German science funding at an impasse
DOI: 10.1063/PT.5.027943
Science : The heads of three major German science organizations are pushing for a change to the country’s constitution to allow for federal funding of scientific research. Currently such funding is the purview of Germany’s 16 individual states, but the funding programs already in place are set to run out in the next few years, and scientists are worried over what that will mean for the country’s university infrastructure and research facilities. Although the federal coalition government has promised €6 billion to the states for education and research, disagreement has arisen over how that money will be used: The states want the money with no strings attached, but the federal government wants some of it earmarked for universities and for the Excellence Initiative , started under former federal research minister Annette Schavan.
