By Vestnik Kavkaza
A year ago Russia started reorganization of the Academy of Sciences. Institutes and academies were included into a special body – the Federal Agency for Scientific Organizations (FASO). It consists of appointed officials. The presidential moratorium on any property and staff affairs connected with the RAS reform and establishing of FASO comes to an end on January 16th 2015. Vladimir Fortov, the President of the RAS, speaks about the reform’s influence on the Academy’s life.
“One year has passed since the 253th act on the reform of the Academy of Sciences and academies which are included in the Grand Academy was adopted. The year was not easy for us. First of all, we couldn’t understand the goals and methods of the reform. The declared goals were poorly explained and scientists didn’t understand them,” Fortov says.
According to him, in this period FASO got on its feet: “The Academy of Science participated in the organization of the agency actively and informally; we realized that if something goes wrong, notwithstanding who is guilty, the scientists will suffer. So we believed that the law should be followed.”
Moreover, the Academy of Agricultural Sciences and the Academy of Medical Sciences united into the Academy of Sciences of Russia and were titled the Russian Academy of Sciences. “It was a difficult task, as it touched on the most active and prominent representatives of our science. However, we developed and adopted a new charter. It was difficult work. There were many misunderstandings and direct resistance. Nevertheless, the general elements which were thought to be the basis of the charter – a democratic character, electivity, independence, high professionalism – we managed to maintain them. We believe the charter fully reflects all the things which should be in science and make science effective,” Fortov thinks.
According to him, today the Academy of Sciences is the most recognized organization: “15-17% of all scientists of the country work in it. It provides 55% of all publications in rating magazines. If you count expenditures per dollar, we take first place among other scientific organizations.”
The President of the RAS says that at the moment the second, key, and most dangerous stage of the reform begins: “We are turning to the second stage, which requires working on science, organization of science. And this stage is connected with great risks, as it is not clearly specified in the law like the first one – the functions of the Academy of Sciences and the functions of FASO are not distinguished clearly. Neither the Academy nor FASO is guilty, because they couldn’t influence the development of the document which determines our life. And of course, neither side understandsome the limits of their functions.”
“We believe that the law should be improved. A rule of two keys should be launched. It would enable us to divide functions in a way which was voiced by the President and the Premier of the country: the RAS should be responsible for a scientific, network component of research; FASO should be responsible for financial economic affairs. It seems logical, as scientists never intend to take functions which are not typical for them. The problem is implementation of it in practice. The stage begins today.”
Answering Vestnik Kavkaza’s question on scientific projects in the Caucasus, Fortov stated: “In the North Caucasus there are scientific centers which are included in the RAS. And today we are trying to develop a program which would cover the acute problems of the North Caucasus – energy, food supplies, security, historicak and ethnographic issues which are important for the stability of the important territory… We have major projects with Armenia. I have recently visited Armenia. Our delegation visited Azerbaijan. Some joint projects were outlined. We should use the experience of the USSR at a new level in such spheres as geology, oil and gas.”
