framework with a performance-based element and develop a set of key performance indicators to reflect the role of infrastructures in the country’s R&I system.

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Moscow “assures us of their full support”, says nuclear fusion project

The Iter nuclear fusion project in France has disputed a suggestion from the EU’s independent auditors that Russia’s involvement in its financing and construction will lead to delays and cost increases.

The international project is supported by China, the European Union, India, Japan, Korea, Russia and the United States. 

Scientific links between Russia and Europe have been hit hard by the invasion of Ukraine, but Russia continues to provide financial contributions and components including electrical equipment for Iter.

In a report on EU public-private R&D partnerships published 15 November, the European Court of Auditors said that while “the financial effect of the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine on the Joint Undertakings cannot be reliably estimated”, Russia being part of Iter “presents a risk of delays and increased costs”.

This could be damaging to the project if it comes to pass, as Iter has previously been plagued by budget problems and delays in starting its attempts to demonstrate that nuclear fusion can be a viable power source.

But a spokesperson for Iter played down the auditors’ concerns.

They told Research Professional News that some Russian contributions had been delayed since the invasion, but this had had no effect on the Iter schedule.

“While I can’t predict the future, I have seen nothing to indicate that, based on current circumstances, we should expect significant delays in Russian contributions,” the spokesperson said.

“On the contrary, our contacts in the Russian government have continued to assure us of their intentions to continue full support for the Iter project.”

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Arma 2022: Conference hears how UK exercise could align closely to European research assessment reforms

The team tasked with drawing up the replacement for the current Research Excellence Framework is looking to stick “as closely as possible” to the principles outlined in the European Commission’s own assessment reforms.

Catriona Firth, associate director for research environment at Research England, told delegates at the Association of Research Managers and Administrators’ 2022 conference that the Commission’s research assessment reforms represented an “incredibly interesting and really important initiative”.

Ten commitments to making research assessment fairer and more inclusive underpin the Coalition for Advancing Research Assessment’s agreement on reforms, which was published in the summer.

Firth said that the Future Research Assessment Programme team, which has been tasked with shaping the next research assessment exercise in the UK, was looking to align with the European agreement.

“We are very keen to align as closely as possible [with the CoARA principles],” she said on 16 November.

Firth said that the existing REF already meets commitments on the importance of peer review and the responsible use of metrics, but she added that “the framing of recognising diversity [of contributions to research] fits neatly with some of the interests of Frap”.

An outline of what the next assessment exercise could look like was due to be published in autumn this year, although Firth said this had been pushed back to spring 2023.

Elsewhere during the webinar, Firth said the team was “looking at whether we can use AI or machine learning in any future exercise”, but she said the findings from their technology-assisted research assessment project were “fairly conservative in terms of what we can do”.

“It’s not going to be our robot overlords assessing REF,” she said. “But it does throw up some possibilities elsewhere in the process.”

Firth added that, as well as offering accountability for public funding, the UK’s research assessment exercise “should offer insights into the health of the higher education sector” and show “where our strengths lie in disciplinary areas or within institutions”.

“This is something we’re really keen to explore for the next one, not just thinking about the excellence in terms of outputs and impacts, but also what can we learn from the environment statements; for example, on where there are areas of good practice as well,” she said.

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Konstantin Vasyuk awarded fellowship of BCS, The Chartered Institute for IT, for helping industry “thrive”

The head of a Ukrainian IT association has been awarded a fellowship of BCS, The Chartered Institute for IT, in recognition of his promotion of the country’s tech industry during wartime.

Konstantin Vasyuk, executive director of the IT Ukraine Association, was awarded the fellowship from the UK professional body for helping Ukraine’s IT industry to “thrive, support the war effort and create new international business”.

According to BCS, Ukraine’s computer services industry generated $5.5 billion in exports so far this year, up by almost 13 per cent on the previous year, with exports to the UK second after the US, despite the conflict.

“Since the war started, we have demonstrated the sustainability and flexibility of Ukrainian tech,” said Vasyuk. “We have provided uninterrupted service to our customers and also gained unique expertise in military, unmanned tech and cybersecurity.

“The IT Ukraine Association will continue its activities in the UK and, together with our partners, create new business opportunities for Ukrainian tech companies in both European and global markets,” he added.

“Ukrainian tech remains attractive and competitive in the global market. Despite all the threats, we are ambitious to scale up the Ukrainian IT industry, transforming risks and challenges into opportunities.”

Rashik Parmar, group chief executive of BCS, said Vasyuk was a “committed and tireless ambassador for the role of IT in making the world a better place, and we are delighted to grant him a BCS fellowship which recognises his outstanding contribution to the IT industry”.

‘Ukraine is open for business’

The announcement came after BCS signed a memorandum of understanding with the Ukrainian association, which represents 80,000 IT professionals.

Speaking at a joint event in October, Parmar said the agreement would help Ukrainian IT firms succeed in the UK.

“Ukraine is open for business, and the memorandum of understanding allows us to build a mutually beneficial relationship. There’s so much talent there,” he said.

“By building this network, we can draw on our relationships to help them, and learn from their expertise, including what it takes to be brave and courageous.”

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FWF says giving €15 million less to new projects will safeguard existing grants

Austria’s national funder has slashed its budget for new projects by €15 million due to soaring inflation.

The Austrian Science Fund (FWF) said it had been forced to make cuts to planned 2023 spending as it needed to provide more support to ongoing projects hit by rising costs at universities and research institutions.

Inflation in Austria has risen from around 5 per cent at the start of the year to over 10 per cent.

“We have made the fundamental decision not to jeopardise ongoing projects that primarily concern young talent at the FWF,” said FWF president Christof Gattringer. “At the same time, however, we have to make some savings on new authorisations in 2023.”

The FWF is one of Austria’s most important funding schemes. In 2020 it pumped over €243 million into R&D, supporting over 4,000 researchers.

Gattringer said the fund is now seeking additional money to keep the dent in the funding for 2023 as “small as possible”.

As part of the cuts to the 2023 budget, the FWF said approvals of projects will be lower next year under several of its programmes. Its 1,000 Ideas Programme, which funds “daring or particularly original” research ideas, will be suspended altogether. 

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Country takes over as chair of Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources

Ukraine has become the new chair of an international alliance for Antarctic conservation, despite fears that Russia would try to block efforts to appoint the country.

Ukrainian diplomat Vitalii Tsymbaliuk will represent the country as chair of the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR) for the next two years, the commission confirmed on 4 November.

The appointment comes despite an earlier warning from a Ukrainian government official that Russia might attempt to interfere due to its invasion of Ukraine.

CCAMLR is responsible for the science-based management of most species in the Southern Ocean. The elected chair plays an important role, guiding meetings and talks, and making proposals to resolve issues.

Ukraine takes over from Sweden as CCAMLR chair. Jakob Granit, outgoing chair and director general of the Swedish Agency for Marine and Water Management, told Research Professional News he was “very pleased to see Ukraine taking over” as chair of the council.

Since 1982, CCAMLR has picked the chair by order of member names arranged alphabetically in the English language and Ukraine was next in line. Andrii Fedchuk, head of Ukraine’s National Antarctic Scientific Center’s International Scientific and Technical Cooperation Department, previously said it was “highly likely” Russia would try to interfere.

But Granit described the process to appoint the new chair as “automatic”.

Granit added: “Members of CCAMLR will support Ukraine in the important task of conserving Antarctica’s marine living resources.”

According to the Ukrainian embassy in Chile, where Tsymbaliuk recently served as a diplomat, he is now based at Ukraine’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Kyiv.

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Arrakihs team plans to launch space telescope after winning European Space Agency support

Researchers in Spain and their colleagues across the world are celebrating after the European Space Agency approved their project to send a telescope into space to probe the structure of the universe.

The Arrakihs (Analysis of Resolved Remnants of Accreted galaxies as a Key Instrument for Halo Surveys) mission will be the first Esa science mission led by scientists based in Spain. The team behind it—led by Rafael Guzman from the Instituto de Física de Cantabria in Spain—plan to launch a binocular camera into space in 2030 that can capture information about galaxies similar to our own Milky Way.

Team member David Martínez Delgado said on Twitter that the approval was “a dream come true!”

Esa said the mission, selected by the Scientific Programme Committee on 2 November, will help scientists understand the effect of so-called dark matter on Milky Way-like galaxies. Dark matter seems to outweigh visible matter in the universe but is tricky to spot; unlike the latter, it does not absorb, reflect or emit light.

Spain’s science minister Diana Morant praised the decision to select the project and said learning more about dark matter would help humans better understand the universe and its origin. 

Alejandro Borlaff, an astrophysicist at Nasa in the United States, said he was “extremely proud of being a member of this mission. Esa/Arrakihs will be the first space telescope dedicated to the study of the Low Surface Brightness Universe. What mysteries will lie well beyond the edges of the galaxies?”

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European scheme’s funds insufficient to support hundreds of researchers displaced by war

A scheme to support scientists displaced by the Russian invasion of Ukraine has said it has received a “remarkably large” number of applications, only a small fraction of which could be funded.

The European Fund for Displaced Scientists was set up in March 2022 to support researchers displaced internally within Ukraine as well as those forced to leave the country.

Announcing the first grants on 1 November, the European Federation of Academies of Sciences and Humanities, which runs the scheme, said it had received 244 requests for support from researchers outside Ukraine and 105 applications from institutions in the country.

Only 35 researchers outside the country could be funded with the money available, along with six of the applications from Ukrainian institutions, which the federation says will support 64 scientists.

The federation’s president, Antonio Loprieno, said the number of applications was “remarkably large” and a “clear indication” that this and other schemes to assist the country’s research community were needed.

Under the scheme, run in collaboration with the Breakthrough Prize Foundation, Ukrainian researchers outside the country can receive up to €25,000 for 12 months and institutions inside Ukraine €75,000 for the same period.

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