Vice-Rector for Science Agrita Kiopa: Researchers Should Make the Best of the Current Situation

What challenges are RSU researchers currently faced with?

Researchers are in the same situation as everyone else. They have to stay in their homes and comply with social distancing rules and other safety measures. We have managed to reschedule our daily activities successfully. All research institute directors and heads of research laboratories have agreed that employees should work remotely and only come to the laboratories when absolutely necessary to grow cells, or conduct other tasks that cannot be done remotely, for example. All on-site activities have currently been concluded and suspended.

This is an excellent time for researchers to review the data they have on hand and to read and draft new publications. We are working diligently and have submitted 42 project proposals to the call for Fundamental and Applied Research Projects. Research has not stopped, but has taken on a new form, taking the current opportunities and challenges into consideration.

Do these circumstances offer new opportunities regarding publications, or similar fields?

Being forced to stay at home and have restricted movement definitely allows people to focus on things that can be done right now and working on publications is one such thing. RSU has a very good IT system meaning that we can access all the necessary resources remotely, from anywhere. We are well equipped.

When will we find out the results of the international evaluation that recently took place at RSU? This was the most important recent event in the field of science and medicine at RSU.

We hope to see the experts’ evaluation in about a month. We understand that the experts will first write a report on all the institutions that they have seen, and then submit it to the Ministry of Education and Science. Only then will we be able to see and comment on this report to check if there are any incorrect or misinterpreted facts, for example.

The experts from the medical and public health platforms arrived at the time just before restrictions on mobility were imposed when people could still travel. All other panels have now been cancelled, and further expert visits will be rescheduled. We don’t know for how long, but these will probably not take place before autumn. We expect that the overall evaluation, including about the social sciences field, will certainly be postponed, and I do not think that it will happen before next year.

I want to emphasise that it is not easy to assemble a group of experts as they are all busy people with plans for the year booked in advance. The global pandemic is causing significant adjustments to these plans.

What is your personal opinion of how the expert visit went?

I think we managed to show our strengths and diversity very well. We also showed that our profile in the fields of medicine and public health is shaped both by researchers working in institutes and laboratories, and by lecturers and researchers who are also clinical specialists. The experts also had an opportunity to talk to our students and doctoral students, by which I mean our young researchers.

The experts were well prepared and asked precise questions. They also devoted time to the publications that we consider to be the best, and wanted to meet their authors, for example Kārlis Rācenis and Elita Poplavska. We can say with a clear conscience that we showed them all our scientific resources at a high level. I want to thank everyone who made time in their busy schedules and those who came from near and far, used their vacation days, and helped arrange the environment and prepare materials. It was a great pleasure to see how we were able to mobilise and work together as a university. I am also very pleased with the Research Department’s teamwork.

What would be the most important research tasks that you would like to undertake if it were possible to influence the current situation?

I would like to have more calls for projects that we could submit proposals to. RSU is pretty consistent and submits roughly 40 to 50 applications to each competition. This means that we have something to offer – we have ideas, we have teams, and we can work. I would like to have a wider range of government-initiated opportunities. I would like for the government to allow scientists to enhance their contribution to solving these problems in response to the pandemic and its repercussions – for example a call to a quick research competition. This is what the European Commission has done, and we are already assessing how we could get involved, but I would like to see opportunities like this in our country as well.

Regardless of what happens outside, we have another important task in the field of research. It is important to write a new research strategy for RSU by the end of the year. We have already started writing it by preparing self-assessment reports before the international experts’ visit. Scientists evaluated the current strategy at RSU, outlined the strongest directions for development and began developing the next strategy.

We must make the most of these uncertain, anxious, but hopeful times to reorganise effectively and carry out many important tasks.