Entering the annual session of the National People’s Congress (NPC) and the National People’s Congress (NPC), China once again encouraged scientists to "relax" and "reduce their burdens".
On March 5th, at the opening meeting of the Fourth Session of the 13th National People’s Congress, Li Keqiang, Premier of the State Council of the People’s Republic of China put forward in his government work report that it is necessary to improve the mechanism of project evaluation and talent evaluation, effectively reduce the unreasonable burden of scientific researchers, enable them to settle down and devote themselves to scientific exploration, and achieve major breakthroughs in key core areas with the spirit of "grinding a sword for ten years".
As soon as the voice just fell, there were bursts of applause at the venue.
Yuan Yaxiang, a member of Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference and an academician of China Academy of Sciences who attended the meeting, applauded assiduously when he heard these words, saying that "effectively reducing the unreasonable burden on scientific researchers" touched his heart.
"Scientists, especially young scientists, need a relatively relaxed environment." Yuan Yaxiang said in an interview with the reporter of China Youth Daily and China Youth Network that at present, young scientific and technological personnel in China’s science and technology education sector are under some unreasonable quantitative assessment indicators, which is not conducive to their peace of mind. If these problems cannot be solved well, it will seriously affect their healthy academic growth, and then affect the development of science and technology in China.
Numerous chores
"I am not writing a fund newspaper project, or I am on the way to running funds to pull relationships." This sentence was once considered as a daily portrayal of some scientists; There are many chores outside scientific research such as evaluation, report and reward, and they are also criticized.
Fang Fuquan, a deputy to the National People’s Congress and an academician of the China Academy of Sciences, noticed this phenomenon. He said that the government work report proposed that in order to achieve a major breakthrough in key core areas, it is necessary to give more time and space to scientific and technological workers and free them from complicated matters such as assessment and project declaration.
In 2017, China Youth Daily and the Chinese Academy of Sciences Youth Innovation Promotion Association launched a survey on the survival and development of young researchers. The results showed that young researchers spent the most time on "running projects" outside of scientific research or experimental work. According to the survey, 66.7% of people spend their time outside of scientific research or experiment in seeking to declare project funds.
Yang Xiaofan (pseudonym), a 40-year-old young scientist from Chinese Academy of Sciences, was one of the interviewees in this survey. Now three or four years later, he told reporters that this phenomenon has not changed much.
In the survey of that year, some young researchers put forward that "the management system should be ‘ Untie ’ " Suggestions and hopes: "simplify the reimbursement procedures, simplify the scientific research management process, reduce all kinds of invalid reports and documents", "allow the project to hire secretaries, reduce the administrative and financial burdens and occupy scientific research time", and so on.
Yang Xiaofan told reporters that there are some young scientists in their early thirties around them, who are in the golden age of scientific research, but they are often tired of participating in or being evaluated, occupying the scientific research time, and gradually drifting away from the laboratory in a sense.
To this end, as long as he meets leaders of all sizes, he calls for "reducing the burden" for scientists and giving them back their time!
In 2018, Yang Xiaofan’s institute ushered in a "streamline administration, delegate power, strengthen regulation and improve services" reform, which attracted attention. There are many reform measures, among which the most anticipated by scientists is that all scientists who are funded by the key research programs of cutting-edge science in Chinese Academy of Sciences only need to "simply fill out a form" every year, and there is no need to have too many other projects.
"We used to tease ‘ Either attending the review or on the way to participate in the review ’ ‘ Either reporting or on the way to reporting ’ However, since the introduction of this policy, the number of times to run to the reporting venue has indeed decreased. " Yang Xiaofan told reporters.
After that, he quickly added, "It’s just a little less, but it still takes a lot of energy."
In Yang Xiaofan’s view, the reason why chores such as applying for projects and participating in evaluation still take up a lot of time is that there is too little investment in basic research on stability.
"If the scientific research funds are sufficient, everyone will study with peace of mind, and no one will look for it ‘ Trouble ’ , but also have the confidence to refuse ‘ Miscellaneous affairs ’ 。” Yang Xiaofan said.
This is why Fang Fuquan, while hoping to give scientists more time, also called on the government to increase investment in basic research.
This year’s government work report mentioned that in the next five years, the investment in R&D funds of the whole society will increase by more than 7% annually, and the investment intensity will be higher than that in the "Thirteenth Five-Year Plan" period. Yang Xiaofan said that he hopes that the "big cake" of science and technology funds will be bigger, and at the same time, he can also cut more funds for basic research.
"Work score" assessment
In addition to funding application and project review, young scientists are also faced with other pressures, such as publishing papers, renewing employment and promotion. In Yuan Yaxiang’s view, some pressures are normal pressures in the process of scientific research, while others are unnecessary burdens caused by unreasonable scientific research management system.
For example, some employers do not pay due attention to young scientific and technological personnel who have just joined the job, but in order to pursue scientific research output, they press tasks and set targets for scientific and technological personnel — —
Some colleges and universities require new teachers to sign a "military order", stipulating that they must publish a certain number of articles within three years, among which SCI searches several articles in high-level districts and must apply for funds at relevant levels.
Other units have also set a "high-standard threshold" for the renewal and promotion of scientific and technological personnel, such as a few articles in the first district, the amount of research funds applied for, and so on.
"This calculation ‘ Work score ’ The practice is obviously not a common practice in international academic circles, nor does it conform to the actual development law of science and technology. " Yuan Yaxiang said that this "work-score" assessment standard misleads young scientific and technological workers to be eager for quick success and excessive pursuit of quantity.
He used three "disadvantages" to talk about the consequences of this "work score" assessment: it is not conducive to guiding the majority of scientific and technological workers to devote themselves to research and contribute silently, it is not conducive to the healthy growth of young scientific and technological personnel, and it is not conducive to them to tie the first "button" in their scientific research career.
At the National People’s Congress, Yuan Yaxiang put forward a special proposal and suggested: universities and research institutes are prohibited from setting some unreasonable quantitative assessment indicators for young scientific and technological personnel employed — — Such as the number of published articles.
He also suggested that institutions of higher learning and research institutes should refer to the lifelong tenure system prevailing in international academic circles and give newly recruited young scientific and technological personnel a relatively long initial employment period — — For example, for six years, let them have a relaxed and secure research environment during the initial employment period. After the initial employment period of young scientific and technological personnel is over, we can refer to the internationally accepted lifelong faculty evaluation method to decide whether to continue employment.
In Yuan Yaxiang’s view, it is difficult for young scientific and technological personnel to grow up healthily without lifting the heavy pressure on them, abolishing the "contracts" imposed on them, and abolishing the regulations that lead them to pursue "short, flat and fast", and the phenomenon of impetuous academic style and quick success in scientific and technological circles cannot be eradicated.
"In the absence of a good scientific research environment, it is difficult for outstanding young researchers in China to study major issues and original scientific issues with peace of mind, concentration and comfort. This will seriously affect the sound development of China’s scientific research, especially basic research. " Yuan Yaxiang once again stressed.
Looking forward to landing
The reporter of China Youth Daily and China Youth Network found that before "effectively reducing the unreasonable burden of scientific researchers" was written into this year’s government work report, the government work reports of the past five years also demanded that scientists be given a more relaxed research environment from different angles — —
The 2016 government work report proposed "cutting red tape in scientific research management"; In 2017, it was proposed to "implement the reform of research funding and project management system, so that researchers will no longer be distracted by trivial matters"; In 2018, it was proposed that "the old rules and regulations that are contrary to encouraging innovation should be revised and abolished; Red tape that hinders the release of innovation vitality must be determined to cut it down "; In 2019, it was put forward that "vigorously simplify the troubles and make researchers concentrate on learning and innovation breakthroughs"; In 2020, it was put forward that "key projects should be tackled", and whoever can do it should be allowed to do it ".
"Visible countries to scientists ‘ Reduce the burden ’ How much attention should be paid to the issue of stimulating the innovation potential of researchers! " Yuan Yaxiang said.
What he is most concerned about now is that these opinions and demands appearing in the government work report can be refined earlier and landed faster.
In 2016, a news about the "changing face" of researchers’ policy of going abroad triggered a heated discussion in the scientific and technological circles. Before the introduction of this new policy, for some scientists who also hold administrative positions, going abroad to participate in international academic exchange activities sometimes became a kind of "extravagant hope" — — The number of days, times and expenses of their going abroad should be limited according to the standards of administrative public servants.
At the previous two sessions, Yuan Yaxiang and more than 30 other members of his association for science and technology jointly wrote a proposal, calling for not limiting the funds for scientific and technological workers to conduct normal international academic exchanges as "three public" funds.
Two years later, the question got feedback.
Yuan Yaxiang remembers very clearly that year, the government work report clearly stated that "red tape in scientific research management should be cut off". Unexpectedly, after the opening of the two sessions in March, the new regulations on the management of scientific researchers going abroad were issued in May.
Meng Luoming, a member of Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference and a professor at Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications, said that with more and more attention paid at the national level, some policies have indeed landed much faster than before. For example, since the government work report was put forward in 2019, the "contract system" for the use of funds for scientific research projects has been implemented in some pilot projects, eliminating many trivial chores of "stamping, filling out forms and reporting materials", which has been welcomed by researchers.
"Accordingly, although the existing fund management has been simplified many times, it is still the biggest worry among many troubles of scientific researchers, and it is also a headache for management departments at all levels." Meng Luoming said.
Therefore, he hopes that the policy pilot can take a bigger step — — In the field of basic research, increase the promotion funds and use the "contract system" to alleviate the troubles of scientific researchers and concentrate on learning.
Yuan Yaxiang said, in the final analysis, science and technology competition is talent competition. China is moving from a big country in science and technology to a strong country in science and technology. It is the key to realize the dream of a strong country in science and technology to have a large-scale team of high-level scientific and technological talents.
The main force of this team is the vast number of young scientific and technological personnel.
Today, all parties are eager to achieve a major breakthrough in key core technologies. Yuan Yaxiang hopes that the relevant managers can "slow down". He hopes that all departments and employers can further refine the implementation of policies and measures and "relax" and "reduce the burden" for researchers. (Reporter Qiu Chenhui)