Spain’s ministry of science has been eliminated as part of a plan by new People’s Party Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy to cut costs and strengthen the government. The ministry was established in 2000. Four years later, it merged with the ministry of education, until 2008 when Cristina Garmedia was elected science minister. She revised Spain’s science law in May 2011, adding a research agency, a plan to coordinate regional government endeavors, and a stipulation that PhD students and staff must be contracted employees. The ministry endured funding cuts in both 2010 and 2011. Science and research will now be part of the economy and competition ministry. In November, the People’s Party slashed financing for the Prince Felipe Research Center for biomedical research, which was established in Valencia in 2005.

Source: Nature