Scientists lured to stay in research

According to the European Commission, the popular idea that all our best researchers are being lured away to jobs in US universities misses the point.

"The main problem is not so much keeping researchers in Europe, it’s keeping them in research," said a representative of Janez Potocnik, the research commissioner.

"We produce as many science graduates every year as the US. They are not all rushing to work in US research. They are more likely to be changing career; maybe becoming journalists or civil servants."

FP7 aims to raise the appeal of a research job. "If you talk to researchers the problem is not just about the money: it’s also the research facilities," she said. "If we had world class research facilities researchers would come to Europe."

Building one large research facility, with all the expensive equipment that this entails, would be cheaper and more practical than building several small national versions, she said.

The Commission hopes FP7 will encourage students to take advantage of these ‘centres of excellence’ in other countries, by putting more emphasis on the mobility of researchers than FP6. This would mean first and foremost encouraging researchers to move more internationally, for example Spanish students moving to work in the UK, or even Palestinian researchers joining a research project in Germany.

"Going abroad for research is not new," said Potoc?nik’s representative. "We had mobility in this area in the Middle Ages and in the 17th century. Science is where it all started."

According to the European Commission, the popular idea that all our best researchers are being lured away to jobs in US universities misses the point.