Science funding to stagnate

Funding for scientific research and development will be curtailed in the government's budget for the next three years, a blow to research institutes that are already crippled by sparse funding and the bureaucratic maze required to secure it.

According to Scientific Secretary Marek Blažka of the Research and Development Council, the government's budget for the sciences will likely remain unchanged for the next three years, remaining at this year's level of 24.8 billion Kč ($1.3 billion). The council - and scientists - had originally counted on a rise of 2 billion Kč in funding for sciences next year, similar to the 8 percent funding increase in research and development from last year. According to Jiří Ullschmied, head of the department of laser plasma at the Institute of Plasma Physics of the Czech Academy of Sciences, most laboratories could not survive without ample funding from the government. Unfortunately, he said, anxiety over funding is common in the scientific community, where laboratories are forced to vie for increasingly limited funds from a government that favors applied research that yields tangible, but short-term, results.

"We are afraid that we are facing a severe cut in finances due to the system of dividing money between favored institutions," he said. "But the academy has faced such severe pressure many times before."

Ullschmied's laboratory receives about 25 million Kč per year in grants to work with Czech and international scientists in the development of plasma-based lasers, employing about 100 people at any given time and completing an average of four projects per year. Fortunately, the institute is part of a research center, making it eligible to receive grants from the Education Ministry in support of national research centers. Scientific funding is never without worries, however, even under such favorable circumstances, Ullschmied said.

"This is the last year of our project's grant, and we don't know what we will do if the funding doesn't continue," he said. "It's the same situation everywhere. There's always a risk you may not get money."

Discrepancies

Ullschmied has lobbied for reforms in the funding system, specifically the establishment of more direct government funds for a national scientific infrastructure to include a mix of large and small laboratories doing both long- and short-term research. It's a goal that's also supported by Václav Pačes, the former head of the Czech Academy of Sciences, who pointed out discrepancies in the choice of recipients for state and European funding.

"The Czech Republic should, above all, introduce a quality method to judge scientific projects and choose the best projects and institutes to receive funds. As of now, the opposite is the case," he said.

Pačes pointed out that applied research is most likely to receive the majority of funds, though "applied research often can't even be considered actual research."

"Just as anywhere else in the world, public funds should be mostly, if not exclusively, used to finance fundamental research," he said. "Applied research should be paid for by private investors."

Radek Ležatka, a spokesman for the Finance Ministry, said the budget for the next few years has not been set in stone, and adjustments are still a possibility. Furthermore, he stressed the importance of scientific research and development, and said the funding numbers may be deceiving. While the increases may not apply, the fact that funding will remain at current levels is something in itself, he said, given the current economy.

"Because research and development is one of the priorities of the government, the total expenditures on it should probably stagnate while other expenditures of the state budget are designed to be reduced," he said.

The Czech Science Foundation is the organization most directly responsible for distributing funds to laboratories throughout the Czech Republic. Tomáš Kopřiva, the foundation's office director, said he and his colleagues field approximately 3,000 funding requests per year. The funds are distributed without preference for certain fields, but he admitted that, due to recent changes in funding laws, the foundation is dealing with fewer institutions that can grant funds. The number was halved, from 22 to 11 over the past year. While the number of applicants has increased by 50 to 100 each year, the funding increase has not kept pace with demand, he said.

"We are still discussing it with the government council, but, for the next three years, there is the possiblity that funding for the Czech Science Foundation will only slightly increase," he said.

'Tight-fisted'

Czech scientists complain that the government's tight-fisted grant system has kept Czech science at a level well below the European average. Kopřiva said funds were indeed limited, but the country has done well for its size.

"Our sources are limited in comparison to the UK or Germany, but, relatively, and with respect to our population, we are doing well," he said.

Simply doing well isn't good enough for many young, ambitious scientists, however. Pačes said the country is suffering from a scientific brain drain just at the time when the future of Czech scientific research looks most promising. "Many up-and-coming scientists who we hoped would be very successful in bringing Czech science forward are leaving to work abroad," he said.

"The biggest problem is that the Research and Development Council has suggested a cut of the Academy of Sciences budget by 45 percent in the years 2010 and 2012. It is grossly irresponsible and, most of all, unjustified," he added.

Stephan Delbos can be reached at
sdelbos@praguepost.com