Reacción a "Reactions to the adoption of the new Science Law "

The first thing I would like to stress is that the approval of this reform of the Law on Science, Technology and Innovation is news to celebrate, because it takes up the historic demands of the Spanish scientific community. 

The text, as approved, aims to guarantee that science will have stable and growing public funding. It creates a new permanent contract for scientists and technicians associated with lines of research, without the need for prior consultation with the Treasury and without depending on the replacement rate. It also reforms the postdoctoral contract to bring it closer to stabilisation; includes indemnities for pre-doctoral contracts; and simplifies the justification of grants, among other improvements.   

An important aspect is that it seeks to equalise the employment rights of scientists to those of other workers, promoting permanent contracts. This is an aspiration to which I have no objection. Any initiative against job insecurity seems to me to be positive, including from the point of view of productivity. When you are worried about the future of work, it is more difficult to do good science.  

There are still issues to be resolved. There are still obstacles to recruiting staff with the institutions' own funding, because these cases still depend on prior authorisation from the Treasury and on the replacement rate/salary rate. This limits our ability to retain and attract talent. And, of course, changes in recruitment modalities imply changes in the management of the centres, with possible consequences that cannot be ignored and must be approached with care.  

In any case, the Ministry of Science has so far demonstrated its willingness to collaborate with those of us who run research centres and to face the challenges of applying the law. I believe that this, collaboration, should be the way forward.  

In fact, it is logical to think that if the attractiveness of scientific careers increases, by improving their working conditions, the excellence of the centres where they are developed will also increase.