Science|Business • 22nd May 2024

Polish Academy of Sciences reform sparks worries about autonomy of its institutes

The reform of the Polish Academy of Sciences could impact the autonomy of its institutes, diminishing their decision-making power, warns Przemysław Urbańczyk, professor of archaeology at Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński University in Warsaw.

Urbańczyk’s concerns are that under the draft reform, proposed by the academy in March last year, an elected group of scientists and scholars from its institutes, known as the Corporation of the Academy, will have too much power, while the directors of the institu

Science|Business • 18th October 2023

Poland’s election result sparks hope for brighter future for science and research

Academics in Poland say the election result could help research and higher education move towards a greater degree of academic freedom, better dialogue with the scientific community, and a gradual resolution of enduring problems in the sector.

Poland’s right-wing Law and Justice party (PiS) won the most votes for a single party, but failed to secure a parliamentary majority in the high stakes parliamentary election on Sunday. Opposition leader Donald Tusk told supporters that “this is the end o

Science|Business • 18th October 2023

Audit uncovers ‘corruption mechanisms’ at Polish research funding agency

Poland’s Supreme Audit Office (NIK) has reported finding “numerous irregularities” in the distribution of grants by the National Centre for Research and Development (NCBR) in a fast-track call for digital innovation that was co-funded by the EU.

The report says the irregularities “indicate the existence of corruption mechanisms in NCBR” and called the audit results “alarming”, pointing to an “enormous problem related to the reliability of spending EU funds.”

A day before auditor’s report was p

Science|Business • 20th September 2023

Poland signals stellar ambitions as it increases its contribution to the European Space Agency

Poland is set to drastically increase its contribution to the European Space Agency (ESA) in an attempt to secure a more ambitious role in international space projects. The decision came as a pleasant surprise for the industry, but there are concerns about the absence of clear objectives and whether the higher level of funding will be maintained.

The Polish contribution to ESA for 2023-2025 was initially set at €132 million, of which €81 million is the basic subscription and €51 million was des

Science|Business • 21st June 2023

Widening countries call for greater say in reforming research assessment

Addressing uneven research performance in the EU is among the key objectives of moves to reform research assessment, which has the overall aim of replacing the focus on metrics such as citations and number of papers published, with criteria that better reflect research impact.

Now, researchers in Widening countries are asking for a bigger say in how the reform is shaped.

Martin Bareš, Rector of Masaryk University, says that while the reform clearly reflects the expectations of the global scien

Science|Business • 12th June 2023

Academics in Poland raise the alarm over latest threat to academic freedom

Academics in Poland have hit out against a government decision to withhold funding for the Institute of Philosophy and Sociology of the Polish Academy of Sciences, after the renowned Holocaust scholar and Director of the Polish Centre for Holocaust Research, Barbara Engelking said Polish Jews received little support from their fellow citizens in the Second World War.

The Institute lost approximately €180,000 after Engelking’s remarks were criticised by the education and science minister Przemys

Science|Business • 24th May 2023

Widening countries applaud the contribution centres of excellence make to bridging the innovation divide

One of the key moves to address long-standing disparities in R&D performance across European countries is Teaming for Excellence, introduced as part of the Widening scheme under the Horizon 2020 programme, to set up and foster centres of excellence in Widening countries through strategic partnerships with leading institutions abroad.

Almost a decade after the initiative launched, stakeholders from research, industry, regional authorities, national governments and EU institutions gathered at a r

Science|Business • 10th May 2023

Grassroots push to connect scientists in eastern Europe hits cash hurdles

In the face of decades of brain drain, grassroots movements have sprung up in eastern Europe to help scientists who have moved abroad stay in touch and encourage more international researchers to come and work in the region. But while foundations and private companies have stepped up in support, government backing has been sporadic or non-existent.

As one case in point, the Czexpats in Science initiative, launched in 2018 by three Czech scientists working in the UK and Germany, has expanded and

Science|Business • 30th March 2023

Stop gap measures put in place to help Ukrainian scientists are maturing into closer ties

The Foundation for Polish Science (FNP) recently extended its For Ukraine programme, launching a third call, open for proposals until 4 April from pairs of scientists working in tandem, one from Ukraine who can be living anywhere, and one employed in Poland.

Originally, the Foundation planned to hold only two calls, but with the level of interest exceeding expectations, decided to continue the programme, which is supporting research in humanities and social sciences, with a particular focus on

Science|Business • 8th March 2023

Police in Poland launch investigation into fast-track grants disbursed by national research funding agency

Poland’s anti-corruption bureau (CBA) has launched an investigation into grants distributed by the National Centre for Research and Development (NCBR), after two single companies were due to get a full 22% of the funding available under a fast-track call for digital innovations.

NCBR denied any wrongdoing and said it will fully cooperate with CBA. It also stressed the funds have not been distributed yet, and that financing can be withdrawn at any stage of a project’s implementation if there are

Science|Business • 25th January 2023

Poland to rework research assessment scheme

In 2018, Poland adopted the Constitution for Science, a major reform of the higher education system aiming to bring it closer to the EU standards. As part of the reform, new criteria for research assessment were introduced.

That led on to the publication of the results of the first assessment carried out in the four-year cycle in August 2022. The standing of each discipline in each institution was evaluated on three major criteria: the quality of research output; securing external research fund

Science|Business • 30th November 2022

Poland’s sweeping science reform gets mixed reviews

When Poland adopted Constitution for Science in 2018 the aim was to bring the country’s higher education system more in line with EU standards and position universities to be more successful in EU R&D funding programmes. Apart from changing how the research budget is distributed, the reform brought in new criteria for research evaluation, putting a greater emphasis on publication in international journals.

The evaluation system uses three major criteria for research assessment: the quality of t

Science|Business • 27th October 2022

Poland risks slowdown in R&D and innovation, as the dispute over EU funds lengthens

Academics in Poland are starting to question how the dispute with the EU over access to €35.4 billion from the pandemic recovery will impact research, investment in innovation, and industry/academic collaborations at national and international levels.

Poland has been waiting months for money it is due to receive to help rebuild the economy after the COVID-19 pandemic. But Brussels says it will not be forthcoming until the country implements “milestones” that include reforms to the judicial syst

Science|Business • 9th September 2022

Academics in eastern Europe warn of risks to academic freedom

University heavyweights in Hungary and Poland are continuing to decry curbs on academic freedom, as alarm bells sound about increasing restrictions on universities across the EU.

Hungary is viewed as the most extreme case of an EU member state limiting academic freedom, as highlighted in the 2018 ruling by the European Court of Justice that the government violated EU law when the Central European University (CEU) was pressured into moving from Budapest to Vienna.

The situation in Poland is see