Astronomy will remain a separate scientific discipline. Govind heeded the appeals of scientists

Minister of Science and Higher Education Jaroslaw Gowin signed a decree dot. The new classification of scientific and artistic disciplines, which provides for 44 scientific and 3 artistic disciplines. The minister heeded the appeals of astronomers and in the new division astronomy will remain a separate scientific discipline.

Minister Gowin stressed at a meeting with journalists that the new regulation concerning the disciplines of science and art „is a profound and fundamental change in terms of the wayob of practicing science in Poland". He also said that the previous classification was „The result of lobbying efforts by narrow scientific groupsoin, whichoThose who necessarily wanted to isolate theiroj scope of research only to have a greater impact on the wayob middle distributionow”. He added roalso that Polish science in the previous classification was very fragmented and thus the Polish system was incompatible with the world science system.

– So far we have had 8 areasow, 22 fields and 102 disciplines. From the very beginning of the work on the new Law 2.0 we were aware that the time was coming to implement the demands made by all international expert groups and by a large part of the scientific community. Postulates aimed at consolidating disciplines – Gowin said.

„Moving away from artificial narrowing of research, aligning the classification of disciplines with the standardoin international and the possibility of fair evaluation of scientific activity – these are the main goals of the new regulation on disciplines. The project at the consultation stage was widely discussed. Under the influence of the argumentoin the environment, adjustments were made to someorych assumptions” – reads the announcement on the ministry’s website.

The previous version of the draft assumed the creation of 42 scientific and 3 artistic disciplines. The signed regulation lists 44 scientific and 3 artistic disciplines. Astronomy will remain a separate discipline within the field of science and life sciences – This is the most important change in relation to the original draft. You can check the new division of scientific disciplines on the ministry’s websites.

– Although astronomy was included in the OECD classification, on ktowhich we modeled, to the physical sciences, we decided to meet the demands of the academic community – said Deputy Prime Minister Gowin. – At no stage, let alone the implementation of the Constitution for Science and the publication of subsequent actsoIn the executive we do not forget about scientists, for whom theorych, but also from whichorymy create a reform of higher education and science in Poland – added.

Astronomers from the Polish Astronomical Society, which brings together professional astronomers, protested against the regulation in its original formow since 1923. „Astronomy is one of the oldest sciences on Earth, and in our country it has a great, centuries-old tradition. We dare say that it is even a NATIONAL discipline! It is, after all, our compatriot, the Warmian canon Nicholas Copernicus, "paused the Sun and moved the Earth" – they wrote in an appeal.

The minister decided to take into account the rationale of scientistsow. – Astronomers turned out to be not only great scientists, but also great PR people, the minister admitted. The Polish Astronomical Society has collected more than 8 thousand. signatureoin the petition addressed in August to the Ministry of Science and Higher Education to maintain the status of astronomy as an independent scientific discipline. Gowin added that the separation of this discipline was his personal decision. He explained that what determined the case in his eyes was the worldwide achievements of Polish astronomersow.

Another of the changes is the separation of disciplines "Cultural and artistic sciences" into two disciplines: "cultural and religious sciences", as well as "art sciences". The minister explained that this was the demand of the association Citizens of Science. Another change is e.g. Separation of a separate discipline of forest sciences (in the draft, one discipline was "agriculture, forestry and fisheries").

There is also a new discipline "medical sciences", in whichoThe disciplines proposed in the draft regulation were consolidated "clinical medicine and dentistry" and "basic medical and pharmaceutical sciences".

In the regulation, theology is recognized as a separate scientific field, and canon law was treated as a separate discipline in the field of social sciences. Gowin said that in the interpretation of the lawyerow Poland is obliged to such a solution by the Concordat.

The results of the evaluation translate directly into the distribution of fundsoIn funding to maintain and developoj research potential, on the authority to conduct studiesoin (including studiesoin doctoral studies) and to confer degrees and in the arts. This shows how big a role the issue of classifying fields and disciplines plays in the functioning of universities.

The new systematization of scientific fields and disciplines does not mean that a particular area of scientific research is being eliminated. Poszczegolne disciplines will be divided under a different systematic than the current one, and all current disciplines will be included under the new division, e.g. by joining – consolidation. This means that scientific research will be carried out in practice in all fields of research and will continue to be financed by fundsoin public.