The National Agency for the Promotion of Research, Technological Development and Innovation (R&D&i Agency), part of the Ministry of Science and Technology of the Nation, has announced that no new calls will be opened for scientific research projects until the end of the year. “We have no funds,” justified its president Alicia Caballero.
In a meeting with representatives of science and technology from national universities within the National Interuniversity Council, Caballero said that only “what is already signed” will be paid, referring to the funds that were allocated under the administration of Alberto Fernández in 2023 – excluding those of 2022. For 2025, there are also no certainties; the government will decide “depending on the availability of funds.”
In addition, Caballero indicated that all scientific and technological research projects (PICT) and scholarships awarded will be reviewed and that the grants that will be paid will not comply with the MPV clause, which allows budgets to be updated due to inflation due to lack of funds; this despite the fact that Knight herself recognized the validity of the clause. “We will review everything,” the official said.
The R&D&I Agency functions as a link between the science and production sectors, being responsible for managing scientific and technological projects capable of providing innovative solutions to the specific demands of productive activity and industry.
Already in February, the Chamber of Deputies had submitted a request for a report to the Executive Power on the situation of the Agency, in the face of the paralysis in the execution of funds, which represent less than 0.01% of the total managed by the Agency. government. The document was drafted by Radical Evolution MP Danya Tavella and was signed by 13 other legislators from different blocs.
Federico Ariel, the scientist who talks to plants
“The extermination of the scientific and technological system”
The dean of the Faculty of Exact and Natural Sciences of the University of Buenos Aires (UBA), Guillermo Durán, and the vice-dean Valeria Levi signed a statement in which they express that the decisions reported by Caballero “imply, in concrete facts, the suspension of scientific and technological activity at the national level, which will lead to the extermination of the system in a decision without precedent in democracy.”
“We urge national authorities to urgently review these policies, which will significantly condition not only the development of national knowledge but also the future of our country,” they added.
The Argentine Youth Academy (AJA) expressed the same sentiment, stating that the “process of adjustment and destruction of our scientific and technological capacities” is something that “has no precedent since the recovery of democratic life in our country”: “The paralysis of investment in research projects, the poverty of salaries in the sector and, in many cases, the precariousness of the employment of personnel, have triggered a process of mass exodus of young researchers and loss of support and administrative personnel.
“The Ministry of Innovation, Science and Technology has so far executed less than 10% of its annual budget, which is aggravated by the fact that it is a budget extended from 2023, totally devalued,” continues the statement, which also refers to the critical situation that the National Council for Scientific and Technical Research (Conicet) is going through: “It has not integrated new researchers. This situation takes on an even more dramatic nuance given the large number of researchers […] who continue to be denied access to the institution. On the other hand, the number of scholarships awarded, a central tool in the training of young researchers, has been considerably reduced.”
“It hurts us to see hundreds of young people abandoning their scientific careers or emigrating to pursue them. It hurts us to see research groups disappear. It hurts us to see the extent to which the capacities of the national scientific and technological system, central to the tools to contribute to the development of our country, are diminishing,” concludes the text, which urges “the highest national authorities” to “immediately implement the necessary measures to reverse this critical situation.”
AJA statement regarding the very serious situation it is experiencing @agenciaidiar and with it the entire Argentine scientific system.
We invite you to join us by filling out the following form 👇 pic.twitter.com/clyjuyXTHI– Academia Joven Argentina (@AcadJovenAR) August 22, 2024
With information from the periphery.
