Giving new purpose to old bottles. Using supplies and equipment on loan instead of purchasing them. Examining previous data rather than gathering fresh information. These are just a few of the tactics that researchers in Argentina are employing to continue their work during one of the worst funding crises they have ever faced.
Galo Soler Illia, a nano-biochemist at the National University of San Martín and the National Scientific and Technical Research Council of Argentina (CONICET), stated that the funding sources have been shut off, reaching an unprecedented level.
President Javier Milei has been in office for 8 months and has actively reduced government spending and lowered the budget deficit to stimulate Argentina’s struggling economy. Despite not carrying out his threat to shut down CONICET, which supports the majority of Argentina’s scientists and finances over 280 research institutions, Milei’s budget cuts will have a significant impact this year. Funding for a second significant funding agency, the National Agency for the Promotion of Research, Technological Development, and Innovation (Agencia I+D+i), is expected to decrease by 65.5%.
Argentina’s scientists are accustomed to financial struggles due to the country’s persistent issues with high inflation and a devalued currency. However, the budget reductions for this year are compelling them to get even more innovative.
Ecologist Victoria Werenkraut has chosen to reuse water bottles as breeding cages for the insects she researches, rather than purchasing new containers. A grant was awarded to the researcher at INIBIOMA institute in Patagonia, managed by CONICET and the National University of Comahue, two years ago to investigate the effects of an invasive ladybug species on indigenous populations. However, she has not received her yearly payment of around 637,000 pesos (equivalent to $661) so far this year. Therefore, her laboratory started gathering big water bottles and creating ladybug hotels by punching holes in them. According to Werenkraut, the work results in “less time available for researching and writing papers.”
Meanwhile, Soler Illia is engaging in a different type of recycling in order to support his research on nanomaterials. He mentions that purchasing a new reagent for a chemical reaction can be both too costly and time-consuming to import. “Instead of that, I prefer to utilize a reagent from a past project, regardless of its age of 5 years.” However, he points out that this method leads to slower scientific progress as it may require a week to purify the reused reagent.
Similar to Werenkraut, Soler Illia hasn’t been awarded any funding from a grant he has won this year. Numerous other researchers are concerned about a broad halt in the distribution of funds for PICT grants, which are usually granted for a period of 3 years and are essential for research funding in Argentina. A representative from Agencia I+D+i informed Science that the allocation of funds is currently being reevaluated.
In the meantime, scientists are frustrated by their inability to receive responses to urgent inquiries regarding the funds they were guaranteed. Jorge Montanari’s team, based in Buenos Aires, is intending to work together on a project with Paris-Saclay University in France. Argentine researchers were scheduled to travel twice to France, and French researchers were also set to make two trips to Argentina. However, the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation in Argentina, responsible for funding the airline tickets and travel stipends, did not provide a response to Montanari’s emails, calls, or even an in-person visit. Therefore, the French team decided to skip one of their journeys in order to cover the expenses for the Argentine scientists to travel to France.
Mariano Morales, a biologist researching hydroclimatic variations in South America, has had to rely on existing data due to a lack of funds instead of conducting new field observations. He is employed at the Argentine Institute of Snow Research, Glaciology and Environmental Sciences, which is a CONICET institution located in the province of Mendoza, close to the Andes. Normally, the institute has seven pickup trucks for fieldwork, but currently only two are in operation due to insurance affordability issues. Morales has been keeping busy by examining data from previous campaigns. However, he states that this method is similar to exhausting resources. Inability to innovate or educate hinders the progress of the research stream.
Another growing source of concern for Argentine researchers is securing funds to publish their papers in open-access journals, which frequently require a payment of over $2000 per article. Argentine scholars frequently ask for reduced rates or waived fees, but publishers often refuse since Argentina is not classified as a low-income country. It can take several months to resolve the resulting standoffs. Diego Golombek, a biologist and senior CONICET researcher who studies chronobiology, mentioned that it took nearly as long for his last paper to be accepted as the struggle to receive a discount.
Golombek states that chaos and uncertainty are worsening the funding troubles. Lately, as he awaited updates on the PICT funds he had won the previous year, he was asked to submit the same proposal again with a different title for a future funding cycle. Golombek has readied the latest proposal, however, the agency delayed the deadline for submission and has not provided any updates yet. At the same time, he mentioned that the money from the initial suggestion could eventually be received. “He says it’s only gossip,” he says. “We cannot survive on gossip.”
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