Spanish researchers campaign to change science law

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Spanish researchers campaign to change science law : Nature News: "Two-and-a-half thousand Spanish scientists, including 150 full professors and four research-centre directors, have sent a petition to José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, the country's prime minister, asking for changes to a science and technology law currently being debated in the country's parliament.

The letter, delivered on 22 February, is the latest move in a sustained campaign by Spanish researchers. On 18 February, the Confederation of Spanish Scientific Societies (COSCE) sought assurances that a proposed state research agency would be independent from the government. And over the past year, the country's Federation of Young Researchers (FJI) has lobbied for nine amendments to the draft bill.

The bill in question, a pet project of Cristina Garmendia, Spain's science minister, updates a 1986 law that was the country's first scientific legislation after becoming a democracy.

The incoming law aims to give PhD students contracts, rather than fellowships, and to allow scientists to move more easily between the public and private sectors. It aims to create a state research agency with the power to grant independent funding, and is designed to coordinate the efforts of regional governments. The law will also apply to researchers at universities and hospitals, who were omitted from the 1986 bill."

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