Paris

Axel Kahn's is one of the most well-heeled genetics labs in France. As a pillar of the research establishment, he is not given to tempestuous announcements. But earlier this month, he threatened to resign as director of the Cochin Institute in Paris unless the government takes immediate and significant steps to boost French research.

Kahn, together with many of the country's top scientists, is a prominent member of a researchers' revolt. The protesters, known as the Save Research movement, made their demands on 7 January in an online petition. They want the government to pay research agencies the millions of euros it owes them, to boost recruitment of young scientists, and to launch a national debate on science. To give teeth to their demands, signatories pledge to resign all administrative duties, an act that could bring the country's research system to its knees.

The seeds of revolt were sown last year, when the national research agencies bore the brunt of a 1.3% cut in the country's €8.8-billion (US$10-billion) research budget. At Kahn's laboratory, for example, public funding fell 10%, and staff numbers dropped by 15 to around 150. “And we are one of the top labs in France,” he says. “Just imagine the situation elsewhere.”

Faced with crushing public deficits, the finance ministry has also withheld millions from the agencies, bringing them close to bankruptcy. The CNRS, France's national research agency, was until last week owed €172 million. The agency was only able to avoid going broke after the government freed up €103 million, promising to repay the rest in 2005.

But it is the job situation that sparked the protests. At INSERM, the national biomedical research agency, staff numbers are being cut and only 30 new positions are available this year, compared with 90 in 2003. New three- to five-year contracts, paying €1,900 a month, are also being shunned by young scientists, as it is almost impossible to rent an apartment or get a loan on a short-term contract.

Kahn says that anger among PhD students infected more senior staff, leading them to establish the petition, which has attracted more than 17,000 signatures. As a well-known public figure, Kahn feels obliged to go one step further than other signatories and resign his research position. He seems to be deadly serious about carrying this through: “I can't allow myself to make threats that are not credible.”

Last weekend, science minister Claudie Haigneré received Alain Trautmann, co-head of the biology department at the Cochin Institute and spokesman for the Save Research movement. Haigneré described the meeting as “constructive” and promised an inter-ministerial meeting to discuss the demands.

→ http://recherche-en-danger.apinc.org