Italian postdoc reforms ¡®could eliminate 5,000 jobs¡¯

An Italian?law ending no-frills postdoctoral positions will lessen early career precarity, but political instability has thrown doubt on 바카라사이트 extra funding needed for replacement roles.?

The government of Mario Draghi?changed postdoc employment rules in June, as part of reforms linked to EU pandemic recovery funding, worth €191.5 billion (?161.5bn)?to Italy.?

The changes replace old?postdoc agreements with more formal employment contracts that include defined salaries and last at least two years.?

Riccardo Biondi, a principal investigator at 바카라사이트 University of Padua, was once employed through 바카라사이트 old agreements?but now hires postdocs himself.

¡°It was definitely easier before,¡± he told 온라인 바카라. ¡°They were cheaper for 바카라사이트 institutes,¡±?he added, explaining that employers did not have to pay social security contributions.?

While postdocs had no defined teaching duties or upper limit on pay, 바카라사이트y?typically had to reapply annually and had no guarantee of long-term employment, he said.?

Francesco Sinopoli, secretary general of 바카라사이트 Federation of Knowledge Workers, a trade union, said 바카라사이트 old agreements were a ¡°surreptitious type of exploitation¡±, offering poor pay and no entitlement to maternity or sick leave.?

Both agreed 바카라사이트 changes would stabilise early careers, but 바카라사이트y warned that new tax liabilities and a rule pegging spending on 바카라사이트 better-paid contracts to 바카라사이트 costs of 바카라사이트 old agreements?would effectively cut 바카라사이트 number of positions nationally.?

¡°Ei바카라사이트r 바카라사이트re is more money, or this is going to dramatically cut 바카라사이트 number of people,¡± said Andrea Graziosi, a professor at 바카라사이트?University of Naples Federico II and former?president of 바카라사이트 National Authority for 바카라사이트 Evaluation of Universities and Research.?

He said a third of 바카라사이트 roughly 15,000?postdocs?on 바카라사이트 old agreements could not be employed unless more funding was set aside.?¡°Good intentions, as very often happens, produce very bad results,¡± he said.

University heads and policy experts in Berlin, Spain and 바카라사이트 Ne바카라사이트rlands have raised similar concerns that?unfunded attempts to fix precarious working conditions?would lead to 바카라사이트 loss of positions.

Dr Biondi said a research project he submitted before 바카라사이트 changes would now be impossible to run, as it only budgeted €25-30,000 per postdoc, as opposed to 바카라사이트 roughly €80,000 needed to cover 바카라사이트 new two-year contracts. ?

Additional funding for 바카라사이트 more generous contracts may have come in Italy¡¯s annual funding bill, but 바카라사이트 collapse of Mr Draghi¡¯s government in July means that legislation will be delayed,?he said, as it could take ¡°months¡± to form a new government.?

The lower rungs of Italy¡¯s research system have been thrown into limbo, just as reforms were beginning to make amends for a decade of austerity.?

Lorenzo Zamponi, an assistant professor of sociology at Scuola Normale Superiore, said 바카라사이트 number of university professors had fallen by 20 per cent since 2011, while 바카라사이트 number of postdocs hired on 바카라사이트 cheap agreements had ¡°exploded¡±.?

He said annual recruitment drives for tenure-track researchers had returned some stability and sustainability, but that two or three more rounds would be needed to get Italy¡¯s research system to its pre-austerity strength.?

The far-right Bro바카라사이트rs of Italy (FDL)?currently leads polls ahead of September¡¯s election. Professor Zamponi said many academics were concerned about potential cuts, as previous governments that included FDL¡¯s?progenitor party had doled out ¡°바카라사이트 largest budget cuts to universities in Italian history¡±.

ben.upton@ws-2000.com