By Aristides Hatzis* for kathimerini
In December 2023, the Greek Ministry of Education issued a call for proposals under the “Trust Your Stars” research program. The aim of the call was supposedly “to create the appropriate conditions for the utilization of existing scientific potential, the formation of new perspectives in their scientific and professional careers, and the implementation of research projects with a high impact on the economy and society by producing high-level research.” The call also contained other grandiose promises about hubs of “Excellence and Innovation.”
If you read the related articles in Kathimerini, you will already know how this initiative ended – in disaster. But this disaster had many victims. Not only excellence and science, but hundreds of young scientists who made the mistake of believing that the Greek state was reliable, giving up positions, missing opportunities, and taking risks to participate in this program. After 2.5 years, the Ministry of Education ended the program in an unacceptable manner, in a story unprecedented even for Greek standards.
In a nutshell: A total of 1,241 proposals were submitted and in July 2025 the results were announced. These were followed by reactions, as is the case in any competitive process. This time, the complaints were particularly intense for two reasons: because this was the largest funding program ever announced in Greece, but also because there were serious indications that AI was used in writing the evaluations of the proposals. More than 200 objections were eventually submitted, which, however, were never assessed, because the government chose silence until the issue went away. And what happened to those candidates who were informed that their proposal had been approved? Silence again. No official information, only rumors, leaks, and complete indifference.
I was one of those whose proposal was approved, even receiving a high ranking. So, allow me to describe to you the damage that this story caused, not so much to me, but to my younger colleagues. The reason I decided to describe my experience is simple: Those who decide on research policy usually have no idea what they are regulating, and how they affect the lives of young people, from whose work our society will move forward – because research policy is the crucial lever of economic development.
Countries with high investments in research show greater productivity, and create quality jobs with higher salaries, strengthening international competitiveness and innovation. Greece, however, is a typical case of research policy failure, because despite its high scientific potential, it has underinvested in research over time. You know the result: a massive outflow of scientists abroad, which is a national disaster.
I submitted the research proposal together with my colleague Katerina Galani (a professor at the University of Piraeus with a PhD from Oxford). We were fortunate to include in our team leading Greek scientists working in the country and abroad, as well as a strictly selected group of younger scientists. We worked on our proposal for months and then waited for over a year to learn the results, fighting tooth and nail to keep the team intact. The time came when we were informed that the proposal had been approved! We celebrated for a moment and then got to work. We recruited 30 scientists from six countries and committed them to our project.
Considering the Greek state trustworthy, we went on research trips at our own expense, gathering an invaluable treasure trove of evidence on Greek history, a treasure that will now remain untapped. But that is the least of it. The worst is the despair, the disappointment, and the anger of these young people who trusted us.
As I complete 25 years at a Greek public university, you will allow me to conclude with what I have learned over the years. This country not only does not support research – it undermines it. Not only does it not support excellence, it persecutes it. Not only does it not value investment in human capital, it systematically devalues it.
If you still have doubts, wait to see the reaction to this cry of despair. It will be silence again.
*Aristides Hatzis is professor of philosophy of law and theory of institutions, and director of the Laboratory of Political & Institutional Theory and the History of Ideas at the University of Athens.
