Advisers quit over ‘deeply disappointing’ Greek research policy

Several prominent scientists have stepped down from Greece’s National Council for Research, Technology and Innovation (Esetek), citing frustrations with a “fragmented” research system lacking “coordination and strategy”.

The Harvard University biologist Spyros Artavanis-Tsakonas, the advisory body’s former president, the historian Angelos Chaniotis, of the Princeton-based Institute for Advanced Study, and Harvard mathematician Petros Koumoutsakos were among the first resignations, with more expected to follow.

Chaniotis said his resignation arose from a “deep disappointment with the government’s lack of understanding of how basic research works and what it needs”. The government failed to respond to several Esetek recommendations, he said, including the reduction of “bureaucratic procedures” and an increased budget for basic research.

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Esetek further advised the consolidation of research conducted at universities and research institutes, which are currently supervised by different ministries: the Ministry of Education, Religious Affairs and Sports and the Ministry of Development respectively. This recommendation also received no response, Chaniotis said.

“In a small country, the limited resources available for research should be used as part of a national strategy that prioritises specific targets and enhances synergies,” Chaniotis said. At present, he said, “coordination and strategy are hardly possible due to the existence of several ministries that supervise and fund research”. The establishment of a ministry for higher education and research, he said, could resolve this fragmentation.

“You resign when you’re not effective any more, and I don’t think I was very effective at this point,” Artavanis-Tsakonas told Times Higher Education.

“Esetek is only an advisory body, which is OK, but we have zero executive power, we don’t control any funds.”

Describing a “huge problem with bureaucracy” in Greek science, Artavanis-Tsakonas said “more organised, thoughtful policies” were needed. “Greece has huge intellectual capital, but heroic researchers are operating with little money and very unpredictable funding plans.”

The division of responsibility for research across multiple ministries was particularly problematic, he said, considering “traditional barriers that existed between disciplines are disappearing”.

Artavanis-Tsakonas further noted an overemphasis on applied research, to the detriment of basic science. “What Greece does not yet understand is that the mother of all startups is basic research,” he said.

Unlike other advisory bodies such as the National Council of Higher Education (EthAAE), the government is not required to consult Esetek. “Sometimes it requests its opinion, sometimes it ignores it,” Chaniotis said. Esetek was not consulted on major decisions including the establishment of one of the European Union’s AI Factories in Greece, he noted.

In comparison, Chaniotis said, “EthAAE’s opinion is asked for every decision in higher education, from the change of the name of an undergraduate study programme to the establishment of a private university. The Ministry of Education is not obliged to follow its recommendations, but it is obliged to consider them.”

THE approached Greece’s Secretariat for Research and Technology for comment.

emily.dixon@timeshighereducation.com