“Welcome to this informal talk with our Minister, who is also a professor at Técnico”, said professor Arlindo Oliveira, president of Técnico, on the occasion of the first “Talk with Researchers”, promoted by the Minister of Science, Technology and Higher Education, professor Manuel Heitor. The event took place at the auditorium of the Congress Centre and aims to widen the involvement of the scientific community in the debates and policies that stimulate scientific employment.
Faculty, researchers, grantees and other interested parties had the opportunity to approach topics as wide as: R&D funding through the creation of collaborative laboratories, as well as the scientific employment and the development of scientific careers.
The Minister recalled the four political priorities in this area: to stimulate advanced training; to strengthen research capacity; to improve scientific employment conditions and to promote internationalisation. “Making scientific employment a key priority will allow us to grow”, said Manuel Heitor.
Many issues were raised by the audience. The creation of new collaborative laboratories “that promote the co-responsabilisation of private entities, thus increasing R&D funding”, was one of the most discussed topics. “These laboratories do not replace the research units and the associate laboratories, they will complement what already exists (…). We want to give R&D activities the conditions to get new funding opportunities, which are inacessible at the moment”, explained the Minister.
Manuel Heitor said that the main goal is that “a PhD researcher has an employment contract” as in other European countries. The Minister also said that eight mechanisms will be created, including a transition process, in order to ensure Post-Doctoral recruitment.”We need more PhD researchers and we need to give them more working conditions.”
Professor Isabel Ribeiro, Member of the Board of Directors of Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT) also attended the event and answered some specific questions about the practical application of these measures, namely through Regional Operational Programmes and Post-Doctoral Recruitment.
The initiative “Talks with Researchers” is promoted by the Ministry of Science, Technology and Higher Education, which will be atended by representatives of institutions (Conselho dos Reitores das Universidades Portuguesas, Conselho Coordenador dos Institutos Superiores Politécnicos and Associação Portuguesa de Ensino Superior Privado) and political parties, aiming to stimulate an open debate that guarantees a strategy for improving the legal and institutional mechanisms.
