Tokyo

Japan's partners in the Human Frontier Science Program (HFSP) — which supports international projects that take a multidisciplinary approach to problems in biology — have rebutted its plea for a firm commitment to more cash for the scheme.

At the programme's annual conference last month in Berlin, the partners, which include the United States and several European nations, declined to translate their support for HFSP projects into a formal agreement.

The HFSP was initiated by the Japanese government in 1989 to support biological research involving international teams, most of whose members work abroad on fellowships. Although it targets biological problems, recent emphasis has been placed on projects involving chemists, physicists, mathematicians and engineers.

But the HFSP has suffered as the dollar value of Japan's contribution, which accounts for more than half of its total funding, has declined with the yen. The United States and Italy, in particular, also fell far short of their targets. As a result, the HFSP has only US$50 million in funding this year against a $60-million target agreed by the partners in 1997.

According to one representative at the meeting, US officials angered other members at the conference by insisting that the 1997 target was non-binding. Research-agency representatives at the meeting agreed that the programme needs $30 million annually from outside Japan by 2004 — but failed to agree on how to divide this up.

“We could not reach an agreement on a framework that would make this compulsory,” says Takayuki Shirao, the HFSP's deputy secretary. The meeting did agree to expand support for young scientists and to try to ensure that jobs are open for HFSP participants when they return home.

Japanese officials expect the programme to continue, but are disappointed that the partners are unwilling to increase their stake in it. “Everyone praises the HFSP's significance,” says Shirao. “But even after 10 years, the HFSP's tragedy is weak financial support for such international projects.”