We received this email from Stathis Psillos, Professor of Philosophy of Science and Metaphysics in the Department of Philosophy & History of Science in the University of Athens, as well as editor of the journal Metascience.
-----
Dear colleagues
Over 650 colleagues in various disciplines, who since 2009 have been elected by various departments of Greek Universities to take up university posts, have not been appointed because the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Finance in Greece refuse to release the relevant funds for their appointments. There are some vague promises made for appointments in instalments, but these colleagues (mostly young people appointed as Lecturers) have been left totally in the dark as to the prospects of their employment. This situation is unprecedented and if it persists it is likely to force most of these people to leave academia and, in practice, to cancel the decisions made by faculties around Greece to appoint them—after open calls and elections that involved hundreds of Greek academics.
There is a petition aiming to exert pressure on the Greek Government. For more info see http://www.gopetition.com/petition/42790.html
For those of you who do not know how appointments in Greek Universities work, here is a brief summary: there is an open call for a position and a subject, issued by the department (which has already been approved by the University authorities and the Ministry of Education and has been cleared financially by the Ministry of Finance); a committee of 15 academics (a third of which are outside the University for which the post is advertised) is appointed to elect a candidate; after a written report by a three-strong committee of experts in the field one candidate is elected; then, the Government has to release the funds for the actual appointment of the elected member of staff.
All good wishes
Stathis Psillos
Recent Comments