Student - May 14, 2009
PETITION FOR LOW-PAID PORTUGUESE SCIENTISTS
Science in Portugal is burdened by lack of funding and researchers are very badly paid. Student Roberto van Maanen at Van Hall Larenstein, feels for them in their plight and is organizing a petition.
Now that the Portuguese government is allocating research funding for the next five years, Van Maanen’s ex-colleagues are on edge. What with the pressure of the credit crunch, they expect the grant to go down again. So Portuguese researchers are seeking the support of other European educational institutions, by means of a petition. By so doing, they hope to put pressure on their government, says Van Maanen, who is helping here in the Netherlands. ‘Perhaps we should move towards a communal European fund for research’, he suggests. ‘It is peculiar that EU chairman Barosso is full of praise for the scientific research going on in the Netherlands, while scientists in his own country are fobbed off with peanuts.’ / Wim Bras
The petition can be signed at: www.petition online.com/maisbols/petition-sign.html