Scientists linked to some of the most prominent research centers and universities across the country, including Adelino Canário, director of the Center for Sea Sciences in the Algarve, have launched a manifesto asking the Government and Parliament to draw up, « urgently», a medium and long-term strategy for Science in Portugal, which allows overcoming various constraints that the sector currently faces.
In the document, which has already been signed by more than 2 academics, including Manuel Heitor, Minister of Science, Technology and Higher Education, several of the difficulties faced by Portuguese research centers and scientists are pointed out.
“The scientific community feels prevented from realizing its potential, as evidenced by several recent public communications. We already have a considerable critical mass, capable of elevating the country to the highest level on the international map. However, the current panorama of the Science & Technology (S&T) system in Portugal presents structural challenges, which lead to great uncertainty, weariness and frustration, leading us to this action», frame the authors of the manifesto.
The researchers consider it "fundamental and urgent" that the political power guarantees "consistent and transparent funding, with at least an annual competition for projects for all scientific areas", which sets in motion "a "simplex" for science, simplifying platforms, forms, regulations and limiting bureaucratic bottlenecks” and to carry out “a regular and coordinated hiring policy, based on merit and respecting researchers and institutions”.
"It will only be possible to have a modern country, fully integrated into international networks of science, technology and innovation, and to establish ambitious goals for the future, when the foundations and stability of the scientific system are guaranteed", they affirm.
Thus, the signatories of the document ask “the Government and the Assembly of the Republic (AR) to urgently recognize the need to trace a medium and long-term course for Science in Portugal, which in a sustainable way allows us to overcome these bottlenecks and help the our country to advance through science, technology and innovation and to guarantee us the essential foundations of regularity, stability and respect defined above, making these principles inviolable in its science policy.
This Wednesday, the Minister of Finance Mário Centeno defended in the AR that the current Government has made "an enormous investment" in the scientific sector and that there are today more "2000 workers in Science and Technology" than when the PS executive took power .
Before, Manuel Heitor had already pointed the finger at universities, guaranteeing that he has encountered many obstacles to scientific employment within the institutions themselves.
In the case of the University of Algarve, the answer was given in advance, with the opening of a competition to admit «more than 50 doctorates». This procedure, which will be carried out in two phases - in the first, already under way, 28 scientists will be admitted - essentially aims to comply with the Scientific Employment Law, which determines that researchers with precarious contracts who perform permanent functions in an institution must be hired definitively.
The fact that only now the first competitions for admission of research grant holders have been launched was one of the reasons that led researchers and professors from the Algarve university to concentrate this Wednesday in front of the institution's Rectory.
UAlg also guaranteed, in the same note in which it announced the opening of the competition to integrate the scholarship holders, that it recently applied for the competition “Institutional Scientific Employment” of the Foundation for Science and Technology, for the hiring of more young researchers holding doctoral degrees. the objective of “further strengthening this research and teaching capacity”.
Science Manifesto Portugal 2018
This Government's program for Research, Development and Innovation (R&D&I), the commitment to reducing bureaucracy in services and also the initial dialogue promoted by the government team with the scientific community, created a general expectation of a vision of the future that would allow us to overcome the challenges of the system.
These challenges have not been overcome, and there are currently significant obstacles to R&D&I activities; it is urgently necessary to ensure predictability of funding, transparency in the assessment and bet on a dynamic, agile structure that values and respects the merit and autonomy of institutions and individuals.
We focus here on just 3 absolutely structural topics:
Regularity and Transparency in Financing: The management of science and technology in Portugal must comply with the same quality and efficiency criteria required of scientists, namely in transparent, timely and unbureaucratic financial execution, and in the achievement of objectives that should be subject to external evaluation .
It is not possible to schedule R&D&I activities in a framework of lack of multi-year scheduling, unpredictability of funding, growing bureaucracy and systematic change in regulations and forms.
1.1 The effort to increase the financial envelope of the last project competition is commendable, but the scientific community has had two and a half years without competitions for R&D&I projects in all scientific areas and three years without new funding.
If no more tenders are opened until 2020, the system's underfunding and unpredictability situation will only aggravate.
FCT must have its own guaranteed, multi-year and independent budget. There should be at least one project competition per year, as is the case in most EU countries, with a multi-annual calendar, thus ensuring the predictability and sustainability of scientific research in Portugal.
The results must be disseminated simultaneously, within a fixed and short term, without conditioning the evaluation of scientific quality to any other criteria.
Questions of non-eligibility of the proposal must be made known within a maximum period of 3 months, and with the possibility of reformulation by the researcher/institution, thus not making its evaluation impossible.
The evaluation process should be streamlined and it is essential to guarantee the presence of international panels and access to at least 3 international reviewers of recognized merit in the area under evaluation for each proposal.
1.2 The competitions for projects opened by the Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) (whether in all areas of R&D or for specific areas) do not follow a known policy or an announced schedule with time for the scientific community to prepare.
The science strategy must be clear and transparent, and competitions must have advance notice and be open for sufficiently long periods to allow for preparation and the possibility of rational planning of activities.
The timing and prior knowledge of the available budgets for each call are essential for researchers to direct their applications to the times when they are most competitive, thus also reducing the volume of applications per call.
1.3 Systematic changes to procedures, rules, forms and submission platforms are disruptive, represent a huge consumption of time and resources for researchers, institutions and support structures (eg FCT), generating huge ineligible applications and giving rise to complaints from international evaluators.
FCT must assume itself as an exemplary institution in the public sector, following the international examples of similar agencies, in terms of simplification, reduction of bureaucracy and efficiency: the forms/platforms for project submission and evaluation must be simple, easy to use and avoid excess bureaucratization so as not to eliminate or alienate scientists and evaluators, who are critical to the entire S&T process and system. The European Union itself allows the submission of a simple Word or pdf file.
We remember that in the external audit that the FCT requested in 2015 to recommend, among others, the following measures repeated over time by the scientific community: “Improve FCT's administrative and financial autonomy; Set up a multiannual financial program; Streamline processes and procedures; Build up a 'consumer-friendly' organization; Improve the stability and predictability of financial instruments; Strengthen the FCT-Investigator program;”. It is essential to learn from criticism and implement recommendations.
Regular and Unbureaucratic Contracting. In order for Portugal to increase its competitiveness, it needs to value its best scientists and attract the best from abroad, including Portuguese who went abroad with FCT grants, and it is essential to define competitive scientific careers at an international level.
2.1 Recognizing the importance of the principles that governed the creation of Decree-Law 57/2016, of 29 August, amended by Law 57/2017, of 19 July, this initiative generated a lot of arbitrariness and injustice, for example in relation to current FCT researchers , creating a lot of instability and frustration in the community and institutions, by promoting eligibility criteria that have to do mainly with administrative issues.
In the future, processes like this, with great disruptive potential, should be thought of with all relevant communities, including scientists, universities and R&D&I units, in order to find a solution that respects the candidates' merit and can be applied in a way fair and effective, ensuring that available funds are allocated by competition to candidates with the highest scientific merit and for whom both institutions and scientists can prepare in a timely manner.
2.2 In two and a half years, there was only one public tender with a contract for PhD researchers (auxiliary, associate and coordinator) in 2018, with many researchers who remained for many months without knowing whether they would even be able to compete for a salary.
National competitions for research positions must take place annually, with a defined multi-year calendar (at least 5 years), so that everyone can plan their scientific activity and careers.
2.3 The bureaucratization of processes is an obstacle to attracting researchers of greater scientific merit, regardless of their origin.
Take, for example, requirements such as the need for aggregation to be able to apply at the level of Coordinator Researcher (for contracts not covered by the ECIC), equivalences or records of diplomas obtained in foreign universities at the time of application (instead of being requested at the time of signature of the contract) or the strong preference for a full master's degree at the time of applying for doctoral scholarships, and consequent impracticable deadlines between defending the master's degree and applying for doctoral scholarships.
These requirements were introduced without prior notice and have negative implications for the recruitment of the best scientists, who may come from countries where these degrees do not exist or are not valued (in the case of aggregation), and also for the maintenance of excellent scientists who are already in Portugal, who were now forced to run for lower ranks or who could not run.
It is important to note that the FCT puts itself at stake in this process, as it is asking for these proofs from candidates who have already recognized that they have valid PhDs, having funded them in their post-doctoral grants, allowing to supervise students of PhD and even funded as project leaders.
Changes that have immediate consequences should be made with timely and clear notice so that everyone can prepare for them. The procedural requirements during the candidacy must be limited, with timetables and practices aligned with the best international examples, opening the possibility of successful merit candidacies, for the benefit of science and technology carried out in Portugal and of the international competitiveness of the system.
Previous FCT practices should be resumed in which the documentation does not have to be submitted at the application stage, but rather afterwards, ie, at the time of the contract.
Public Contracts Code – CCPs – Excessive bureaucracy applied to research funds, which means that most R&D&I institutions are blocked and unable to purchase the goods, consumables and services they need for their activity.
World-class scientific activity implies the easy and quick acquisition of goods and other highly specialized equipment and services. Decree-Law no. 149/2012 of 12 July repeals no. 3 of article 5 of the CCP, which allowed higher education institutions to make acquisitions, within the scope of the research activity, with exemption from the full application of the public procurement regime. This situation was aggravated by the entry into force, in January of this year, of the revision of the CCP, approved by Decree-Law No. 111-B/2017, of 31 August, by defining very low limits per supplier and at three years , something unique at European level
Without questioning the importance of the CCP in other contexts, it is important to recognize that it does not apply to scientific research, whose activity requires enormous flexibility in acquisitions (it is the results of the experiments carried out that determine what the next experiments will be).
The scientific community cannot compete internationally when its access to acquisitions, which was already complicated and time-consuming, given the country's peripheral location and subject to VAT, becomes increasingly limited and bureaucratic. It should be noted that being subject to this extremely high VAT means that ¼ of the funds raised for research (even abroad) go to the Portuguese state.
These procedures lead to a huge loss of competitiveness and we even run the real risk of not being able to meet deadlines and objectives proposed in the projects, even having to return funds, especially in European H2020 projects. In addition to the loss of competitiveness, these procedures also lead to credibility on the part of Portuguese teams in international consortia, thus reducing Portuguese participation in them in the medium/long term.
It is absolutely necessary to urgently approve an exception regime for scientific research activities, similar to what existed from 2009 to 2012: the initial version of the CCP was amended by Decree-Law No. 278/2009 of 2 October, which , in view of requests from higher education institutions, had given the following wording to paragraph 3 of article 5: “Part II of this code is not equally applicable to the formation of contracts, to be signed by EPE hospitals and by associations of private law that pursue purposes primarily of a scientific and technological nature, as well as, exclusively within the scope of scientific and technological activity, by public higher education institutions and State laboratories”.
NOTE: Following the analysis of the amendment to the Public Contracts Code carried out by Decree Law 33/2018, we found that the changes made are not capable of solving the problem of the various R&D institutions and remain outside the spirit of the European Directive 2014/24 /EU, which in its introduction states that: “It should also be remembered that Member States are free to organize the provision of compulsory social services or other services, such as postal services, either as services of general economic interest or as services of general interest without an economic character, or as a combination of both. It should be clarified that services of general interest without an economic character should not be covered by this Directive” and it is agreed that any R&D activity is a general service without an economic character and that only benefits the country and Europe.
Consequences:
These bottlenecks are having serious consequences in the short, medium and long term for Science in Portugal, generating instability and anxiety throughout the scientific community. We highlight:
Inability to attract the best in the world, with increasing risks of "brain-drain" of our best colleagues and without the ability to "brain-gain", because there are no clear and long-term perspectives, either in terms of financing the activity scientific, either in terms of career or in terms of access to work tools;
The non-regularity of competitions both for scientific projects and for hiring seriously harms not only the community but also the activity of the entire structure, including the Foundation for Science and Technology, which is flooded with applications at a time. that opens a call;
Lack of attractiveness, competitiveness and credibility at an international level, given the growing weight of bureaucracy associated with scientific activities, not only in terms of competitions (scholarships, projects, contracts) but also the entry into force of the new CCP;
Withdrawal of the best international appraisers, mortgaged our future – see 15252/embr.201745611;
Withdrawal from the best scientists and blocking their professional progression based on scientific merit;
Weakening of the national scientific community and institutions, thus putting at risk the possibility of benefiting from external funding opportunities.
Proposals:
A medium-term, multi-annual transversal policy is essential, with a single, coordinated and clear national vision. The recent OECD report states: “Use the Portugal Knowledge and Innovation Strategy to set a predictable funding environment for the nation's higher education, research, and innovation system.”;
The annual project competitions, in all scientific areas, must always be opened on the same date, with results published at once, within deadlines previously stipulated and complied with;
The assessment must be carried out by international panels, with at least 3 international reviewers of recognized merit in the area under assessment, selected taking into account criteria of quality and diversity regarding the institution of origin;
The forms must be simple, easy to use, not only by scientists but also by international reviewers, and must be kept for multi-year periods (eg: NIH R01 grants);
The competitions for scholarships and hiring must be regular, with pluriannual calendars widely publicized, with levels defined exclusively by scientific quality, without restrictions by years of activity or by bureaucratic compliance with recognition or registration of foreign diplomas;
All processes must be streamlined, and the FCT must be a model institution in the public administration: the number of documents to be submitted with the scientific application should be limited, allowing the necessary documentation proof (eg recognition of diplomas) to be made to posteriorly and only in case of approval of the application;
Non-eligibility for procedural reasons should be avoided, creating mechanisms for simplification and notice, so that the scientific merit and relevance of proposals and candidates outweigh bureaucratic issues, giving the researcher/institution the possibility of reformulation, not making it impossible thus the evaluation of the application;
It is urgently necessary to approve a regime of exception to the CCP for research activities - a “simplex” for science -, similar to what happened in the past.
The outlines of the next framework program for science and innovation (FP9-Horizon Europe) are beginning to be drawn, and it is essential to create conditions so that the commitment and quality of science produced in our R&D units can fully benefit from the programs of funding to come.
We therefore ask the Government and the Assembly of the Republic to urgently recognize the need to chart a medium and long-term course for Science in Portugal, which in a sustained way allows us to overcome these bottlenecks and help our country to advance through science, through technology and innovation and guaranteeing us the essential foundations of regularity, stability and respect defined above, making these principles inviolable in its science policy. It will only be possible to realize the dream of a modern country, fully integrated into international networks of science, technology and innovation, and establish ambitious goals for the future when the foundations and its stability are guaranteed.
Proponents
Luís Aguiar-Conraria (EEG, UMinho), Margarida Amaral (Director BioISI, FCUL), Orfeu Bertolami (Chairman DFA/FC, U. Porto), Mónica Bettencourt-Dias (Director IGC), Adelino Canário (Director CCMAR- U. Algarve ), José Luís Cardoso (Director of ICS-U. Lisbon), Elvira Fortunato (Director i3N/NOVA), Joana Gonçalves-Sá (Director PGCD-IGC), António Jacinto (CEDOC Coordinator, Sub-Director NMS/FCM – NOVA) , Marina Costa Lobo (ICS-U. Lisbon), Pedro Magalhães (ICS-U. Lisbon, Infrastructure Director PASSDA), Helder Maiato (I3S), Marta Moita (Deputy Director Champalimaud CU) Maria Mota (IMM Director) , Arlindo Oliveira (IST President), Luis Oliveira e Silva (IST), José Pereira-Leal (CEO Ophiomics; Coordinator of Biodata.pt Infrastructure), António Costa Pinto (ICS-U. Lisbon), João Ramalho-Santos (CNC President , U. Coimbra), Isabel Rocha (NOVA), Raquel Seruca (I3S), Claudio Soares (ITQB NOVA Director), Luís de Sousa (ICS-U. Lisbon), Maria de Sousa (Professor Emeritus of U. Porto), Élio Sucena (FC – U. Lisboa/Deputy Director IGC), Claudio Sunkel (I3S – U. Porto), Nuno Sousa (U. Minho), José Albuquerque Tavares (NovaSBE), António Fernando Tavares (U. Minho), Filipe Teles (U. Aveiro, Pro-rector for Regional Development and City Policy), Jorge Vala (Researcher Emeritus ICS-ULisboa).
Comments