Academics protest against planned cuts in subsidies for Academy of Sciences

Hundreds of Czech academics and their supporters protested in Prague on Tuesday against government plans to significantly reduce its funding of the Academy of Sciences. The state wants to cut subsidies for the institution from around CZK 5.9 billion to about half that amount by 2012, a move which academics say will threaten the future of research in the Czech Republic. They say qualified scientists will be fired and the country’s scientific infrastructure destroyed if the government goes ahead with the cuts. Tuesday’s demonstration was the first time members of the Academy of Sciences have protested since the fall of communism.

Author: Ian Willoughby