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President of the Executive Committee of the Ikerbasque Foundation |
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With regard to the current situation in the
Basque Country, Gallasteguithinks that research
is essential, all the more so in times
of crisis.
Basic research seems fundamental to
me. But in the Basque Country it is essential,
and all the more so in times of economic
crisis, to make an effort to value knowledge,
as modern terminology has it. As far
as I’m concerned, knowledge is already valuable
in itself, but if it can also be applied
to solving specific problems in the short term
in areas as diverse as computing, biomedicine,
economics, chemistry, or the environment,
then what doubt can there be that the
social payoff is all the greater? The opportunities
we have in this field are very wide-ranging
thanks to two factors: great investment in technological centres
and increasingly strong commitment to the Basque university
system.
As for strengths and weaknesses in experimental sciences, the professor
affirms that we have great potential in experimental sciences,
but we have neglected the humanities and social sciences.
There is no doubt that in the Basque Country we are stronger
in the area of the area of experimental sciences. However,
we are making efforts to ensure that the humanities and social
sciences can also benefit from the advantages offered by having
Ikerbasque researchers integrated into their centres and research
groups.
Cooperative Research Centres (CICs) such as Biogune,
Nanogune or mixed centres like the CSICUPV/
EHU (Physics of Materials Mixed Centre at the
University of the Basque Country) constitute a powerful
force of attraction. These centres do not exist
in social science areas and humanities, and it shows.
This is an issue which needs to be addressed. Excellence
calls for excellence, and if moreover we have
the means, the equipment and the installations,
then the ‘call’ is all the stronger.
(…) In the short term the challenge is to manage
to persuade 100 top researchers to give up their
posts elsewhere and to choose to live and work in
the Basque Country. This is no easy task, but it is
feasible. We have to find the right marriage between
the offers that come from outside and the
demands placed upon us by the groups and research centres
here. We also want to keep creating BERCs (Basic Excellence Research
Centres) linked to the Basque university system and covering
areas of research which can provide powerful and useful
knowledge for the business and cultural sectors.
Ikerbasque could become one of the driving forces behind research
in the Basque Country, though some Basque researchers
are sceptical about the foundation.
I think that most of them have been happy to see it arrive,
and others are keen to see what happens. A fair few people
think, quite understandably, that Ikerbasque should be capable
not only of attracting researchers from outside but of nurturing
local researchers and keeping the best of them so as not to lose them to other centres or other countries. Ikerbasque is aware
of all these issues. (…) Ikerbasque looks after all researchers selected
by the Evaluation Committees regardless of where they
come from. This does not mean it would not give us great pride
to see Basques (from the seven territories) applying for research
posts with Ikerbasque, passing the tests and agreeing terms with
us. One great challenge for us is to persuade Basque researchers
who have trained in centres and universities in other parts of the
world to return to the Basque Country, and whenever we manage
this we regard it as a great achievement.
Reflecting upon the year and a half since the creation of Ikerbasque:
We have fulfilled the objectives we set ourselves in that we
have been able to attract 75 researchers, most of them on a permanent
basis. We have managed to create three BERCs which
we are sure will transform research in the areas we have chosen
– climate change (BC3 - Basque Centre for Climate Change),
applied mathematics (BCAM - Basque Centre for Applied Mathematics)
and the BCBL (Basque Centre on Cognition, Brain and
Language). In 2009 we will continue with same policy of attracting
researchers and creating BERCs or Ikerbasque units of excellence
and any university in the country.
However, training a researcher takes two issues: time and mobility.
To manage to train a researcher takes a long time despite
the fact that official programmes try to create doctorates over
a period of 3 or 4 years. It is very difficult to be a researcher, and
it takes a great
deal of time and
effort to become
one. There are
some fantastic
young researchers,
but we have others
who do not want to
leave the country,
and that, in a globalised
world like
ours, is hardly compatible with the goal of becoming a top researcher
of the first order. Mobility is part and parcel of the research
profession. Young people must be encouraged to move
abroad and then we must offer them the kind of contract, good
atmosphere and context which are sufficiently attractive to entice
them back again.
Mari Karmen Gallastegui knows exactly which path to follow in
the future:
Of course, we must fulfil the objectives of the Lisbon agenda
and exceed expectations as far as possible. I understand that
now, with the crisis, unemployment, fear and uncertainty, it is
hard to grasp that it is worth investing in something so abstract
- in many people’s view - as research and knowledge. However,
it offers a golden opportunity to be able to make the most of the
recovery period, so that the expansion of economic activity catches
us fully prepared. Our investment in RDI should not be less
than the maximum invested by other countries around us. That
is the path to prosperity.
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