Greek scientists working at renowned universities abroad enthusiastically agreed to participate in the newly founded National Council for Research, Technology and Innovation (ESETEK), wanting to support efforts to boost research in Greece, as the government told them in 2019. Five years later, ESETEK is in decline. Already six of its 15 members have resigned, denouncing indifference to their proposals by the competent Ministry of Development and the government in general.
“The successful use of the limited resources allocated for research [in Greece] requires three things: strategy, continuity, synergy. However, instead of taking into account its specific needs, the organization of research in Greece serves petty political expediencies, such as the placement of politicians in government positions and the balance between ministries,” Angelos Chaniotis, a professor of ancient history at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, told Kathimerini.
Chaniotis was one the first scientists to resign, along with Spyros Artavanis-Tsakonas, a Harvard professor emeritus of cell biology and ESETEK’s president.
Zoe Rapti, the competent deputy minister responsible for research, views those resignations as something not unusual in public life. “We will replace the resigned members and reactivate ESETEK,” a government official announced through Kathimerini.
In 2019, the new conservative government said it had chosen to focus on research and innovation, establishing ESETEK, which was designated as “the highest advisory body of the state regarding the development of a national strategy” for research. The 15-member council was chaired by Artavanis-Tsakonas, and its members are academics from Greek and foreign universities from all scientific fields, while the private sector is also represented. Artavanis-Tsakonas was invited by Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis himself.
The beginning was promising. Sectoral scientific councils (TES) were formed, with the responsibility of supporting the General Secretariat for Research and Innovation (GGEK) and ESETEK in specialized fields. The new team began by evaluating the infrastructure that already existed. “When we took over, one of the first things we did was to evaluate the country’s 35 research institutes. It took a lot of effort. The task was huge,” says a member of the council. “We managed to bring 170 very good scientists, many of them from abroad, to assist in the evaluation. The personal prestige of the council members also counted a lot in convincing them. They accepted because evaluation is an integral part of research work abroad. But not in Greece. That’s why there were obstacles and complaints – fortunately, isolated ones.” Ultimately, the evaluation was completed in 2022.
National strategy
A major issue was also the drafting of a national strategy for research, technological development and innovation. This was one of the main responsibilities of the TES, which had to develop strategy proposals in each scientific field. However, this means investing in basic research and addressing the fragmentation of Greek research centers. Today, there are research centers and institutes supervised by different ministries, while a large number operate at universities. For example, as Chaniotis explained, the only research institute that Greece has abroad, the Hellenic Institute of Byzantine and Post-Byzantine Studies in Venice, falls under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
However, the area of higher education, research and technology, presupposes the concentration of research structures under a single ministery’s supervision. The Association of Greek Researchers has been calling for the same thing, saying research centers could all be under the Ministry of Education or a new Ministry of Higher Education and Research. Government officials who spoke to Kathimerini also have the same opinion. Based on the latest data from the National Documentation Center, the staff of research centers totals 73,306 people – of whom 54,680 are researchers and 18,626 in other positions).
The continuation of this fragmentation is not due to researchers, but mainly to political reasons. As members of the council told Kathimerini, ministers refuse to lose supervised bodies, and especially those with potential for growth. After all, the more supervised organizations they have, the more funds they receive and the more appointments they have to offer. “Every ministry that has funds for research, however limited, wants to allocate them itself, and not an institutionalized body based on a specific, unified strategy. Each minister wants to have his own shops,” a member of ESETEK who resigned tells Kathimerini. “Remember, there are ways to distribute money in research with non-meritocratic criteria, through opaque procedures, and without evaluation of the work produced,” another member says. Based on the same study by the National Documentation Center, in 2023 research and development spending in Greece totaled 3.36269 billion euros, an increase of 9.5% or 292.39 million euros compared to the previous year.
The first sign of annoyance from the government was felt by the members of ESETEK in 2023, after the change of leadership at the Ministry of Development. The leadership at the time did not seem to embrace ESETEK’s willingness to take quick steps. “The reason was not that they had not dealt with research – a complex, multifaceted field – in their professional or political career. It was that they probably had no desire to learn it,” a previous member of ESETEK told Kathimerini.
Thus, contacts between the two sides began to be less frequent, while every proposal presented by ESETEK was met with the excuse that “there is no money.” Kathimerini understands that another factor that played a role in the worsening of relations was the bad evaluations that some research centers had received, whose members also hold important government positions. The same is true with the current ministers.
Priorities
Government sources told Kathimerini that “the people of ESETEK talk about basic research, while the emphasis should be on innovation.” But can there be innovation without basic research? “Everyone talks about startups and ’innovation’ but they don’t understand that the mother of startups is basic research in cutting-edge technologies,” Artavanis-Tsakonas told Kathimerini when he submitted his resignation on January 31.
Without willingness to solve the problems, relations between ESETEK and the ministry kept deteriorating. For example, a major issue is the bureaucracy in the operation of research centers, which are still subject to the rules of public accounting and the General Accounting Office. Two years ago, a report was prepared by ESETEK with proposals “aiming at a comprehensive legislative initiative to eliminate the problems of bureaucracy, which are evident in all stages governing the research process (funding proposal submission process, procurement, use of research infrastructure, recruitment of researchers, working environment etc), making our country less competitive,” as it said. Nothing happened. “The state treats researchers as potential fraudsters or low-paid workers,” Chaniotis says pointedly.
Other developments that increased tension were the decision to incorporate the National Observatory of Athens (NOA), the oldest and one of the largest research institutions in the country, into the Ministry of Climate Crisis and Civil Protection, by cutting it off from the General Secretariat of Research and Technology, where all research centers belong. The decision was made in 2023 without consulting ESETEK – which was fully against the move – and provoked sharp reactions from the research community. Ultimately, the decision was revoked, but “the handling of the matter is indicative and the issue of the observatory was a defining moment for me,” Chaniotis says. “To be clear, the government is not obliged to follow our proposals, but public opinion must be aware of the criteria by which decisions are made.” ESETEK was also uneasy about the decision to create a so-called “artificial intelligence factory” in Lavrio without the council being informed.
Indifference
In 2024, however, there were contacts between the members of the council and the prime minister’s office and ESETEK continued its work and the submission of proposals. For example, in a letter sent to the government on November 28, the president of the council recommended 10 research institutes for extra funding, based on the reports of the evaluation committees. It was a decision to which the government had been committed since last spring, according to ESETEK. Each of the 10 research institutes would be given 1 million euros. The council never received a response to its proposal.
The first to resign were Artavanis-Tsakonas and Chaniotis at the end of January. They were followed by Constantia Alexandrou, professor of theoretical physics at the University of Cyprus, Petros Koumoutsakos, professor of engineering and applied sciences at Harvard, Stelios Papadopoulos, chairman of the board of directors of Biogen, and Ioannis Talianidis, director of research at the Institute of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology at the Foundation for Technology and Research. More resignations are expected.
“We worked selflessly and with great volunteerism. All this did not happen suddenly. It was simply the last straw, after many small disappointments,” says another ESETEK member, Christina Koulouri, professor of modern and contemporary history and rector at Panteion University.
“Research is a regenerative process. It intoxicates you. But it cannot be served by a bureaucrat or a politician,” another member who resigned told Kathimerini.