On May 12, 2016, Minister of Education, Science, Research and Sport of Slovak republic Mr. Peter Plavčan discussed with leaders of the SRDA. The aim of his visit was to familiarize with the activities of this grant agency.
The Minister discussed with Martina Hasayová (director of the agency) and Mr. Josef Masaryk (chairman of the agency). They dealt with the currrent status and a role of the agency in the slovak system of research funding. Simultaneously, the recent general call for proposals was evaluated. Tha call for proposals supported projects in the total amount 59 millions euro. Percentage of sucesfull projects was around 30-35%. Minister Plavčan considers such percentage as optimal in order to support enough research institutions and, on the other hand, maintain the competetive character of the call for proposals. This successful rate could be achieved by increasing the volume of funds by the new management of the ministry.
Another topic of the discussion was the possibility of supporting young top scientists and the importance of promoting successes of Slovak science that was achieved by funding of the agency. In this regard, the agency prepares a publication that will present the best research projects of the agency over the past five years.
Illustrative photo, source: pixabay.com
