Comment by prof. Paweł Rowiński, Vice President of the Polish Academy of Sciences
“Recently, it is not a bed of roses at the Polish Academy of Sciences. The attempt to marginalize the Academy through this sick idea of the National Copernican Program is not the only strange event. In the National Reconstruction Plan, the Academy was forgotten as the only entity in the science and higher education sector. Quite significant, because according to various rankings of the highest ranked Polish scientific and research institutions, the Polish Academy of Sciences takes the first place (e.g. Scimago Institutions Ranking or Nature Index). In recent years, the institutes of the Polish Academy of Sciences have strengthened cooperation with institutions from the economy, business and administration sectors, and significantly improved innovation indicators. Yesterday [09/04/2021] it was heard at the session of the parliamentary standing subcommittee for science and higher education. The media has already noticed this, I encourage you to read the report in DGP https://serwisy.gazetaprawna.pl/…/8137269,wojciech…. I wonder if the promise made there will be kept. Anyway, the entire structure of this Reconstruction Plan is interesting. The Spaniards planned 34 percent for science in their program, and we – as our colleagues from KRASP noticed – as much as usual, i.e. approx. 1 percent. We rebuild differently … “
Comment by IG PAS Management
The IG PAS Management and the Chairman of the IG PAS Scientific Council fully share the criticisms of the concept of the National Copernican Program, in particular the plan to establish the International Copernican Academy. It can be assumed that the goal of the Minister of MEiN is to establish an opinion-forming center alternative to the Polish Academy of Sciences. In our opinion, the appointment of such a body, additionally subordinated to the political authority, will not allow achieving the above-mentioned goals in the proposed provisions of the draft Act on NPK, including the improvement of the level of science in Poland, the increase of international recognition of Polish scientists, and the faster development of young scientific staff.
Taking into account all aspects and possible political background of the whole matter, we express our support for further actions of the management of the Polish Academy of Sciences to calm the situation in the scientific community and to rationalize, in cooperation with the political authorities, work on the amendment to the Act on the Polish Academy of Sciences.