Il Buco Nero

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As a result of the summer 2008 budget package (L 133/08) and legislation that passed the lower house of the Italian Parliament on 15 October (DDL 1441-quater), 600 researchers and technicians from the Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare (INFN, the Italian National Institute of Nuclear Physics) are at risk of being forced to abandon their careers in research. In particular, for these 600 researchers and technicians with temporary contracts (in a national institution with 1800 permanent employees), the recent legislative developments exclude virtually all possibility of being added to the permanent staff, now or in the future. These dramatic events have endangered one of the most vital and productive sectors of Italian research.

As one example of the INFN’s scientific achievements, the Institute has contributed critically to the design and construction of the accelerator and experiments for the LHC project at CERN, with a total investment of about 1 billion euros over the last decade. Half of that outlay has been reinvested in Italy in the form of industrial contracts, advancing the competitiveness of the Italian technological sector. As a result of the recent legislative developments, hundreds of INFN researchers and technicians with temporary contracts, who are making vital contributions to the LHC program, are at risk of being laid off. Most have never had the chance to participate in a selection procedure for a permanent contract. Few will be able to do so in the future. The training of a researcher requires hundreds of thousands of euros of public investment. The growing brain-drain as young Italian researchers flee to foreign employment will condemn Italian research to a slow but relentless decline.

For these reasons, we urge a return to a serious, competitive, and sustained system for the recruitment of research personnel; hiring plans for public research institutes that are commensurate with the activities and responsibilities undertaken by each; and funding levels for research that are similar to those in other European nations. More immediately, we urge the revocation of the 10% reduction in personnel introduced as part of L 133/08, and that in establishing new hiring limits, the specific circumstances in each of the Italian public research institutions be taken into serious consideration.

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