This week: smarter telecom networks and bidding to host the Einstein Telescope

In depth: A long-awaited reform of clinical trials in Italy is finally taking effect, but the slew of changes is accompanied by fears in the scientific community about unintended consequences.

Full story: Clinical trials shake-up worries researchers

Also this week from Research Professional News

Italy aims to link up research spending—‘Technical table’ will bring together experts from all ministries with R&D responsibilities

Here is the rest of the Italy news this week…

Telecom project begins

A project to boost Italian telecommunications networks has been launched, involving 25 partners including universities, research institutions, companies and public administrations. Politecnico di Milano will lead the Restart project to create smarter systems, which is backed with €118 million from the EU’s post-Covid recovery fund. This fund requires the involvement of industrial districts in southern Italy and the promotion of gender balance in research.

Committee aims to bring Einstein to Sardinia

A committee led by Nobel Prize winner Giorgio Parisi has been tasked with bringing an international research facility to Italy. The research ministry has created the committee to bid for the European Einstein Telescope, which is currently under development and will be used to search for gravitational waves. If Italy wins, the telescope will be based in a defunct mine in Sardinia. Marica Branchesi and Fernando Ferroni of the Gran Sasso Science Institute are also on the committee, together with National Institute for Nuclear Physics president Antonio Zoccoli and foreign affairs secretary-general Ettore Sequi. The Netherlands has also expressed interest in hosting the Einstein Telescope.

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Italy’s attempts to speed up approval procedures could backfire, researchers fear

A long-awaited reform of clinical trials in Italy is finally taking effect, but the slew of changes is accompanied by fears in the scientific community about unintended consequences.

In early February, Italy finally completed the full implementation of a 2014 EU regulation on clinical trials, after the minister of health approved a reform of the committees that grant ethical approval to research projects.

The reorganisation brings the number of committees down from 243 in 2013 to 40 new territorial committees, with limited geographical jurisdiction, and three national committees with jurisdiction on advanced therapies, paediatric clinical trials and clinical research carried out in public research institutes. A third level of 90 pre-existing local ethics committees is being left in place to attend to specific and minor tasks.

The reform has the declared goal of simplifying and therefore speeding up approval procedures for drugs and clinical methods, but some experts have expressed concern about a lack of public consultation. 

Health minister Orazio Schillaci expressed satisfaction with the reform, saying it “will improve Italy’s performances in this sector”, a sentiment echoed by the Federfarma and Farmindustria associations of pharmacists and pharmaceutical companies.

Regulatory changes

At the same time, the country’s pharmaceutical regulator Aifa is being overhauled. The agency is in turmoil amid reforms brought forward by the centre-right government via an expedited procedure that bypassed discussion in parliament, let alone in the scientific community.

The role of Aifa director-general, which was previously a guarantor of scientific independence, has been abolished, while the president, who had a role that was more formal than substantial, is being given more power.

This is perceived by many in the research community as a move to please the pharmaceutical industry and weaken the scientific independence of the regulatory agency, which was strongly defended by previous director-general Nicola Magrini. 

Anna Rosa Marra, a temporary replacement for Magrini, has been put in place while the new governance is shaped.

Researchers’ worries are fuelled by history. In 2008, when Silvio Berlusconi was prime minister, Nello Martini, director-general of Aifa at the time, championed independent research and was highly regarded in the scientific community. He was sacked by the minister of health, who cited a police investigation of allegations that later proved to be groundless. Berlusconi’s Forza Italia is part of the current coalition government.

Committee merger

The two Aifa committees in charge of the scientific evaluation of proposals for clinical trials and of setting the price for drug reimbursements by the health service are expected to be replaced by one committee. For now, they have once more been reconfirmed for the coming months, continuing a pattern set since their term expired in 2020.

The merger of the two 17-member committees into one 10-member body is raising concerns. Only 10 committee members will now do the work that was previously split among 34. This might slow down procedures instead of speeding them up, according to some researchers familiar with the inner workings of the regulatory agency. 

“We are experiencing many changes that have different origins, and the situation is still very fuzzy. The only thing that appears very clear is the insistence on speed,” Antonio Addis, who heads the unit of drug epidemiology for the Lazio region and has sat on the scientific evaluation committee of Aifa for many years, told Research Professional News.

But according to Addis, the rhetoric of making changes in order to increase speed is not justified as Italy performs well in terms of how quickly it approves new drugs for use.

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‘Technical table’ will bring together experts from all ministries with R&D responsibilities

A push for better coordination of Italy’s public spending on research has begun with the formal launch of a group of experts from across all government ministries with responsibility for R&D money.

The ‘technical table’ of experts will begin by surveying existing public research funds at national, regional and local level and feeding this information to a new unit in the Ministry of Universities and Research. That unit, which is in charge of evaluating investments and providing coordination and guidance to ministries, will be led by Bank of Italy economist Raffaello Bronzini.

The creation of a group bringing together experts chosen by the research ministry and colleagues from the Ministry of Economy and Finance, the Ministry of Enterprises and Made in Italy and the Ministry of Health was suggested in 2021 by the scientists behind a long-term strategy for fundamental research. In July 2022, it was endorsed by a committee from the research ministry.

Speaking this month, research minister Anna Maria Bernini said the initiative would help the government to take funding decisions “more responsibly”.

She stressed that the activities of Bronzini’s unit would be made public and updated regularly.

“The analyses will help not only the research ministry but the whole government and the scientific, economic and social communities,” Bernini said.

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This week: ERC grant wins, innovation seeds and a talent showcase

In depth: Italy will lead a European partnership that will pool nearly half a billion euros of research and innovation money to improve the sustainability of maritime industries. The grouping of 60 Partners from 25 countries, led by Italy, will run calls for research proposals over its seven-year lifetime, all focused on the ‘blue economy’, defined by the European Commission as “economic activities related to oceans, seas and coasts”.

Full story: Italy captains Europe’s drive for sustainable seas

Venice celebrates Consolidator Grants

Università Ca’ Foscari of Venice is celebrating another round of European Research Council Consolidator Grant wins, with four successful proposals from established researchers attracting a total of more than €7 million. The total number of researchers holding ERC grants at Ca’ Foscari is now 23, eight of whom are international researchers who were attracted to Italy and six of whom are Italians who moved back from abroad. In general, Italian research institutions are less successful at hosting ERC grant winners, with many Italian grantees choosing to move abroad. Ca’ Foscari has tried to counter this with a strategy to attract top talent from abroad. 

Milan grows innovation seeds

Università Statale di Milano has announced the eight winning projects of the second edition of Seed4Innovation, an initiative launched to promote technology transfer. A total of €400,000 will support the development of projects including biomedicine and plastics recycling. “The Seed4Innovation initiative is important to help academia to acquire the entrepreneurial mindset needed to transform scientific discoveries into products that create social and economic progress and wealth,” said Maria Pia Abbracchio, the university’s vice-rector for research.

Talent showcase launched

Alumni of the prestigious Collegio Ghislieri of Università di Pavia are turning to self-promotion on the internet to increase their chances of landing a job. The Ghislieri Alumni Association has launched the website Vetrina del Merito (Merit Showcase) to tout its members’ talents. “Vetrina del Merito wants to be a new channel of communication between the Ghislerian factory of talent and the cultural, entrepreneurial and professional reality that wishes to engage with it,” the website states.

The post Italy news roundup: 20 January to 2 February appeared first on Research Professional News.

Blue economy project will pool €450 million of research and innovation investment from 25 countries

Italy will lead a European partnership that will pool nearly half a billion euros of research and innovation money to improve the sustainability of maritime industries.

The grouping of 60 Partners from 25 countries, led by Italy, will run calls for research proposals over its seven-year lifetime, all focused on the ‘blue economy’, defined by the European Commission as “economic activities related to oceans, seas and coasts”.

“It will pool research and innovation investments of €450 million over seven years for a just and inclusive transition to a blue economy in harmony with nature” Mariya Gabriel, the EU research commissioner, told a launch event for the Sustainable Blue Economy Partnership at Rome’s Academy of Fine Arts at the end of January.

The first call is scheduled to be launched by mid-February and will focus on five areas selected to address the EU member states and associated countries’ priorities:

1. Ocean “digital twins” of real processes and structures.
2. ‘Blue generation marine structures’—multi-use structures for sectors such as transport and energy.
3. Planning and managing sea-uses.
4. Sustainable management of ocean food resources.
5. The green transition of ‘blue food’ production to make it more sustainable and climate neutral.

The first call will pool financial resources through the participation of 37 research funding organisations from 23 countries and will have an estimated budget of about €50m. It will encourage pan-European cross-sectorial cooperation in science in all European sea basins: the Mediterranean, the Black Sea, the Baltic Sea, the North Sea and the Atlantic Ocean.

“Italy is proud to coordinate the European Sustainable Blue Economy Partnership…The results of our co-funded projects and activities will make major impact on the sustainability of the blue economy sector,” said coordinator Raffaele Liberali from the Italian Ministry of University and Research.

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Right-wing rise to power has not yet shifted the direction of travel for R&D

When the coalition government led by Giorgia Meloni of the extreme right party Fratelli d’Italia was sworn in on 22 October, many feared it would show little interest in research, as has been the case with previous centre-right governments.

While it is still too early for any major comparison, the first R&D moves from Meloni buck this trend and go mostly along with the ideas and attitudes of the previous, research-positive government led by Mario Draghi. 

Draghi’s administration had unusually broad parliamentary support, and it put Italy’s international credibility at stake when it decided to accept the maximum amount of money made available from the EU’s post-Covid recovery fund. Much of this cash was channelled towards research.

The scientific and academic community was reassured by Meloni’s early decision to keep the Ministry of Universities and Research separate from the Ministry of Education. There were real fears before this that the research ministry would be swallowed up by the much bigger department and the importance of its work diminished. How much clout it has will be demonstrated this year.

EU funding

Public statements by universities and research minister Anna Maria Bernini about priorities have also sounded the right notes. She has given the impression she will be keeping to the same path set by her predecessor Maria Cristina Messa to comply with the many strict requirements attached to the EU money now charging up Italy’s R&D.

The four funding schemes that were launched to revamp and reshape the research infrastructure out of this money appear to be proceeding at the expected pace, and everyone is conscious of what is at stake for Italian research this year as they take flight.

“We work in close collaboration with the research ministry, which continues to support us in our huge effort,” Rosario Rizzuto, a former rector of Università di Padova, told Research Professional News. Rizzuto is now president of the national centre for gene therapies and RNA-based drugs, one of five new national centres for key enabling technologies funded with EU Covid recovery money.

The centres are still launching and will have to become self-sustaining before the EU funding ends in 2026.

Research careers

One of the issues that did not go as planned by Messa and remains to be resolved in 2023 is the reform of researchers’ careers—specifically the abolition of insecure short-term contracts known as ‘assegni di ricerca’, which were expected to be replaced at the end of 2022 by new contracts that would have been much more expensive for employers.

Messa left her post before allocating additional funds for the reform and Bernini ended up allowing universities and research institutions to continue to offer the old, precarious contracts.

This was greeted with a sigh of relief by some academics, who were worried they would otherwise have to send home precious—albeit low-paid—collaborators.

Expect to hear more on this topic this year, especially from those precariously employed on ‘assegni di ricerca’ contracts.

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Research minister says Polifi will bridge traditional arts institutions and universities

Italy’s first Polytechnic of Arts and Design has been formally inaugurated in Florence, aiming to bridge the gap between universities and traditional institutes of art and music study.

Although the country already has higher education institutions dedicated to the arts, the new Politecnico delle Arti e del Design di Firenze, known as Polifi, is the first that has the declared goal of providing a comprehensive body of knowledge and skills to future professionals in all artistic domains.

“This project being launched in Florence is a pilot that aims to create a network, to bridge the past with the present, art with technique, science with creativity, simplicity with complexity,” said research and universities minister Anna Maria Bernini at the inauguration event.

Polifi was established as a joint project of the Conservatorio di Musica Luigi Cherubini, the Accademia di Belle Arti di Firenze and the Istituto Superiore per le Industrie Artistiche.

The launch is the end of a 10-year gestation period and part of an ongoing effort to nurture the many kinds of non-academic institutions that have been teaching and doing research on arts, music and dance, and to connect them with universities and research institutions, Bernini said.

A version of this article also appeared in Research Europe

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This week: support for Ghanaian research and progress in sustainable transport

In depth: When the coalition government led by Giorgia Meloni of the extreme right party Fratelli d’Italia was sworn in on 22 October, many feared it would show little interest in research, as has been the case with previous centre-right governments.

While it is still too early for any major comparison, the first R&D moves from Meloni buck this trend and go mostly along with the ideas and attitudes of the previous, research-positive government led by Mario Draghi.

Full story: Italy’s research world hopes for continued progress in 2023

Also this week from Research Professional News

Florence polytechnic pilots new approach to the arts in Italy—Research minister says Polifi will bridge traditional arts institutions and universities

Here is the rest of the Italian news this week…

Aspen supports excellence institute in Ghana

The Aspen Institute Italia is backing the creation of a research team working on health and nutrition at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology in Ghana. Researcher Mary Adjepong will receive $50,000 (€46,000) to set up the centre via an early career fellowship funded by the institute and provided by the Organization for Women in Science for the Developing World, a unit of the UN science agency Unesco. “We hope that other institutes and foundations in Italy will follow the Aspen Institute’s lead and sponsor an OWSD fellow,” said Tonya Blowers, coordinator of the OWSD secretariat. 

‘Progress made in sustainable transport’

The production of electric vehicles in Italy has grown significantly in recent years, with electric and hybrid cars skyrocketing from 0.1 per cent of all automobiles produced in 2019 to more than 40 per cent in 2021, according to the 100 Italian E-Mobility Stories report published by the Symbola Foundation and the energy company Enel. The report highlights 100 success stories of Italian innovation in sustainable mobility.

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Over €270 million will be shared between 180 departments in universities across Italy

Università Statale di Milano will claim the lion’s share of a fund worth €271 million rewarding Italian universities with ‘departments of excellence’.

Italy’s research-evaluation agency, Anvur, revealed last month which institutions’ bids had been successful in the scheme’s latest round. A total of 180 university departments will share €271m over 2023-27.

Departments of excellence will receive between €1.08m and €1.62m per year for a five-year period; Università Statale di Milano (pictured) tops the list with 13 departments of excellence, covering work in areas including maths, medicine, philosophy and legal studies.

As widely predicted, universities in northern Italy ranked highest. The only institution in southern Italy that made a strong showing was Naples’ Università di Napoli Federico II, which ranked behind its Milan rival with 12 departments of excellence, and on a par with Sapienza Università di Roma.

Bologna and Padova follow, with 11 departments of excellence each.

Overall, 28 academic institutions have at least two departments of excellence, and 52 have at least one. All research areas, as defined by Consiglio Universitario Nazionale (CUN), Italy’s national universities council, were represented in the selection.

Maria Pia Abbracchio, pro-rector in charge of research at Università Statale di Milano, praised the breadth of the awards. “The interdisciplinary approach is proving more and more strategic to tackle the complex global challenges we are facing,” she said.

Selection pressure

The only departments eligible to submit a proposal for a five-year project were the 350 that produced the best research, according to Italy’s third evaluation exercise, which assessed work submitted by about 65,000 researchers from 98 universities and 14 other institutions.

Each department was assigned a score using a metric called the ISPD which assesses its performance; this was worth up to 70 points.

Proposals were scrutinised by a seven-member panel based on four main criteria: internal coherence; coherence with regards to the research area; feasibility; and expected impact. This panel assigned up to 30 points.

The top-scoring bids were declared winners.

The process was the subject of controversy last year, when an error was spotted in methodology related to the ISPD, but Anvur insisted the error did not affect the calculations.

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This week: Cuzzocrea heads university rectors’ assembly, plus push to host Einstein Telescope in Sardinia

In depth: Università Statale di Milano will claim the lion’s share of a fund worth €271 million rewarding Italian universities with ‘departments of excellence’. Italy’s research-evaluation agency, Anvur, revealed last month which institutions’ bids had been successful in the scheme’s latest round. A total of 180 university departments will share €271m over 2023-27.

Full story: Milan university ranks top for ‘departments of excellence’

Here is the rest of the Italian news this week…

Salvatore Cuzzocrea to head university rectors’ body

The assembly of university rectors has chosen the rector of Università di Messina, Salvatore Cuzzocrea, as its next head. He will succeed the rector of Politecnico di Milano, Ferruccio Resta. Cuzzocrea is a pharmacologist with a strong track record in research. In his inauguration speech, he called for an increase of public funding for universities and a decrease in red tape. He also stressed the leading role of universities in reducing inequalities.

Italy pushes to host Einstein telescope effort

The minister of research Anna Maria Bernini has announced an Italian bid to host the European Einstein Telescope in Sardinia. The collaborative project is meant to extend research infrastructure for the study of gravitational waves together with the existing observatories Ligo in the US and Virgo in Italy. Winner of the 2021 Nobel Prize in Physics, Giorgio Parisi, will lead the effort. Selection of the hosting site is expected to be finalised by the end of 2024. 

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This week: end of professor patent privilege, metaverse studies and more

In depth: A senior figure in Italy’s biotechnology business association has said the country’s cutting-edge researchers need more support to commercialise their work.

Full story: Call for more investment in Italy’s innovation sector

Here is the rest of the Italian news this week…

End of ‘professor privilege’ on patents moves closer

A reform that will transfer ownership of patents from researchers to the institutions employing them has been put back on the government’s agenda. The overhaul of intellectual property legislation was stopped when the former prime minister Mario Draghi lost parliamentary support. Now it is expected to become law before the end of 2023, according to the news publication Sole24Ore. Proponents say the end of so-called ‘professor privilege’ on patents is necessary to help ensure the long-term sustainability of the scientific infrastructure being built with EU post-covid recovery money.

Polimi to study impact of the ‘metaverse’ 

The Polytechnic University of Milan is to receive funding from the company Meta—previously Facebook—to carry out a study on the risks and opportunities of the metaverse. This will include assessing how its technologies will affect privacy, security, inclusion and the future of work. The project’s goal is estimate the economic impact and social value of the metaverse, using Italy as a practical case study. 

Anti-corruption authority simplifies reporting of research spending

The way research intuitions present data could be affected by a national anti-corruption plan, which is expected to reduce red tape and speed up corruption-reporting procedures—specifically for beneficiaries of funding from the EU post-Covid recovery plan. Instead of uploading their information on the official portal for transparent administration, institutions will be allowed to publish most of the data on their websites.

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Projects ranging from scar-free tattoo removal to vaccine production are seeking more support

A senior figure in Italy’s biotechnology business association has said the country’s cutting-edge researchers need more support to commercialise their work.

Speaking at the 15th BioInItaly Investment Forum this month—where seven innovative biotechnology projects were presented to prospective national and international investors—Pierluigi Paracchi warned that “Italy produces high-quality research and innovative projects, which struggle to make the big jump”. 

Paracchi, a board member of Assobiotec, the Italian Association for the Development of Biotechnology, said previous editions of the initiative have collected so far €80 million since 2008.

“More investment capital and especially biotech entrepreneurs are needed,” said Paracchi, who is also chief executive of company Genenta Science.

Encouraging innovation

The meeting is organised annually by Assobioteca together with the ‘Spring’ national cluster of circular bioeconomy and Intesa Sanpaolo Innovation Center.

Projects in the areas of the circular bioeconomy and healthcare technology were selected for presentation to investors.

Innovations proposed included:

• Products for the food industry based on vertical aeroponics.
• Micro-crystal vectors for use in agriculture.
• And recyclable luxury shoes derived from wood and paper. 

Applications in healthcare included:

• A monitoring system for personal health based on artificial intelligence.
• Nanotechnologies applied to cosmetics and food supplements.
• Organic patches capable of erasing tattoos without pain and scars.
• And ultra-efficient bioreactors for use in the production of vaccines, monoclonal antibodies and immunotherapy.

“Italy has a longstanding industrial tradition in pharma and biotech, which is being renewed with sustainable and circular applications” said Luca Pagetti, head of financing and development of startups for the Intesa Sanpaolo Innovation Center.

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Partnership will aim to bolster joint research and exchange of scientists in computational science

South Africa’s National Institute for Theoretical and Computational Sciences and Italy’s Abdus Salam International Centre for Theoretical Physics have agreed a partnership to advance basic and computational sciences development in South Africa.

NITheCS director Francesco Petruccione (pictured, front left) and his ICTP counterpart Atish Dabholkar (front right) signed the agreement at the World Science Forum in Cape Town last week.

"We are thrilled to be partnering with NITheCS to support the growth of theoretical physics in South Africa," said Dabholkar. 

“This collaboration will provide valuable international opportunities for South African scientists and students and those at ICTP to work together and advance their research.”

Petruccione said the agreement would benefit the development of theoretical and computational sciences in South Africa and Africa.

The partnership will also promote exchange of scientists and students between the two countries.

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This week: a digital deal and a snub for PhDs

In depth: A major reform of how Italy’s early career researchers are employed has ground to a halt, as the country’s new research minister has pushed back on her predecessor’s abolition of short-term contracts in the field.

Full story: Italy’s researcher career reforms could be derailed

Also this week from Research Professional News

Italy’s venerable research council unveils major reform—National Research Council celebrates centennial with root and branch overhaul

Here is the rest of the Italian news this week…

Polimi and Atos Italia join forces digitally

Politecnico di Milano has signed an agreement on digital transformation with Atos Italia, the Italian branch of the multinational IT firm. During the next three years, Polimi and Atos will work together on technology transfer and applied research in areas such as high-performance computing, artificial intelligence, and cybersecurity. In addition to research, the collaboration will also focus on education, with the creation of the first Italian Master’s degree on High Performance Computing Engineering.

‘Public administration snubs PhD holders’

The association of PhD candidates and postdoc researchers, l’Associazione Dottorandi e Dottori di Ricerca in Italia, has complained that the scoring criteria used in the latest call for hiring published by the Agenzia per l’Italia Digitale, a government agency, are unfair. The group says the agency has not given sufficient weight to PhDs in its scoring systems, which favours other degrees.

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Italy’s National Research Council celebrates centennial with root and branch overhaul

Italy’s National Research Council is to undergo a deep reorganisation that will reform its administration to bring it more in line with European best practices and bring more interdisciplinary approach to its science.

The final stamp of approval on a relaunch plan that took several drafts and six months of internal consultation was announced as the council celebrated its centenary in November.

The National Research Council (Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche—CNR) runs a network of institutes across the country, hosting thousands of researchers.

Its president, Maria Chiara Carrozza, announced that the current classification of these staff into scientific areas and disciplines will be replaced by a system based on the scientific areas used by the European Research Council. This broadly defines work as physical sciences and engineering, life sciences or social sciences and humanities, and then into further subcategories

The move is also aimed at attracting more grant winners from abroad through a special programme to open up CNR’s wide scientific infrastructure—currently being updated and upgraded with pandemic recovery money.

“Our goal is to attract young researchers from Italy and abroad, offering them an environment that encourages the freedom of research,” Carrozza told ANSA.

Open science is also among the priorities of Italy’s biggest research institution, which was in the core group that proposed the Research Assessment Agreement that calls for a deep rethinking of the criteria currently used for the evaluation of research and researchers, in the direction of transparency, reproducibility, inclusion and openness.

The celebrations for the group’s centennial started on 23 November and will continue for the next 12 months with initiatives on topics including cultural heritage, life sciences, clean energy and sustainability.

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Plans to abolish controversial short-term contracts for early career staff in jeopardy under new government

A major reform of how Italy’s early career researchers are employed has ground to a halt, as the country’s new research minister has pushed back on her predecessor’s abolition of short-term contracts in the field.

In the summer, the then minister of research Maria Cristina Messa signed off plans to abolish short-term contracts known as ‘assegni di ricerca’, which have been blamed for creating a slew of insecure research positions.

However, the victory of the right-wing coalition in Italy’s September election, triggered by the collapse of support for Mario Draghi’s government, has seen Messa forced out of power and heading back to academia. 

Her replacement, Anna Maria Bernini (pictured), from Silvio Berlusconi’s Forza Italia, announced on 22 November that the use of assegni di ricerca would not stop at the end of this year.

When questioned in parliament about a lack of funding for the reforms, she avoided saying they would be abandoned, but also refused to commit to them.

“Let’s fight together in the parliament to obtain more funding,” she told fellow politicians. “The [new] research contracts cannot come into effect now.” 

The announcement was immediately criticised by senator Francesco Verducci, of the Democratic Party, who said that the reform was meant to protect researchers from being “chewed up and spat away” after 15 or more years of precarious, underpaid work.

Replacement contracts, called RTT (fixed term for researchers in the tenure track), should offer a higher monthly salary and paid holidays and last for at least two years. But these will be much more expensive for hiring institutions.

According to Verducci, the ending the assegni di ricerca is important to restore the dignity of young researchers and require “at least €200 million per year to fund at least 5,000 new hires”. But there are increasing fears that there is now little prospect of this money appearing.

Programme plans 

The debate on the stalled reform took place after Bernini presented an outline of her programme, one month after being sworn in, with a speech that mentioned the new RTT contract in passing.

In her 16-page brief, Bernini listed many projects that were launched by her predecessor, mostly with funding coming from the NextGenerationEU programme, the EU Covid-19 recovery fund, which allocated €11bn for research and innovation.

More than €7bn of this money has already been assigned and will start to be transferred to beneficiaries before the end of the year, and the implementation of this is the top priority of the ministry, Bernini said.

She added that Italy’s research system had been “left to wither for too long”, and the challenge now was to make good use of the current resources and achieve long-term sustainability.

An example of this conundrum is the new Fondo Italiano per la Scienza (FIS), launched at the end of 2021 and modelled on the European Research Council.

An initial budget of €50m will be shared between roughly 40 winning proposals. But that first call prompted 1,900 applications, resulting in a success rate of just 2 per cent. Adding to pressure on those making grant decisions, a €200m call for 2022 was opened while the winners of the first one have yet to be announced.

With so many applications, the scheme has proved to be very complex to manage.

Many in the sector hope the establishment of a new unit within the ministry of research focused on evaluation will help to speed up the grant-making process. But, as had been widely predicted, the FIS proved to be much more competitive than the European Research Council on which it was modelled, and which has an application success rate of around 12 per cent.

Bernini has said she will not follow in the footsteps of her predecessor, but insisted she will work to make sure there is adequate funding for universities and research beyond the EU Covid fund cash injection. She also mentioned a report published in July by a group of experts coordinated by Luigi Ambrosio, rector of the Scuola Normale Superiore di Pisa, which suggested several steps for an effective strategy to support fundamental research.

“Minister Bernini showed interest in our recommendations, which is important. Now let’s hope that the national budget currently in discussion will not introduce cuts to the current levels of funding,” Ambrosio told Research Professional News.

Several scientists share a concern that Bernini may not have the full support of other government ministers in her stated desire to safeguard research funding; they have suspended judgment on her tenure until the budget is approved.

A version of this article also appeared in Research Europe

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Leonardo supercomputer is latest addition to European computing power, but US and Japan still lead

A supercomputer ranked the world’s fourth fastest has been launched in Italy, advancing a European push to increase the continent’s computing power for activities including research and innovation.

“Developed and assembled in Europe”, according to the European Commission, the Leonardo system was inaugurated in Bologna on 24 November. When fully operational, it is expected to be capable of 250 million billion calculations per second.

“It will enable unprecedented research into cancer and drug discovery, understanding the functioning of the human brain, discovering clean energy technologies, doing more precise climate modelling, as well as helping with predicting and monitoring natural disasters and pandemics,” the Commission said.

World supercomputer ranking

The TOP500 ranking of supercomputers entered Leonardo at fourth place in its list earlier this month, just behind another Europe machine, Lumi in Finland, which was recently upgraded.

In the top spot is the US Frontier machine, with second place going to Supercomputer Fugaku in Japan.

Leonardo cost €120 million, half of which came from the EU. The other half came from the Italian Ministry of Universities, and from Austria, Greece, Hungary, Slovakia and Slovenia under the European High-Performance Computing Joint Undertaking—an initiative in which about 30 countries and industry are partnering with the EU to build Europe’s computing capacity.

Leonardo is the second computer launched under EuroHPC with so-called ‘pre-exascale’ capacity, meaning it is capable of more than 100 million billion calculations per second but fewer than a billion billion.

‘Formidable computing infrastructure’

The EU’s first such machine was Lumi and a third is set to launch in Spain. What is planned as Europe’s first exascale computer—capable of over a billion billion calculations per second—is destined to be hosted by Germany.

“We have started fostering a formidable state-of-the-art computing infrastructure for the next decades,” said EU research commissioner Mariya Gabriel. 

“It will act as a catalyst to further boost our scientific excellence and industrial creativity and make Europe a first-choice place to attract and produce ground-breaking research and innovation.”

The post World’s fourth-fastest computer launched in Italy appeared first on Research Professional News.

This week: Erasmus placements unfilled, new rector for Milan Polytechnic and academic fraud awareness

In depth: The Italian National Research Council and multiple other key institutions in the country have signed on to a Europe-wide push to overhaul research assessment processes.

Full story: Italian organisations sign on for research assessment reform

Here is the rest of the Italian news this week…

New rector for Milan Polytechnic

Engineer Donatella Sciuto has been elected rector of Polimi, the Milan Polytechnic, for 2023-28 and will become the first woman to lead the institution. She will succeed Ferruccio Resta at the end of this year. Sciuto is currently prorectore and a professor in the Department of Electronics, Information and Bioengineering. She also sits on the Higher Council of the Bank of Italy (Banca d’Italia), on the board of several companies, including AVIO and Fila, and on the supervisory board of STMicroelectronics.

University students ‘unaware of scientific integrity’

Only 19 per cent of Italian university students are aware of the issue of academic fraud, according to a survey by Cimea, the Italian member of the European National Information Centres of the Council of Europe and Unesco, reported in Italian news outlets. Due to the current lack of education on the topic, several students who were victim or witnessed fraud did not know how to report it, according to the author of the survey, Chiara Finocchietti, the director of Cimea.

Many Erasmus+ recipients fail to benefit

Almost 40 per cent of students who are assigned money for studying abroad with the Erasmus+ programme end up staying at home, according to a study on the students of Università di Torino. The main reasons for failing to take up overseas placements include fear of compromising academic careers, inadequate institutional support and dislike for a destination assigned to them in place of the one requested. For some students, the amount of funding offered is also insufficient, according to the survey by the Department of Cultures, Politics and Society of Università di Torino.

The post Italy news roundup: 4-17 November appeared first on Research Professional News.

National Research Council and multiple other bodies commit to change use of metrics

The Italian National Research Council and multiple other key institutions in the country have signed on to a Europe-wide push to overhaul research assessment processes.

Earlier this year, a European Commission-led team outlined an agreement on what change was needed to how researchers are assessed. This sets out four core aims: to recognise the diversity of research roles; to base assessment primarily on qualitative evaluation; to “abandon inappropriate uses…of journal- and publication-based metrics”; and to avoid the use of international rankings of research organisations in assessing researchers.

Francesca Di Donato has been representing the National Research Council (Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche—CNR) in the core group of organisations that launched the process which led to the publication of the agreement in July. CNR runs its own network of institutes across the country, hosting thousands of researchers.

“The goal of the [reform] effort is to recognise the value of all the activities performed by researchers that contribute to obtain sound and reliable results through a transparent process that promotes reproducibility, according to the principles of open science,” Di Donato, a researcher at CNR’s Institute of Computational Linguistics, told Research Professional News.

Di Donato said there had been a good response from Italian institutions since the agreement was unveiled. As of 8 November, over 180 organisations have signed, ten of which are from Italy, including the national evaluation agency, Anvur.

Research assessment reform is high on the agenda at institutions in many countries, but academics in Italy have been particularly unhappy about how they have been graded in recent years. Anvur has been at the centre of complaints about a complex system used to assess Italian academics in search of promotion, called the Abilitazione Scientifica Nazionale.

The country’s big research institutions, like the council, which are in charge of a wide research infrastructure and perform research in a wide range of disciplines, have often been penalised by the evaluation criteria used in the past to assign funding, said Di Donato.

Now she hopes this will change.

Di Donato also told Research Professional News that assessment reform is listed among the milestones of  CNR’s ‘relaunch plan’, also announced earlier this year, adding to the push for change at a national level in Italy.

The ten commitments in the agreement include recognition of diversity in research and the central role of peer review. Signatories also pledge to stop inappropriate uses of metrics such as the impact factor and commit resources to achieving real change in assessment.

A version of this article also appeared in Research Europe

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New minister told 15,000 highly skilled researchers could quit if contract reforms stall

Italy’s new research minister has been warned she must act fast to stop thousands of highly skilled scientists leaving the country.

Up to 15,000 researchers currently paid by universities via short-term contracts could soon look for work in other countries, the association of PhD candidates and postdoc researchers ADI (Associazione Dottorandi e Dottori di Ricerca in Italia) told Anna Maria Bernini in an open letter.

Precarious jobs, such as those under assegni di ricerca contracts, were supposed to have been done away with by reforms pushed through by the last government. Italy has long struggled against the ‘brain drain’ of its best researchers leaving for better resourced jobs in other nations, and the reforms were seen as a major part of making Italy more attractive.

All that has been thrown into doubt by the downfall of Mario Draghi and the electoral success of Giorgia Meloni, his replacement as prime minister.

Last month Meloni appointed Bernini (pictured) as her research minister.

The new minister is a law professor at Università di Bologna and was minister for agriculture in 2011 in the government led by Silvio Berlusconi. She has been in parliament continuously since 2008 and in the last legislature was chair of the senate group of Berlusconi’s Forza Italia party.

Backfire potential

ADI, which has around 2,000 active members all over Italy, supports contract reform for researchers but has repeatedly warned that the changes could backfire if not adequately financed.

“We hope that Minister Bernini will complete the reform of the career that was started by her predecessor Maria Cristina Messa,” said the newly elected secretary of ADI, Rosa Fioravante.

Fioravante, who is a PhD candidate in business ethics at Università di Urbino, told Research Professional News: “In order to move from the current abuse of precarious employment of postdocs to the tenure track of up to two-year contracts, we estimate that the ordinary fund of universities must be increased by at least €1 billion.”

Repercussions

The reforms would raise the average monthly salary from €1,300-1,400 to €1,700-1,800, which, along with the addition of paid holidays and sick leave, would roughly double the cost to institutions of employing a researcher.

Without additional money, this might result in a drastic cut in the number of research positions available, ADI fears. It could also lead to a transition period where old agreements are extended, frustrating the reform and the researchers who should benefit from it.

Another pressing issue is the classification of PhD candidates, who are considered students but are demanding the same rights as workers undergoing training, Fioravante added.

A version of this article also appeared in Research Europe

The post Brain drain fear stalks Italy again appeared first on Research Professional News.

This week: an undersecretary for research and unvaccinated doctors

In depth: Italy’s new research minister has been warned she must act fast to stop thousands of highly skilled scientists leaving the country.

Full story: Brain drain fear stalks Italy again

Here is the rest of the Italian news this week…

Augusta Montaruli named undersecretary of research 

Lawyer Augusta Montaruli has been chosen as undersecretary for the new minister of university and research, Anna Maria Bernini, who is herself a lawyer and a professor of law at Università di Bologna. Montaruli has had a long political career, starting in the right-wing Alleanza Nazionale, which became the Brothers of Italy in 2012. Montaruli’s selection came on 31 October, as the new right-wing government led by Giorgia Meloni finished appointing ministers. 

Unvaccinated doctors return to public healthcare

The national Order of Physicians says 1,878 doctors who were suspended for refusing to be vaccinated against Covid will soon go back to work in the National Health Service after a ruling by the new government. The decree removed an existing obligation for health professionals to be vaccinated, but of the 3,543 physicians who were suspended for not being vaccinated, 1,665 are now too old to work in public healthcare. The total number of unvaccinated doctors is a small proportion of Italy’s 473,592 physicians.

The post Italy news roundup: 21 October to 3 November appeared first on Research Professional News.

This week: a building collapse, monthly diversity days and support for Iranian colleagues

In depth: Italy’s government is looking to strengthen industrial-focused research in the country with a funding scheme for applied sciences that research minister Maria Cristina Messa believes is unique in all of Europe.

Full story: ‘Unique’ scheme seeks to focus Italy’s researchers on applications

Here is the rest of the Italian news this week…

Italian rectors stand with academic community of Iran

The Conference of Italian University Rectors has joined the Italian chapter of Scholars at Risk in condemning violations of the human rights of students and staff at schools, universities and other education institutions in Iran. The country has been riven by protests following the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini in police custody.

Injuries avoided as Cagliari university building collapses

Authorities at the Università di Cagliari have announced checks across its estate after the shock collapse of a major building. On the evening of 18 October, the 1950s building that hosts the university’s great hall collapsed. “The collapse took place without any warning,” said rector Francesco Mola. Nobody was inside the building at the time but several classes had taken place there in the afternoon, according to media reports.

Luiss schedules monthly diversity initiatives

Taking inspiration from International Women’s Day on 8 March, the Luiss Guido Carli university in Rome has launched a series of initiatives that will take place on the eighth day of each month, called Any Given 8. During the launch event on 8 October, the university also unveiled a ‘Just Human’ logo that promotes equal participation and representation of genders in initiatives at the institution.

The post Italy news roundup: 7-20 October appeared first on Research Professional News.

Fisa programme will push community towards “disruptive” innovation, says research minister

Italy’s government is looking to strengthen industrial-focused research in the country with a funding scheme for applied sciences that research minister Maria Cristina Messa believes is unique in all of Europe.

The inaugural call of the newly created fund for applied sciences (Fondo italiano per le scienze applicate, or Fisa) opened earlier this month for projects in any area of science, offering multi-year grants of between €1 million and €5m. It is focused on research with industrial applications, and will run alongside the established Italian Science Fund for fundamental research. 

“The goal of the Fondo italiano per le scienze applicate is to bring the national and international community of public and private researchers more and more towards ‘disruptive’ innovation, which is still uncommon in Italy,” said Messa, who will shortly leave her post and be replaced in the country’s new government.

“The [scheme] is a total novelty, for Italy but also for Europe.” 

The fund is aimed at individual investigators in any research field from the public or private sector. As well as rating the scientific quality of proposals, those assessing applications will award bonus points to those aged under 35, female researchers and projects with strong expected socioeconomic or industrial impacts. The government allocated €50m to the initiative for 2020, which is scheduled to grow to reach a total of €250m per year by 2025.

The funding scheme is quite small for what it is trying to do, but should be useful in fostering cooperation between academic researchers and the industrial world, said Sara Morisani, director of the Italian Association for Industrial Research (Associazione Italiana per la ricerca industriale, Airi).

“It can encourage synergies and help populate the ecosystem, filling the existing gap between basic and applied research, especially if it will keep the announced pace until 2025 and beyond. It will also help the Ministry of Research and the Ministry for Economic Development to better coordinate their efforts,” said Morisani, whose association has more than 75 members from industry, public research centres and universities.

One of the critical issues currently is a lack of institutional support for match-making between researchers pitching for grants and institutions that might host them in the private sector, she said. “This is something Airi will consider doing in the future,” Morisani added.

A version of this article also appeared in Research Europe

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This week: sustainability comes to Bologna and an Italian goes to Iter

In depth: Some of Italy’s top scientists are appealing to politicians to keep the Ministry of Universities and Research as an independent entity in the country’s new government. “Research and universities deserve a dedicated ministry,” said a collection of the country’s leading researchers in an open letter.

Full story: Italy’s researchers fear ministry merger

Here is the rest of the Italian news this week…

National council joins Bologna in sustainability initiative

More than 30 public and private institutions, including the city of Bologna, Università di Bologna and the National Research Council, have signed an agreement to create a network for sustainable development. The SmartBo network aims to share experiences, policies and best practices to help meet UN targets on sustainable development. The National Research Council says it will seek to apply the results in other parts of Italy.

Barabaschi appointed director-general of Iter

Italian physicist Pietro Barabaschi has been appointed as the next director-general of Iter, an international nuclear fusion research facility. Since 2008, Barabaschi has been head of the Broader Approach programme at Fusion for Energy, the EU organisation responsible for Europe’s contribution to Iter. He has also served twice as acting director of Fusion for Energy.

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Gruppo 2003 warns against rolling dedicated universities and research department into general education ministry

Some of Italy’s top scientists are appealing to politicians to keep the Ministry of Universities and Research as an independent entity in the country’s new government.

“Research and universities deserve a dedicated ministry,” said a collection of the country’s leading researchers in an open letter.

The current ministry was spun out of the Ministry of Education in 2019 and had not existed independently since 2008. It is widely seen in the sector to have brought more focus to the needs of research and universities, under ministers Gaetano Manfredi and then Maria Cristina Messa.

In the wake of last month’s election victory for the right, rumours have begun swirling that the ministry could be merged back into a wider Ministry of Education.

Gruppo 2003, a group of Italy’s most-cited researchers that includes Nobel prizewinner Giorgio Parisi, published their open letter on 3 October warning against such a move.

Outgoing research minister Messa also warned, in an exclusive interview with Research Europe, that a merger would be “the biggest possible mistake” for the next government.

The new parliament elected in the general elections of 25 September has not yet been inaugurated, and the government is in the making.

The Gruppo 2003 letter does not mention specifically any political party, but is clearly aimed at Giorgia Meloni’s right-wing party Fratelli d’Italia (Brothers of Italy), which leads a coalition with Matteo Salvini’s Lega and Silvio Berlusconi’s Forza Italia. The coalition is expected to form the next government in the coming weeks, with Meloni as its prime minister. She would become the first woman PM in Italy’s history.

According to Maria Pia Abbracchio, vice-rector for research at Università Statale di Milano and president of Gruppo 2003, Italy needs a ministry focused specifically on assuring a steady flow of funding for research, and ideally also “a National Research Agency devoted to the transparent and independent management of calls for research funding”.

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Italy’s outgoing research minister talks Covid-19 recovery, EU funding and concerns for the future

Maria Cristina Messa would readily admit that she did not manage to solve all of the problems of Italy’s research community. But, as she prepares to leave her job as the country’s minister for universities and research, ousted by the latest bout of political turmoil in Italy, Messa has many reasons to pride herself on what she has managed to change.

For years, Italian researchers have complained about inadequate funding levels and deep-rooted problems with the ways that R&D is managed in their country.

The pandemic piled on additional pressures and, back in February 2021, Italy was still reeling from the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic and the sudden collapse of its coalition government under former prime minister Giuseppe Conte. Brought in by Conte’s successor, Mario Draghi, Messa saw two main challenges awaiting her when she took up her role that year. 

“Draghi’s government was given two mandates: dealing with Covid-19, and making sure that the funds of the national plan for recovery and resilience coming from the EU were properly invested and were accompanied by needed reforms,” she tells Research Europe.

Draghi resigned in July, leading to the 25 September election in which the rightwing coalition led by Giorgi Meloni’s Brothers of Italy party won a clear majority. Now, as Messa looks to return to academia following Draghi’s fall, she believes she has successfully met the challenges set during her 18 months in post.

Big investments

Messa has certainly had a lot to deal with during her time in the job. She was in a good position when she was picked by Draghi to become part of his highly unusual government, filled with an unprecedented mixture of politicians spanning the political spectrum, as well as “technical” figures not affiliated to any political party, such as Draghi and Messa herself. 

A medical doctor with a specialisation in nuclear medicine and a good track record in research, she was vice-president of the National Research Council from 2011 until 2015. Messa then became rector of the University of Milano-Bicocca from 2013 until 2019, when she also sat on the governing board of the National Conference of University Rectors (Crui) with responsibility for research.

When asked for her main accomplishments during her time as research minister, Messa shows no hesitation: she cites the actions that made it possible to allocate the unprecedented billions for renovating and enriching Italy’s infrastructure for research and innovation that come from the EU’s Covid recovery fund. 

Italy has received a staggering €68.9 billion in grants and €122.6bn in loans under the NextGenerationEU programme, which was set up to help EU countries recover from the pandemic. The recovery and resilience plan for Italy that accompanied the cash is made up of 132 separate investments and 58 reforms.

It was one of the largest amounts of money received by any EU nation. Among other things, that money is supposed to make sure that Italy invests in the right infrastructure and research to take advantage of the digital revolution and prepare for the impacts of climate change.

Of over €191bn allocated to Italy, €11bn has specifically been set aside to fund research and innovation.

More than €4bn has been allocated to pay for five brand-new national R&D centres, 12 “innovation ecosystems” across Italy and 14 “extended partnerships” for basic research between academia, companies and research institutes.

Joined-up policymaking

Messa also highlights an agreement between the Ministry of Universities and Research and the Ministry of Industry and Economic Development to coordinate for the first time on policies and investments for basic and industrial research, which she describes as “a revolution”, as it will likely lead to increased transparency and joined-up thinking on the allocation of funds.

She feels confident that these achievements in boosting Italian research and innovation will not stop when she departs her role. “Before the end of September, the whole process will be finalised, and there is no risk that it could be undone,” she says.

But Messa points out that the long-term benefits of these achievements will only be realised if adequate public funding for research and innovation continues to be made available beyond the short-term cash investment of the recovery fund.

When the Draghi government lost parliamentary support in the summer, Messa was working on ways to make sure that the money available through several national science and research funds would not plunge following the recent record levels of investment through the EU recovery scheme.

Earlier this year, she tasked a group of experts led by the director of the Scuola Normale di Pisa, Luigi Ambrosio, to create a long-term strategy for fundamental research, looking beyond Italy’s National Recovery and Resilience Plan, which was created using funds from the EU’s recovery programme.

They called for public spending on R&D to reach at least 0.7 per cent of GDP by 2027-28. Announcing the plan, they argued that this would mean Italy would end up “avoiding the risk of an only temporary increase [in funding] between 2023 and 2026, and a subsequent return to the previous, inadequate, levels of expenditure”.

Eye on the future

Deeper changes in Italy’s research system have also been accelerated under Messa.

Efforts to complete a long-running process that would introduce an evaluation of research after government funds are allocated have gained ground. Researchers in Italy had originally asked for a national research agency to be established. But after the country’s Ministry of Education, Universities and Research was split in 2019, then-research minister Gaetano Manfredi decided that the new Ministry for Universities and Research would manage the would-be agency’s tasks itself.

Messa has continued that work with the creation of a new unit inside the research ministry, known as the Struttura tecnica di valutazione dei progetti di ricerca (Technical structure for the evaluation of research projects); its staff of 40 will be focused on the evaluation of research projects, both before they start and after they are completed.

Messa says that the new unit “will have the role that was initially attributed to the National Research Agency, which became less necessary when the Ministry of Universities and Research was created, independent from the Ministry of Education”. Here she has concerns for the future, though: “Of course, the risk for research to lose ground is there.”

The law establishing the new unit was approved in July, and its activities should start before the next government is sworn in later in the autumn. 

When it comes to her thoughts on what the next government should—or should not—do for research, she is forthright. “The biggest mistake of the next government would be to put universities and research back into one ministry together with education, like it was in the past,” she says. “This would make research disappear both in terms of relevance and in terms of investments, while it should be a priority instead.”

Back to the lab

The political campaigning for the election has not left Messa feeling confident about the prioritisation of research.

“I wish there was more awareness on the importance of science and research,” she says. But in the campaign she feels they were only mentioned “in terms of oversimplistic slogans”. 

For herself though, a political career is in the past and Messa is returning to academia. She has plans to teach and conduct biomedical research at the University of Milano-Bicocca, where she was rector until 2019.

There, she will see first-hand the impact of the changes she has overseen—and how many of Italy’s problems she has managed to solve.   

Maria Cristina Messa’s CV

2021-present: Italian research minister.

2013-19: Rector of the University of Milano-Bicocca.

2012-13: Director of the Department of Health Sciences at the University of Milano-Bicocca.

2011-15: Vice-president of Italy’s National Research Council (CNR).

2005-12: Director of nuclear medicine at the San Gerardo Hospital in Monza. 

This article also appeared in Research Europe

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This week: rising energy bills and Human Technopole priorities

In depth: After a highly unusual period of steady improvement in its fortunes, Italy’s research community may soon be cast back into its more traditional status of uncertainty over the future.

Full story: Italy’s researchers fear they must say goodbye to stability

Also from Research Professional News this week

Survey highlights Italy’s PhD problems—Country has few PhD holders compared with other nations and many do not want academic careers

Here is the rest of the Italian news this week…

Universities face doubling of energy bills

The amount spent on energy by Italy’s public higher education and research institutions is projected to double from 2021 to 2022, according to the report of a research ministry taskforce. Self-production of energy currently accounts for 2 per cent of use, but with the right incentives might reach 10 per cent in the next few years, the ministry predicts. Institutions are being invited to draft three-year energy plans and to consider changes that can be implemented in the immediate, medium and longer term.

Human Technopole ‘should focus on omics and big data’

The Human Technopole research centre on the outskirts of Milan should focus its shared research infrastructure on the ‘omics’ domain (including genomics, proteomics and metabolomics), as well as on imaging and on data handling and analysis, according to a public consultation on the needs of Italian life scientists. The consultation was held by the research ministry in two phases between July 2021 and May 2022, with the participation of 167 institutional stakeholders and 1,624 researchers. The full report is available on the ministry website.

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General election has brought back uncertainty to academics after a period of improvements

After a highly unusual period of steady improvement in its fortunes, Italy’s research community may soon be cast back into its more traditional status of uncertainty over the future.

In July, Mario Draghi (pictured) stepped down as prime minister after losing the support of parliament. He has continued since then as caretaker prime minister, but a general election is due to be held on 25 September.

Draghi’s government, which came to power in February 2021, has been praised by many in the sector for bringing improvements in the resources available for research, and for implementing clear policies allowing universities and institutes to plan ahead.

While many academics think it is too early to brace for impact, it is very hard to imagine that things will be rosy for the research community after the election.

EU Covid funds

Maria Cristina Messa, the departing minister for universities and research, managed to complete the procedures needed to allocate huge amounts of money from the EU Covid recovery plan in her short tenure. In the next three years, that should allow for a makeover of the national research infrastructure, for PhD programmes to be funded, for research and administrative staff to be hired, and for research money to be distributed annually via several competitive calls.

For activities to be implemented up to 2026, Italy asked for €122.6 billion in loans from the EU—the maximum amount available—in addition to €68.9bn in grants. Of these, the government has allocated €30.9bn to research and education, with research getting roughly €11.4bn and education €19.4bn.

Complying with the EU administrative rules required an unprecedented effort both at the research ministry and in the public and private institutions invited to submit proposals for the several rounds of calls.

These calls distributed €1.6bn for the creation of five national centres for research and innovation in strategic areas: big data, gene therapies, biodiversity, sustainable mobility and agriculture.

They also provided €1.6bn for 10 basic research projects involving “extended partnerships” between universities and public and private research centres; €1.3bn to set up and strengthen 12 “innovation ecosystems for sustainability” and “territorial leaders of R&D”; and €1.6bn to integrate, renew and enrich the existing network of research infrastructures.

Each proposal required a complex work of patience, with the rules specifying that at least 40 per cent of the resources had to be assigned to less developed southern regions (Abruzzo, Apulia, Basilicata, Calabria, Campania, Molise, Sardinia, Sicily) and at least 40 per cent of hired staff had to be women. Applicants also had to make sure their projects would pass all the many qualitative and quantitative thresholds detailed in the small print.

Evaluation issues

During Messa’s reign, more funding was also allocated for research grants, after many years in which calls that were supposed to be annual sometimes skipped one or more years and amounts allocated were often massively inadequate to meet demand.

The flow of cash was welcomed by the research community, but the latest call assigning €420 million through the Prin scheme for projects of relevant national interest, published in a rush on 15 September, baffled many researchers.

The problem is that applicants to the previous round in March still do not know whether their projects will be funded or not, and they are now invited to submit a different project.

The results of the previous round’s evaluation are not yet ready because the new administrative infrastructure in charge of selecting proposals is still in the making: one of the latest pieces of the jigsaw was the creation in recent weeks of a specific unit for research evaluation within the research ministry, with a staff of 40 that for the first time ever will also evaluate funded projects after the fact.

On paper, this is supposed to help reassure politicians and the public that the huge investment for which Italy chose to get into such a huge debt with the EU will have a huge, positive and long-lasting effect.

Optimists say that despite the fall of the Draghi government, all the ingredients for success are still there, but realists will be watching the first moves of the next government closely. Its composition might provide an important clue: the confirmation of a ministry of universities and research, independent of wider education, would be a positive sign.

Any reunification of these ministries might mean that research goes back to the bottom of the priorities of Italian politics, and uncertainty will be well and truly back to stay.

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Country has few PhD holders compared with other nations and many do not want academic careers

The perilous state of Italy’s PhD population has been highlighted by the AlmaLaurea group of universities, with data revealing that the country lags other nations and that many of those who have studied there do not want academic careers.

According to the Interuniversity Consortium AlmaLaurea, a group of 45 Italian universities, just 0.5 per cent of the working age population has a PhD in Italy. This puts the country far behind rival nations, albeit above Turkey, Latvia and Mexico.

At a meeting on 13 September at the University of Camerino, AlmaLaurea’s director Marina Timoteo presented the data from surveys of 5,250 PhD holders.

Almost two PhDs out of three said they were happy with their experience and would repeat it if they had the chance to restart from scratch. But among those who would change, more than half would choose a programme abroad.

Only by two out of five (39.1 per cent) of PhDs wanted academic careers, with others looking for a highly skilled salaried position in the public or private sector and others looking to pursue research outside of academia.

In recent years the absolute number of new doctorate positions in Italy has decreased, dropping from 10,000 in 2017 to almost 8,000 in 2021, mostly because of the elimination of unpaid roles.

There is now a flood of new PhD positions being opened, with resources coming from the EU Covid recovery fund. But in a reality check, the AlmaLaurea report suggests only 90.9 per cent of PhD holders have a job one year after receiving the title.

A version of this article also appeared in Research Europe

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This week: an increase in basic university funding and a strategy for fundamental research

In depth: A new scheme that will allocate €220 million to encourage 700 young Italian researchers abroad to move back to Italy was launched in August, as part of a €600m programme funded by the EU’s Covid-19 recovery fund.

Full story: Scheme to counter Italian brain drain draws exclusion complaint

Here is the rest of the Italian news this week…

Universities budget up 3% for 2022

Italy’s universities and research ministry has allocated more than €8.6 billion for the annual “ordinary” fund for universities (Fondo di Finanziamento Ordinario) for 2022, which is an increase of 3 per cent on 2021. A significant part of the increase is earmarked for specific uses, but the ministry said the 80 per cent share of the overall fund universities can use at their discretion has also increased, and that no university will receive less money than last year. A further increase was announced for the next five years, but will be subject to approval by the government that will be formed after the 25 September elections.

Experts publish strategy for fundamental research

An expert group convened by the universities and research minister Maria Cristina Messa and led by the director of the Scuola Normale di Pisa university, Luigi Ambrosio, has published a strategy for fundamental research in Italy. The strategy says the government should keep public R&D funding at at least 0.7 per cent of GDP, starting in 2027-28, to help sustain extraordinary programmes supported by the EU Covid-19 recovery fund. The report was made public just two days before the government led by prime minister Mario Draghi lost the support of the parliament.

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