No 2012 Ramón y Cajal state research grants to be awarded
Blow to science comes on top of a 35-percent slash in R&D funding over the past three years
Research and development received a blow Wednesday as news emerged from the office of the secretary of state for research, development and innovation that no new Ramón y Cajal contracts would be awarded in 2012.
The scheme was created in 2001 to place the cream of scientific investigators in R&D centers and universities on fixed labor contracts of five years. In its first years, 800 such contracts were awarded, a number that fell to 250 during the last selection process, which began in December 2010 and ended in July of this year.
On Wednesday, the department said a still-further reduced list of 175 new successful applicants would not be decided upon until next year, meaning that 2012 will not see any new grants awarded to researchers.
Government funding for R&D has fallen between 2009 and 2012 by 35.5 percent. The draft state budget for 2013 includes a further 15-percent drop. Of the 5.67 billion euros budgeted for next year, 3.44 billion is comprised of loans to businesses.
Santiago Ramón y Cajal (1852-1934) was a Spanish physician and neuroscientist who won the Nobel Prize in 1906 for his neurological research.
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