Biophysical Society Bulletin | March 2024

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Salamone has stated that CONICET needs to rethink how it spends its resources, for example, by bolstering research that helps alleviate the poverty affecting 40% of Argentines. Engaging with the private sector could free up funds for such research. A law could be passed soon to speed that process. Designed to aid the transfer of scientific and technological knowledge to private entities, it was proposed by Milei and is currently under examination in the National Congress. Critics worry the law would starve basic research of funding. One of the top science agencies in South America, with 11,800 researchers, CONICET currently lacks an approved budget. Even if the government matched the $400 million it received in 2023, the country’s 200% annual inflation rate has sharply eroded the budget’s value. Zelenskyy Pledges to Restore Ukrainian Scientific Landscape Back in November, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy visited Mariupol State University (MSU) at their new location in Kyiv to pay tribute to their resilience during a time of war. Since MSU relocated in April 2022, it has re-enrolled 3,200 students, ~70% of the prewar number. Thirty-one state universities have been uprooted from Russian-occupied territory since 2014, along with two dozen research institutes and scientific centers affiliated with the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine. Tens of thousands of students and academics have been displaced. For all the success that MSU has had in its relocation to Kyiv, not all relo cations proved as effective, with some institutions essentially “dying out.” Zelenskyy and his government remain committed not only to emerging from the ongoing war successfully, but also to restoring vitality to a fractured academic landscape and ultimately luring academics back to the country. Govern ment efforts to craft such a plan are currently underway.

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March 2024

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