Dignify the working conditions of researchers and guarantee increasingly stable public funding in R&D&i. This is the request of the scientific community and it aims to comply with the new Law on Science, Technology and Innovation, whose reform project was approved by the Council of Ministers last Friday.
The future law, according to the Minister of Science and Innovation, Diana Morant, provided people who investigate and innovate with more rights and a horizon of stability in their careers. In addition, it reduces administrative burdens, combats the gender gap, encourages the transfer of knowledge to society and companies, and establishes a more agile, participatory and open governance system for all territories. Norma contemplated the creation of the Spanish Space Agency, which will take place in a year.
News of the law
The text incorporates the commitment to leverage public funding for R&D&I of 1,25% of GDP in 2030, which, with the support of the private sector, will legally allow the 3% established by the European Union. The minister has underlined that the system is protected for the future because the Government is already fulfilling that objective.
The regulation introduces reforms aimed at reducing precariousness, giving researchers stability and attracting talent. To this end, a new indefinite contract modality linked to the development of scientific-technical activities is created. Diana Morant has explained that scientific personnel are considered essential and priority, and tend to be an expansive replenishment.
In this case, the minister has recorded that the Government has approved a public job offer for this group, which has exceeded the amount of the zero replacement at rates of 120%: «The new calls will allow that in the next three years 12.000 people are incorporated in an established manner into the public science system».
Morant has also highlighted that the law proposed a new contract of up to six years for postdoctoral researchers, with an intermediate and a final evaluation that would allow them to obtain the new R3 certificate. This certificate favors the consolidation of a public position because a minimum of 25% of them in public research organizations and 15% in universities these researchers.
The rule establishes that they will evaluate and recognize for the first time the merits of research carried out in the public sector and in any university, both in Spain and abroad. In addition, the text includes the figure of the technologist.
Diana Morant has announced that she recognizes herself as a personal health researcher who dedicates 50% of her time to research in hospitals and health centers.
On the other hand, the text gives legal certainty to gender equality. The commitment to equality will be demanded, promoted and rewarded with a special prize for the research and innovation centers of the universities. "We want science of excellence, and there is no scientific excellence if we do not guarantee non-discrimination on the basis of gender", said the minister.
Likewise, the law guaranteed that women and men will have excess permits and that this period does not penalize them when their merits are evaluated.
The head of Science and Innovation added that the reform is aligned with the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan, defines science as a common good and integrates the values of ethics, integrity, citizen participation into R&D&i and equality. "It is the law that Spain needs to become a more prosperous, fair and green country, through collective progress based on knowledge and innovation", he concluded.
