Short-term thinking on job moves in EU

Funding bodies should provide more money for short-term moves by academics between universities in the European Union, a new report has recommended. The study by the European Law and Policy Research Group at Liverpool University said that short-term stays, rather than longer fellowships, would help scientists in Eastern Europe to come to conferences and collaborate and network with academics in the west. Western scientists might also benefit from short stays in countries such as Poland and Bulgaria, the report said. The report, which looked at movement of scientists between Bulgaria, Poland, Germany and the UK, said that funding for science in some Eastern European nations was dropping, and wages were so low that scientists had to take better-paid work in addition to their academic jobs.