They created a federated network of institute directors to resist the attack on science

The meeting, which just took place in the Cero+Infinito Building of the Faculty of Exact and Natural Sciences of UBA, brought together about Three hundred directors of scientific institutions from all over the country They had already tried – unsuccessfully – to convince Conicet's new president, Daniel Salamon, to grant them an interview.

Without distinguishing partisan references, they shared impressions of the current situation and the diagnosis was unanimous: the lack of information and what is there, contradictory and worrying signs for the present and future of Conisit and other research organizations, and ambitious programs continue. . As a result of this meeting, A network has been created to resist the attack that endangers domestic science through sabotage and funding cuts.

“We were directors of different scientific institutions, mostly from Conisit, but also from other research organizations and university directors,” he says. Valeria Levy, Vice Dean of Exactas/UBA, a faculty with 19 institutes and 10% of researchers that is the backbone of the scientific system-. We asked Salamon for an interview to tell us about the projects and so we could exchange opinions. We promised this for Thursday and stopped it the previous Wednesday. We insisted and were never able to meet. Many began to suggest that it was necessary for us to come together to find out what was happening, and that is what led to the organization of this meeting.”

The first goal was to share information, which was sparse and confusing. “Each one had a different piece that they got from some contact – Levy says -. In the first part we “cleaned up” what was known and then two things were decided: to form a network of directors of institutes that would allow us to make it flow, to democratize it and, on the other hand, to respond more quickly to these attacks against science and technology.”

“The meeting was held within a week,” says George Geffner, senior researcher at Conicet and interim director of the Institute for Biomedical Research in Retroviruses and AIDS (Inbirs). We were counting the exact numbers, however We estimate that between 65 and 70% of Conisit Institute directors participated. It is clear that the reason is the massive adaptation plan that will affect the entire scientific sector.“.

A second meeting is already scheduled for next Tuesday, also in the Cero + Infinito building, Members of this network decided to draft a petition that they would try to hand-deliver to Daniel Salamon, Chief of Staff Nicholas Bosse, on whom almost all of Minset's former districts had come to depend, and the new Secretary for Innovation and Science. and Technology, Alejandro Cosentino. They also plan to communicate with representatives and senators from different blocs, with national universities, with various unions and with researchers from outside the country to clarify the procedures.

The document summarizes the pressing problems facing Conicet, One of its scaffolds is the structure of highly trained administrative staff from which it has already been decided to fire 50 people (so-called “Article 9”).. “For the rest of the administrative staff, who have a contract that is renewed annually and ends in December, they have postponed the expiration of the contract to March and we have no guarantee that we will be able to continue,” Givner highlights; “It will depend on an assessment that is not well defined.”

Another very important issue is human resources training, which is done through doctoral scholarships. The names of the winners of the competition to be held in 2023 should already be published on the Conicet website as of the 12th of this month.But despite being awarded through a highly selective procedure, nothing has ever been revealed.

“PhD scholarships are The heart of Conisit, because it is the nest where new researchers are trained -Geffner explains-. We also do not guarantee the inclusion of new researchers. There is a competition that has already been evaluated, the winners have been notified and there is still no solution, we do not know when it will take effect, when they will enter the race. On the other hand, There is a paralysis of all subsidies that support research projects, some of which are national, others rely on international cooperation.. The Agency for Scientific and Technological Promotion, under the pretext of having no authority, does not transfer funds. “Funding suddenly stopped.”

“What was good for me, almost historic, was the number of people who came from all over the country,” Givner adds. And We had no scientific field left to cover: there were microscopic, social, and engineering fields. This makes the network richer, because the debate between useful science and useless science is outdated, it is about defending science as a whole in the event of major crises. It was a very nice meeting, where various proposals to resist the amendment were considered in relation to Conicet, as well as other scientific and technological organizations. Obviously one is concerned about the young researchers who are being left behind due to budget cuts, but what is even more worrying deep down is that without research there is no future for the country.

Levy concludes:In the previous administration, apart from coincidences, there was a certain amount of predictability. You can agree or not, but you saw the agenda. There is no agenda here. Not even the campaign speech about creating useful science that solves people's problems, or about the interaction between science and private companies. The project aims to dismantle and reduce what they consider to be costs, which for us is an investment“.