Advisory body slams over-reliance on project funding

Science council urges structural rethink to future-proof German research financing

Germany’s Science and Humanities Council, the Wissenschaftsrat, an independent body that advises the government on science policy, has issued a set of recommendations urging nationwide “structural changes in research funding”.

The Wissenschaftsrat said the changes were necessary because the previous steady increase in science funding could no longer be taken for granted in the future. However, universities were likely to be facing considerable cost increases, the council said.