Research funding news from abroad
Turns out Canada’s not the only country wrestling with the role of research funding in our unpredictable economic climate. Today’s issue of Nature has two news stories from Europe. The first describes an outcry from researchers in the United Kingdom after 106-million UK pounds ($186.5-million Cdn) was redirected from the seven granting agencies that fund basic, undirected research towards ”key areas of economic potential”. This story parallels trends we’ve seen in Canadian research funding, and the reactions are much the same: “If it continues, it could undermine the real worth of basic science in Britain, adds Martin Rees, president of the Royal Society.”
Another news piece describes the state of research funding in the recent Austrian budget. The Austrian Academy of Sciences, which runs 33 research institutes, is getting a 2% rise in its funding levels, but due to new initiatives, will still need to make cuts at many of its institutes. Furthermore, the FWF, Austria’s principal funding agency, had its budget cut by 18%. The FWF director seemed pleased with the decision, probably due to the uncertainty caused by earlier Austrian government musings that it would cut research funding by as much as 40%.
No doubt all these governments are completely annoyed by Barack Obama and his grandstanding for science.
