SPANISH YOUNG RESEARCHERS' MANIFESTO AGAINST PRECARIOUSNESS

Cultural and scientific progress ranks among the main characteristics of a developed society and is a reliable token of the welfare level it enjoys. It seems therefore reasonable for such a society to be aware of and appreciate the contributions to this progress.

However, it is widely known that a high percentage of the research activity in Spain is carried out by the so-called "Research Personnel in Training". Within this heterogeneous group are included Ph.D. students, pre- and postdoctoral research fellows and other not very well defined figures.

This collective group, fundamental for the research system, contribute during their training period to the development of the scientific projects they are assigned to, to the publication of results, to take out of technological patents, and very often to university lecturing tasks.

Consequently, no one doubts that the work carried out during the preparation of a Ph.D. thesis or a research project makes these researchers the basis of the scientific, university and industrial future of their country. However, this work remains unrecognised as `productive'...

Associated with this lack of recognition comes the absence of the rights belonging and granted by law to every worker (either in training or not), such as Social Security benefits, worker's compensation, maternity leave, etc. Adding to the persistence of this flagrant precariousness for several years, those affected must face the incapability of the institutions constituting the Spanish research system to absorb more than a tiny part of the personnel they contribute to train, independently of their excellent qualification.

In view of this situation, we demand

1. The recognition of the productive labour carried out by the Research Personnel in Training by means of an explicit regulation of their rights and duties.
2. The replacement of the current research fellowship system by a contract system providing this group with the social coverage deserved by any professional.
3. The promulgation of a law of minimum, applicable to all institutions, unifying the characteristics of the above-mentioned contracts as regards rights and duties.
4. That the Spanish research network be advanced and stimulated by means of an increase of investment in Research & Development and in training of research personnel, together with a parallel increase in the control of the destination of these funds, a closer involvement of universities and research centres in the country's productive network, and a closer proximity to the needs and worries of the citizens.

We present these demands before public opinion with the hope that they will serve to give an objective image of the everyday reality of a significant part of the agents involved in scientific and cultural progress in our country, and to prompt the need of deep reflection in search of possible solutions. We are convinced that the present situation will only keep our country away from the first places in the race for progress.

Federación de Jóvenes Investigadores / Precarios
Young Researchers Federation - Spain