French scientists urge reform

At the end of a landmark meeting last week, almost a thousand scientists, politicians, and economists gave their support to proposals for how the French government should reform the country's research environment.Jacques Fossey, secretary general of the French National Union of Scientific Researchers (SNCS), called the meeting in the southeastern city of Grenoble "the main event for scientists in France in decades." "Grenoble gathered together scientists from all over the country. We put forward 24 proposals that we think the government needs to implement if the research environment is to improve," Fossey told The Scientist.The meeting was the culmination of a year-long campaign by scientists, angry at government cuts to science. Proposals were linked to issues such as funding and reforming research institutions.Fossey said that the government had not appreciated the "level of need" in the French research system, and especially the problems of young researchers. "This meeting was an important step to making our problems visible. Now, we have to go a step further and be sure that the government will implement most of our proposals," he said. "We are cautious because we want to see what sums the government really does invest because the ministers who now back us might not be there in a year's time."Etienne-Emile Baulieu, president of the prestigious French Academy of Science, said the proposals he presented at Grenoble, as part of the Committee of Initiatives and Propositions, were the result of length consultations within the French scientific community. "Thousands have contributed, mainly by E-mail, from universities and research centers all over France," Baulieu told The Scientist. "The movement has been an extraordinary phenomenon, involving students, Nobel Prize winners, presidents of universities, and technicians. It is a movement from the bottom up. Everyone at Grenoble voted for the proposals, and no one voted against them."Baulieu, who volunteered to act as an intermediary in the "rupture" between the government and the scientists that took place this year, also helped in June to prepare a draft budget for 2005 that was approved by the government. "We asked for an extra billion, and we got it, though the money is not distributed as we would like," Baulieu said. "As president of the academy, who still works at the bench, I know the situation of scientists and the reality of science in action."One of the main proposals put forward, Baulieu said, is to enhance the role universities play in research. "In France, universities don't practice research that much, unlike, say, the UK. But if research is to improve in France, we must get the universities more involved," Baulieu said.The scientists also called for the creation of a "high council" to advise the government on science. "Research should not be part of a specialized ministry. It involves all ministries from industry to health and agriculture. We think that a body of scientists should advise the government on strategic, long-term decisions," said Baulieu.Anxious to quell the rebellion by scientists, Francois D'Aubert, minister for research, assured scientists at Grenoble that the government would use their proposals as the basis for new legislation to overhaul the research system that is to be presented to the French National Assembly in spring.D'Aubert pledged that the upcoming "great law" on research would give scientists "the means, structures, and forms of organization to reverse... the relative decline" of French research.The conflict between the government and scientists concerning the level of funding, as well as poor working conditions, especially of young scientists, has spawned several movements, such as "Let's Save Research." The effectiveness of its nationwide campaign helped persuade the French government to reverse spending cuts in the science budget for the first time in years this autumn.

French scientists urge reform

A major meeting of scientists, politicians, and economists backs 24 concrete proposals

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