What is to be Done About Russian Science?

The reforms to the Russian Academy of Sciences that were announced by the Russian government in June were met with almost unanimous opposition in the scientific community. Critics have complained that the severity of the proposed changes — which include transferring properties owned by the academy into the hands of the government — is combined with a vagueness about how they will be implemented. Furthermore, the abrupt announcement came with political pressure and a smear campaign in state-owned media, but without public debate. The government response is that all opinions have been stated already many times (which is partially true), that the reform has only just started and the detail will be clarified later, and that the only way to move forward is, well, to move forward.

The reform bill is currently in the state Duma, where it will receive its final reading next month. The signals from the Duma are inconclusive: although some members, including the speaker, Sergei Naryshkin, mentioned the possibility of returning the bill to the second-reading stage, where substantial amendments are possible, there have been no official statements along these lines.

The government has managed to achieve the seemingly impossible: it has brought Russian science together. Academic stalwarts who oppose any change (aside from an increase in the academy’s budget) have united with proponents of (reasonable) reform, long-time critics of the academy and scientists who normally run shy of politics. Despite summer vacations, some members of the scientific community are discussing the post-reform system, and others are planning meetings and strikes that aim to overturn the proposals. A meeting of all groups working on projects that relate to the reforms is scheduled for the end of August.

Some of the ideas being discussed seem more realistic than others. With its head firmly in the sand, the presidium of the academy has prepared a list of amendments to the bill that mainly aim at returning to the pre-reform status quo. Another working group, formed by the Scientific Council of the Ministry of Science (independent researchers who are largely critical of the reforms) and the Society of Scientific Researchers (an independent, informal society with free membership that is restricted only by a publications-based qualification) has offered other suggestions. These tackle fundamental issues such as whether Russian science should be arranged around institutes or laboratories, what the balance should be between guaranteed and grant-based funding, and whether academy research should be subject to international review. At their heart, these discussions debate whether the future of the academy is as a learned society, similar to the UK Royal Society, or as a Soviet-style ‘ministry of basic sciences’ that manages and funds its institutes.