22. 2. 2010: Vision for Czech Science

On Monday 22 February 2010 civic association Forum Science Is Alive! in cooperation with Archa Theatre organised a public hearing under the title “Vision for Czech Science” of candidates for the governmental Council for Research, Development and Innovations (CRDI). The goal of the public hearing was to provide space where nominees to the CRDI could publicly present their opinions, attitudes and goals which – if they are appointed to the CRDI – they would advance in this governmental body. The following candidates proposed by the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic accepted the invitation: thermodynamics expert Karel Aim, theoretical chemist Pavel Hobza, immunologist Václav Hořejší, physical chemist Jan Hrušák, physicist Jiří Chýla, linguist Karel Oliva, pharmaceutist Jan Šotola and dean of Faculty of Informatics at Masaryk University and its ex-Rector Jiří Zlatuška. From the nominees made by the Council of Higher Education Institutions of the Czech Republic it was only physicist Tomáš Opatrný from Palacký University in Olomouc who took part. Nominees made by the Confederation of Industry of the Czech Republic refused to participate in the public hearing, as did representatives nominated by the Czech Rectors’ Conference. Also contributing to the lively discussion about the future of Czech science were Michal Frankl, advisor to the Prime Minister, Ondřej Liška, ex-minister of education, Jiří Havel, member of the European Parliament, physicist Martin Černohorský from Masaryk University, Ivan Wilhelm, nuclear physicist and ex-rector of Charles University, Helena Illnerová and Rudolf Zahradník, ex-Presidents of the Academy of Sciences etc. The discussion was moderated by Petr Fischer. Most discussants agreed that it was necessary to change the functioning of the CRDI as quickly as possible, and to ensure its transparency. The nominees also criticised direct financial support for private industrial companies from the public budget allocated for research and development – such support should be an exception, not the rule. Another important aspect was the change of the research assessment system to ensure support for quality research while taking into account the variability of scientific disciplines and types of research. You can download a record of the public hearing at: http://www.primyprenos.cz/detail.php?zaznam=62&year=2010