National System of Researchers – Conacyt and the Fight Against Poverty in Mexico: Winds of Change and Generational

Abstract

Since the creation of the National System of Researchers (SNI) in 1984, research and technological development recognizes the work of researchers adhering to the SNI, by granting an economic stimulus, gradual and correlated to the level of importance of their productivity and scientific creation, whose purpose is to promote the development of science and technology in Mexico. The Council of Science and Technology (Conacyt), defines the policy line of action in the field of scientific and technological research, in accordance with the priorities that the National Development Plan and the Special Program of Science, Technology and Innovation 2014-2018 define as national priority research areas. Currently, one of the main problems facing Mexico is the poverty they present in large sectors of the population, both in rural and urban areas. The condition of poverty makes the population suffering from it suffer economic marginalization and social exclusion, whose objective expression corresponds, among others, to the lack of opportunities for access to employment, health, education and food deprivation, these being conditions that lacerate society and that constitutes a priority: the fight against poverty and social exclusion. This invites us to ask: How to approach the fight against poverty and social exclusion, from the perspective of social research in support of the elaboration of a public policy that social development in Mexico? This document analyzes the coverage, quality and relevance of the research on poverty and social exclusion, which they carry out in the SNI-Conacyt. In a first step to answer, is to identify from two sources of analysis: 1) Identify those who do social research aimed at the study of poverty and 2) Identify the number of institutions responsible for training human resources whose research is relevant to the study of poverty, and finally, 3) Identify the degree of generational change among researchers of the SNI-Conacyt whose research is poverty.