English IV - Is science valued in Chile?

 Hello Everyone! 

Although the current pandemic has caused serious damage to people's physical and mental health, economic downturns in countries and extensive quarantines that seem like they will never end, it has also highlighted the role of the scientific community in society when it comes to establishing public policies and providing solutions to various health and humanitarian emergencies. Given this situation, is science valued in Chile as it should be? The answer is NO.

Currently, Chile invests about 0.4% of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in science and innovation while OECD countries invest an average of 2.8% of GDP, ranging from 1% to 4% of GDP. Now, is this deficit because good scientists are not being trained in the country? The answer is no, in fact, it is totally the opposite, and it has been evidenced during the pandemic where the scientific community has contributed with experience, wisdom and efficiency its knowledge either in the scientific or public area.

I would like to quote the words of the current president of the Academy of Sciences of Chile, Dr. María Cecilia Hidalgo, in an interview conducted by the newspaper La Tercera, which reflect the uncertainty of the students who are in a scientific career: "I know that more than 10 thousand people have left the country to study abroad... and today they have to return, but they have nowhere to go because there is no work for them". Finally, and what worries me most about this interview, even more so since we are in the process of the presidential elections, is that Dr. Hidalgo says that she made numerous invitations to the presidential candidates through mails and calls to discuss science, but almost none of them showed interest or responded. Could it be that the presidential candidates will not have Science as a priority? Let's hope not.

                                             I will be back with another blog soon, goodbye.