Zorba the Greek scientist

Abstract

I begin by stating that I have not regretted coming back to Greece after 17 years of working abroad and that I have no plans to seek employment in another country. I still enjoy both living in and doing science in Greece. Having said that, let me say that most non-Greeks to whom I describe my life as a researcher tend to see in me a clear-cut case of schizophrenia.How can one plan anything in a country where, over the past 15 years, there have been 10 or so different Secretaries-General for Research and Technology and a slightly larger number of Ministers of Education? How can one do research when the annual funds allocated to the universities for that purpose arrive in August, or even later (if ever)? How can one hope to obtain the necessary funds if, in order for a research grant proposal to be accepted, one has almost always to include a partner from the private sector, even on the most basic science projects? And this, in a country in which the private industry hardly invests any money in development. The solution to these and other similar problems was provided years ago by Nikos Kazantzakis, Greece's most famous modern writer: act like Zorba the Greek — be ebullient.Unpredictability is the most prominent characteristic of modern Greek life, and science is no exception. As a matter of fact, unpredictability is itself so predictable that most of us have learned to live with it. For example, there are always transport strikes during the days before Christmas or Easter, so you plan your travel accordingly. There are always power failures in Crete in the winter months, so you use sophisticated back-up systems to ensure that your sequencer will be running uninterrupted. You know that a letter from Greece to Brussels will take anything from one day to two weeks, so you use an overnight courier when you need to meet a grant deadline. You not only learn to cope with these ‘simple’ problems, but you also wonder why foreigners can't.Are these the only problems encountered? Obviously not, but I don't think it would help to write a catalogue of examples of how things should not be. Several of these problems are not unique to Greek scientists; indeed, some of them have already been mentioned in this column by my colleagues of different nationalities when they described the situation in their own home countries.There is the ever-present problem of the brain drain towards the United States and other more developed countries, affecting all levels of science from graduate students to established researchers. There are the usual complaints about some particular rules of European Union research funding — coping with these often requires a very good sense of humour. And the biggest problem is the exhaustion arising from the constant need to overcome these difficulties. This fatigue leads many excellent scientists to feel so defeated that they're likely to give up the struggle — for ever.Am I really schizophrenic when I say that I enjoy my job, then? I don't think so. Things do improve in Greece. There might still be four ministries that are responsible for research but, although for several years the complete lack of communication between them was a fact of life, the Secretariat General for Research and Technology (SGRT) will soon be heading a coordination committee. Furthermore, the SGRT is perhaps the least bureaucratic Government agency and the Secretary General was, before his appointment, an active researcher himself. The fact that he's been in office for more than two years, an aeon by Greek standards, offers the hope of a degree of consistency in the Government's policies.Moreover, structural funds from the European Union, co-administered by national agencies, provide the opportunity to acquire equipment that could not otherwise be purchased. In addition, there is also a small but measurable influx of young postdocs who take advantage of some of the European Union's mobility programmes. These postdocs come to work in some of the already existing excellent Greek laboratories, which help act as a nucleation core as well as reversing, to some extent, the brain drain. All of these facts, combined with several everyday improvements in Greek life, will help, sooner or later, to bring research in my country much closer to what are considered to be ‘international standards’.As I said, I still enjoy it here. And if something unpredictable happens that will prevent me from working for a few hours, well, the beach is 10 minutes drive from the lab and you can reach the snow in less than an hour. There are not many places that offer these advantages and Zorba the Greek could only thrive here!