科研抗疫自下而上？欧盟首席科学家愤而辞职

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4月8日，欧盟首席科学家，欧洲研究理事会主席（Europe Research Council, ERC）Mauro Ferrari 教授宣布辞去该职。这距离他一月份走马上任，刚刚三个月时间。

ERC旨在鼓励欧洲最高水平的科学研究，支持研究人员自下而上推动科技进步，其年度预算高达20亿欧元：

The ERC's mission is to encourage the highest quality research in Europe through competitive funding and to support investigator-driven frontier research across all fields, on the basis of scientific excellence.

注意这里面有一个关键词，investigator-driven，而这恰恰是Ferrari 教授辞职的根源所在。

在其发布的公开声明中，Ferrari称，这三个月虽然非常短暂，但对于他而言，已经太长：

So, may I take this opportunity to offer my sincere, and humble gratitude for the opportunity to be part of the European system for this time period, which proved to be simultaneously too brief, and yet too long.

原来，新冠疫情席卷欧洲之下，走马上任的Ferrari雄心勃勃，大力推动建立大规模的抗疫研究计划：

As it became evident that the pandemic would be a tragedy of possibly unprecedented proportions, I moved that the European Research Council should establish a special program directed at combating Covid-19…  the very best scientists in the world should be provided with resources and opportunities to fight the pandemic, with new drugs, new vaccines, new diagnostic tools, new behavioral dynamic approaches based on science, to replace the oft-improvised intuitions of political leaders.

然而这一提议却被ERC的科学理事会全票否决：

The proposal was rejected unanimously by the governing body of the ERC, without even considering what shape or form it may take, and to such an extent that my presidency became fully opposed by them, in every respect.

反对者的理由，就是因为ERC的宗旨是资助科研人员自下而上的研究，investigator-driven，不能自上而下，不划重点，也不管社会效益：

 The rejection of my motion was based on the notion that the ERC funds “Bottom-Up” research: It does not specify focus areas or its funding objectives, nor does it consider beneficial impact on society as a funding criterion.

欧盟主席Ursula von der Leyen曾亲自干预此事，但也无济于事，让Ferrari极其失望：

I have been extremely disappointed by the European response to Covid-19, for what pertains to the complete absence of coordination of health care policies among member states, the recurrent opposition to cohesive financial support initiatives, the pervasive one-sided border closures, and the marginal scale of synergistic scientific initiatives.

Ferrari 可以说经历传奇，生于意大利，早年在伯克利求学和工作，研究固体力学夹杂问题。后来华丽转身，研究医药。

Ferrari在欧盟的遭遇，是欧美文化的冲突，亦或是计划研究和市场研究冲突？研究人员可以凭借兴趣随心所欲，但政府科技部门是否应该指引方向和路线？您如何看待这些问题，不妨留言与大伙分享。

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