The Biology Centre Expresses Strong Opposition to Government Cuts in Science Funding
The Biology Centre of the Czech Academy of Sciences expresses deep concern over the government’s decision to reduce funding allocated for research, development, and innovation by CZK 790 million and redirect it to other expenditure items of the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports (Government Resolution No. 914/2025 of 19 November 2025). The budget of the Czech Science Foundation (GA ČR), which represents a key pillar of basic research funding, was reduced by CZK 160 million. Additional funds were taken from the Czech Academy of Sciences, universities, and the Technology Agency of the Czech Republic — institutions that provide essential funding for research infrastructure, international collaborations, and applied research. These cuts do not involve reducing researchers’ salaries but rather the removal of purpose-bound funds necessary for carrying out excellent scientific research itself.
Basic Science at Risk
Funding of Czech research has long been below the EU average, and it must be stressed that further cuts to science budgets will not generate meaningful savings for the state. Their consequences, however, will be far more damaging than any short-term financial benefit.
“The government’s decision to save at the expense of science will backfire and halt the promising rise in the prestige of our well-established research in the countries we look up to as models. Cutting the already insufficient budgets of the grant agencies, the Czech Academy of Sciences, and the Ministry of Education is neither a good step nor a considered one. There is a very real risk that we will fail to maintain the international character of our science, that our foreign colleagues and young talents will leave, that we will be unable to hire new colleagues arriving from the USA and other countries, and that regional innovation will be significantly weakened. It is essential that lawmakers and the public recognize this: Czech science is in danger, and it is our responsibility to preserve it for the future of our country and the entire civilized world,” says Libor Grubhoffer, Director of the Biology Centre of the Czech Academy of Sciences.
Supporting Basic Research Is Not a Luxury — It Is an Investment with Enormous Societal Returns
Many major scientific breakthroughs — with direct impact on society and contributing to the international prestige of Czech science — have arisen precisely from basic research projects. In the natural sciences alone, these include the renowned research of Prof. Antonín Holý, whose work led to the development of new antiviral drugs, including successful treatments for AIDS. Very promising for future treatments of genetic diseases is also the recent Czech discovery of unique shortened tRNAs, in which scientists from the Biology Centre of the CAS were involved, including Julius Lukeš, who this year received the Czech Head National Award.
We Reject the Artificial Pitting of Schools Against Science
Scientists and staff of primary and secondary schools together create and transmit knowledge, which forms the basis of an educated and innovative society. Part of the funds originally designated for research has now been reallocated to the salaries of non-teaching school staff, creating a false conflict between schools and scientific research — a conflict that is harmful and unnecessary. Both are essential for the country’s future, and neither should be financed at the expense of the other.
Czech society has every reason to be as proud of its science as it is of the athletes who represent it on the world stage. Among the successful researchers regularly contributing to the most prestigious international scientific journals are also South Bohemian scientists from the Biology Centre of the CAS. Yet this success is now under direct threat. If the Czech Republic is to remain a modern, innovative, and respected country, the government must reconsider cuts to funding intended for basic research.
