European Research Council's "Original Sin": Separation Between Science and Management. (July 24, 2009)

TFW noted last week that the newly elected president of the European Parliament,  Jerzy Buzek (69), former prime minister of Poland, has been a strong supporter of the European Research Council (ERC).

ERC Vice-President Helga Nowotny believes it has become essential that the European Union grant the ERC greater autonomy — a step Professor Nowotny considers "absolutely necessary." She concedes that will entail "an arduous political process... We must therefore get it done [while] Buzek is in office."

Now an independent review, which included former NIH head, Elias Zerhouni, has left no doubt as to its views of the bureaucratic management model the ERC has been saddled with: "An obsolete model of management [engendering] completely abusive" demands on reviewers. A governance system that is "a source of great frustration and ongoing low level conflict."

It strongly recommended streamlining the ERC's governance structure to include merging the roles of secretary-general and director of the Executive Agency into a single post to be filled by a top scientist, and smoothing review procedures.

While the review panel did not advocate immediate full autonomy for the ERC, it did recommend a series of "immediate" reforms and another independent review in two years time. Should the problems persist a recommendation for full autonomy would be forthcoming. "It's a very fair and balanced report, and the recommendations are wise," says Professor Nowotny, while European Commissioner Janez Potočnik told ScienceInsider, "It's a good, honest report that will help all of us a lot".

ScienceInsider's Martin Enserink highlighted the panel's strong views writing: "This 'old-fashioned' dichotomy, the review states, puts the ERC's long-term credibility at risk. 'It should not be acceptable today in Europe that non-scientists [...] run major European research programmes!' the panel writes with indignant punctuation. It even resorts to using upper case occasionally to make its point, demanding 'a true PROFESSIONALIZATION both at the scientific and managerial level.'

Below are the panel's fourteen recommendations.