Lhe research situation in France is not good. The results of the call for tenders launched by the European Research Council, which awards three types of project contracts (funding of 2 million euros over five years), to the elite of European research, have fallen. France which, until the 2010s, held its rank in Europe by rising to second place, and sometimes titillating the United Kingdom for first place, finds itself at the back of the pack.
As far as “advanced” contracts are concerned, this year, in the life sciences, France has only four winners on a par with Ireland, far behind Germany (17), England (14) and the Netherlands (10). If, in physical sciences, France obtains 15 laureates, Germany has 31. In human sciences, we rise to third place with six laureates, England with 13. In the “consolidator” category, we obtain 29 winners out of a total of 313 projects funded, far behind Germany (61) and England (41). A less severe finding among the juniors, where nearly sixty are winners out of a total of 397, just behind Germany. We can only salute the results of the latter, which – not long ago – considerably revised its research policy in terms of budget and funding based on excellence.
“Let’s just look at the proceedings of the major international meetings where we are conspicuous by our absence”
Deaf to the warnings formulated by many scientists and after more than twenty years of disinterest by the State, clumsiness of the trade union world, and weak mobilization of the researchers themselves, we unfortunately have to note that we no longer play the leading roles on the European scene, what the Covid-19 crisis had shown us with our inability to produce a vaccine.
Five years behind in research
We should also note how the candidates for the supreme position, all followers of the well-being of our fellow citizens, have not made research a priority. At a time when minds who think they are enlightened no longer want to consider the level of our scientific publications in terms of impact factors (an indication of the visibility of the work), let us simply look at the proceedings of the major international meetings where we shine by our absence. Let’s face it, we are at least five years behind in research, which is all the more regrettable since we still have the possibility of carrying out excellent research.
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