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National Science Fund -National Science Fund -state of the art and trendsstate of the art and trends

Albena Vutsova

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Some details:Some details:

• Established in 1990• Functioning like second flow of government support-

although operating with insufficient budget• Way for restructuring the scheme of research

funding-from institutional to project /program one on the competitive base

• Managing bodies – consisting of eminent scientists • Member of ESF since 2001

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Public research funding in BulgariaPublic research funding in Bulgaria

GovernmentGovernment

Research InstitutesResearch Institutes National Science FundNational Science Fund

UniversitiesUniversitiesUniversitiesUniversities

ResearchersResearchers

Research Institutes Research Institutes LabsLabs

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Progressively increasing allocations by years

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2 000 000

4 000 000

6 000 000

8 000 000

10 000 000

12 000 000

14 000 000

2003 2004 2005

allocations

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Ambitious and Goals: Ambitious and Goals:

• Quality in focus• Aiming at high international level research• Milieu for strong competition• More intra and external integration• Pathway to the applied issues• Creating skilled new generation of

researchers• Strong accountability

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Research areas of interestResearch areas of interest

• Natural Sciences• Medical Sciences• Bio and agricultural sciences• Engineering and Informatics sciences• Social Sciences and Humanity

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garia Activity and Success Rate by Sciences Activity and Success Rate by Sciences

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Routine activities:Routine activities:

• Supporting scientific research – special emphasis on scientific excellence

• Fostering young researchers• Fostering international research

cooperation • Developing the evaluation practices

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Routine calls:Routine calls:

• Annual competition sessions-covering all research fields

• Yong scientists competition• Young talents competition• National programs competition –

targeted approach • Bulgarian periodicals competition

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Research ProjectsResearch Projects

Research ProgrammesResearch Programmes

Research InfrastructureResearch Infrastructure

Annual Scientific PrizesAnnual Scientific Prizes

Encouraging Young Researchers and Young

Talents

Encouraging Young Researchers and Young

Talents

grants

grants

Encouraging Research in Universities

Encouraging Research in Universities

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New instruments:New instruments:• Competitions fostering universities research • Competitions fostering research mobility• Competitions fostering national research potential:

• Infrastructure• Human potential• Centers of competence

• Joint projects under bilateral schemes

Good practices - bilateral schemes with:– Academic Exchange German Office (DAAD)– French Ministry of Youth, Education and Research –

RILA program

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Distinctiveness:Distinctiveness:

• Knowledge or strategic driven research

• Open to applications

• More basic research

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Applicable approaches:Applicable approaches:

• Bottom up approach- curiosity and knowledge driven approach- regular competitions

• Top-down approach- strategic oriented- national programs

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What we pay for:What we pay for:

• Research grants towards research entities

• Basic payments for:– Temporary permanent staff– Consumables – Equipment– Business trips– Overhead

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Managerial and Complementary bodies:Managerial and Complementary bodies:

• Executive council – 10 members• Research expert panels- 7• Secretariat• Add hoc panels and expert groups• Independent evaluators

NB! Principle of mandate for each structure is envisaged

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garia Applied methods for Applied methods for

evaluationevaluation

• Ex-ante – level of performance – good

• Interim- each year of the project progress- creeping to good

• Ex-post – insufficient performance and slim elements of track records yet

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generalgeneral

• Addressing the quality and originality of the scientific contents

• The competence of researchers to perform the proposed work

• Significance of the research problem• Utilization and impact of the results• Possible synergy effect and added

value

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Expert panel raporteur

evaluator

evaluator

Scores

ranking

project

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An attempt for analysisAn attempt for analysis

• Strong points:– Identifying major issues

of economy and society importance

– Facilitating inter and international linkages among researchers

– Availability of independent evaluation

– Strong ex-ante evaluation

– Lack of heavy administrative burden

• Weak points:– Lack of mix funding

sources and donators– Yet Insufficient budget – Insufficient number of

international evaluators– Insufficient ex-post

evaluation– Lack of sufficient track

records about project result and follow up (s)

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Lessons learnt:Lessons learnt:

• Strong prioritization

• Striving to effective research

• Fostering research networking

• Clear accountability

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Many thanks for your attention Many thanks for your attention and patience !and patience !

www.nsfb.net

a.vutsova@minedu.government.bg