Investigació Aplicada en Malalties Respiratòries

Ciberes budget cut will weaken the stability of research staff

The current economic crisis has an impact on all fields of society. To this respect, next 2010 Spain government’s Budget is to reduce public spending on research up to 18%, which will lead, in turn, to a Ciberes  (Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red, Enfermedades Respiratorias) budget cut up to 35,8%.  Not only will this weaken the stability of research staff, but might also stop a lot of biomedical research projects.

There is little doubt that government budget cuts, which were initially thought to reach 37%, will have great impact on research staff. Obviously, a lot of biomedical projects may have no alternative but to be delayed, postponed or even suspended.   

With regard to Ciberes, its budget will face the greatest reduction (35,8%), in the context of a general budget cut of all biomedical research centres (Ciber) that will reach 22,9%. Connected to that, it is important to point out that Instituto Carlos III, the public research centre that coordinates Ciber, will also experience a budget cut up to 16,3%.

In order to tackle this issue, an open letter was written by 50 biomedical researchers from Ciberned to the Government. In the letter, published in EL PAIS in early October, they criticize the impact of budget cuts on the stability of research staff. They also think that Government should lay out a plan to promote competitiveness and keep the same level of scientific knowledge.