Serbia has embarked on a comprehensive overhaul of its research system after a decade of stagnation.
On 21 June, the country launched its first call under a new research fund intended to help modernise its R&D system, while earlier in the month the government introduced a law that would decouple researcher salaries from project grants.
Most researchers in Serbia still live and work on a funding allocation from the last major national call for projects, held in 2010. To avoid job losses, some say the research ministry has been approving almost every project application regardless of quality.
“It was almost impossible to carry out a quality selection,” Vladimir Popović, state secretary for science, said in parliament on 17 June. “If somebody’s project didn’t pass, they lost their personal income, too.”
If the law is approved by parliament, institutes will get funding for overheads and basic salaries, and the best scientists should be able to get more funding through competitive grants.
Aleksandar Bogojević, director of the Institute of Physics Belgrade, says the law “changes many key aspects” of how Serbian research is run, and that he supports it because it aims to “strengthen the leading edge”.
But the reform initially faced strong criticism from some researchers, who claimed it would lead to funding cuts, lower salaries and hundreds of job losses among young scientists at universities who are excluded from institutional funding.
Most of these apprehensions have been addressed through revisions, Bogojević says. “Rather than firing young researchers, everything being done is towards hiring new people.”
The pilot call from the new Science Fund of the Republic of Serbia will provide €200,000 grants to young researchers, allocating €6 million over two years. A larger follow-up call is expected in the autumn. But much of the detail of the new rules is left for future bylaws, and fears about salary cuts remain.
Popović said that institutional funding needs to be set low enough that researchers are motivated to apply for project grants but high enough that they can live on their salary alone. Some also fear that the competitive funding will go to researchers with the best connections rather than the best ideas.
Milan Ćirković, a researcher at the Astronomical Observatory of Belgrade, described Serbian research funding as having been in a “state of emergency”. The revised law is an improvement, he said, but there is still uncertainty about the fate of young researchers. “All in all, confusion continues.”
This article also appeared in Research Europe