Only young researchers, new places at Cinvestav, proposes a candidate for director

Fernando Camacho Servin

Newspaper La Jornada
Sunday November 20, 2022, p. 10

In order to reduce gender inequality at the Center for Research and Advanced Studies (Cinvestav) and at the same time renew the academic staff, one of the actions that can be taken in the coming years is to grant new research positions only to young women, as well such as appointing teachers to some of the most important positions in the institution.

This was stated by Alberto Sánchez Hernández, one of the three candidates who aspire to direct the aforementioned body, who pointed out that given the drop in his budget, strategies could be implemented to have alternative sources of financing through the collection of services and consultancies.

Since its creation in 1961, the center has fulfilled its goals, but over time many weaknesses have been accentuated, such as the fact that there is an incredible inequality between genders and that is something that we must solve nowindicated the researcher from the Physics Department of Cinvestav in an interview with La Jornada.

According to the academic, one of the actions that could be taken, although many of the colleagues do not like it and do not see it well, it is to establish gender quotas. At this moment we could have 10 percent of the places available and the demand that I would make of all schools is that they be assigned to young researchers, because our average age is high.

At the same time he said, I would encourage all command posts to be for women. He would have me accompany researchers from both the Planning and Academic Secretariats. This would not totally correct the difference (of genders in Cinvestav), but it would diminish it..

Regarding the agency’s budget, Sánchez warned that although it It grows year after year, it is not compared to the increase in inflation or the peso-dollar parity, which are our main references, because many of the reagents and equipment that we need are unfortunately priced in dollars.

To alleviate the lack of resources, the researcher proposed that Cinvestav seek alternate sources of funding, such as income from consulting or laboratory services we provide. Besides, we can seek agreements with industries, national or foreign institutions and with individuals or foundations that help finance science.as has been done in other years.

On the other hand, Sánchez warned that the institute’s enrollment has contracted by about 20 percent in the last eight years, partly due to the effects of the covid-19 pandemic, for which he called for identifying the causes of this phenomenon and increase the number of students.

Sánchez stressed that scientific research in Mexico is first-rate, but they must have more resources to consolidate and translate for the benefit of the population, which is the most important thing.