A new law simplifies the path to a professorship and increases salaries for postdocs. With a bill approved by the Parliament on 30 June, the Italian government introduced a long-awaited reform of the academic career path that leads to a professorship.

Until now, after doctoral studies, young researchers might get a studentship (borsa di studio), a short-time collaboration contract, or a fellowship (assegno di ricerca). After these contracts, there were two types of positions: a three-year, untenured track one (called RTD-A), not followed by a permanent position, or more rarely, a three-year tenure track (RTD-B). At the end of this latter contract, the researcher could be promoted to associate professor.

Now the fellowship (assegno di ricerca), becomes a two-year research contract, extendable to five if it is linked to a European project. The new law brings the salary from €19,000 to €40,000 including social security and tax contributions.

The distinction between RTD-A and RTD-B is replaced by a unique researcher position: a six-year path that give access to associate professorship, and that can be reduced to four for those who already have a senior level and a paramount scientific production.

“The path after the PhD was too fragmented, causing insecurity and periods of unemployment that have affected young Italian researchers for years,” says Flavia Sciolette, member of the Association of Italian PhD candidates and PhDs (ADI).

However, some claim that there has been a lack of transparency in designing the reform. It was approved as an amendment of the so-called Decreto PNRR 2 (Recovery and Resilience National Plan National) Decree, a wider package of diverse issues that the European Union asked Italy to approve by the end of June as a condition for receiving recovery funds. “The Senate has never discussed the text that was approved by the Chamber, and no Senator has ever expressed their position. The Parliament has been overruled by the Government, killing any confrontation with us,” says Nunzio Miraglia, national coordinator of the National Association of University Professors (ANDU).

The press office of the minister of university and research told Nature Italy that the parliament had been working on the reform for a couple of years, and that the amendment was written in a way that reflected the parliamentary debate.

Members of ERC Italy, a non-profit association of ERC awardees, also claim that there was no debate with the research community, and cast doubt on whether the new research contract will reduce job insecurity. The researchers’ salary will be mostly unchanged, they say, because most of the increase will be taken by higher taxes that will apply to the new type of contracts. But, because contracts cost more, and because the reform also introduces a cap on how much universities can spend for new hires, the net result could be a reduction of researchers. “The possibilities of accessing research for young people will be halved and the smallest research groups could disappear,” says Elisa Cimetta, Chemical Engineer at the University of Padua and member of ERC Italy. “Recruiting researchers will not be easy even for European Research Council’s (ERC) awardees.”

Sciolette agrees that without a substantial increase in funding, the new system would not reach its goals. “The reform must be financially supported at a European level to guarantee to all the young researchers the possibility to pursue a tenure track”, she says. A spokesperson for the ministry of university and research points out that the latest budget law includes a plan to increase the ordinary fund for universities adding more than €900 million in the next four years, a sizeable share of which will be used for recruiting researchers.