The Slovak Academy of Sciences (SAV) needs to be opened and internationalised, said its director Pavol Šajgalík. He also added that several SAV institutes have already acquired several people pursuing a PhD and also some post-doctoral staff. Meanwhile, the academy is attempting to attract back Slovak scientists from abroad, for example as part of the SASPRO project, which has provided a framework for the return of 38 Slovak scientists in recent years.
Šajgalík pointed out that scientists returning from abroad under the MOREPRO project, funded only from its own budget, can hardly receive such salaries as under SASPRO, while the project cannot receive as many scientists, either. "The project will be evaluated soon. MOREPRO has the same rules as SASPRO had - i.e. it allows Slovak nationals living abroad long-term to return home, but it's also open for foreign scientists," said Šajgalík, adding that this mainly concerns postdocs.
"It seems that their opportunities abroad are relatively limited ... They're full of creative enthusiasm, they'd like to work on their own things, but they're offered jobs abroad only on projects belonging to someone else ...," said Šajgalík, adding that SAV offers them the opportunity to create their own project team and pursue their own things.
