FCT President interviewed in Nature magazine

FCT President Miguel Seabra, recently unanimously elected to head Science Europe from September 2014, answered questions from Nature magazine about the balance between homogenization and cooperation in research in Europe. Stressing the role that Science Europe has played as a "third voice" (alongside governments and the European Commission) in the debate on the creation of the European Research Area (ERA), Miguel Seabra explained that the organization's opinion is that "the diversity of [research] systems is an asset and not a handicap", so that "we[Science Europe] do not share the vision of a federalized, homogeneous, centralized European research system."

The interview took place during the third annual meeting of the Global Research Forum, where more than 60 research and science funding organizations, including FCT, discussed measures to establish a common basis for funding early-career researchers and open access to scientific publications and data. On the latter topic, Miguel Seabra stressed the undeniable importance of open access for the advancement of science, and drew attention to some issues that Science Europe considers seriously: flexibility in the approaches adopted, the quality of repositories and associated costs. The approach of the European organization he will lead is to "understand the positions involved, without taking an arrogant stance".

Asked about the impact of austerity on the Portuguese research system, Miguel Seabra explained that "since 2011, we [the FCT] have been able to pay the same amounts, or slightly higher amounts, as a result of an effort to make better use of the European structural funds for science, which make up a third of the FCT's budget. According to the President of FCT, this effort will help to meet the challenge of growing the system in terms of quality, after 10 to 20 years of undeniable quantitative growth. Funding is more competitive, "in the context of the crisis and the exponential growth of the scientific community". FCT has been introducing new rules, in line with internationally accepted standards for peer review, in order to ensure greater transparency and rigor in the evaluation process.

Science Europe comprises 50 organizations that support or carry out scientific research, from 27 European countries, representing an annual budget of 30 billion euros. Created in October 2011, its aim is to promote the collective interests of its members and create a platform for collaboration on science policies and activities. In September 2014 Miguel Seabra succeeded Paul Boyle (President of the UK's Economic and Social Research Council) as President. The President of Science Europe is elected by the General Assembly for a two-year term.