Paris

Lionel Jospin, the French socialist prime minister, has pledged a new deal for young researchers if he is elected president.

Speaking at Genopole, the science park in Evry, near Paris, on 13 March, Jospin promised to improve conditions for PhD students by providing an increased stipend and better career training. He also outlined a proposal to offer researchers permanent positions after two years of postdoctoral work, much earlier than is now the case.

“Increasing the number of posts is not enough to encourage young people to consider research careers if they have to spend years in postdoctoral positions,” Jospin said. He also promised to reduce the teaching loads of new university researchers, and to give bigger grants to teams with young leaders.

In addition, he pledged to reorganize the administration of research, creating a new ministry to deal with research, technology and higher education. Jospin had put research under the control of a separate ministry after the sacking in March 2000 of education and research minister Claude Allègre, whose reform attempts sparked a rebellion in the research community (see Nature 404, 421; 2000).

Some researchers have still not forgiven Jospin for standing too long by Allègre, a geochemist at the Paris Geophysical Institute, who is still close to Jospin.

Jospin added that he would try to increase the amount of French gross domestic product that is spent on research and development to 3%, in line with a promise made by European leaders last week.

The two-round presidential elections, on 21 April and 5 May, pitch Jospin against Jacques Chirac, the conservative incumbent. Legislature elections follow in June, and could end a stand-off between Chirac and the legislature's socialist-dominated coalition. Observers say that a president and government of the same party would speed much-needed research reforms.