Controversial appointment at research agency sparks outrage

Science|Business 16 February 2022

Slovenian universities and research stakeholders are decrying government interference in the appointment of a new head of the Slovenian Research Agency (ARRS), writes Florin Zubascu for Science|Business.

The agency’s management board appointed cardiologist Mitja Lainscak as acting director on Saturday 28 January, a few days after the government replaced four members of the board who disagreed with that decision, and had instead twice proposed economist Lidija Ticar Padar for the job.

Jana Kolar, the recently appointed chair of the European Strategy Forum on Research Infrastructures, and among the most high profile women in science administration in Eastern Europe, is one of the four board members dismissed by the government. Replacing four board members so quickly and without proper reasons amounts to “interfering with the professional independence of the institution,” Kolar said.
Full report on the Science|Business site

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