Juan Manuel Corchado: The State Investigation Agency suspends the rector of the University of Salamanca | Science | EUROtoday

The largest public physique for funding science in Spain, the State Research Agency, has “precautionarily suspended” its collaboration with pc engineer Juan Manuel Corchado, rector of the University of Salamanca, as confirmed by the company's director. the physicist Domènec Espriu, to EL PAÍS. Until now Corchado had had a task as an evaluator, with affect within the distribution of public cash of the establishment, which has an annual funds of 1,420 million euros per yr.

The company, belonging to the Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities, communicated its determination to the rector on June 14, simply two days after the Spanish Research Ethics Committee urged the University of Salamanca to train “its inspection powers.” and sanction” in response to “the alleged bad practices” of Corchado. The engineer, professor of Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence, has boasted lately that he’s the fourth most cited scientist in Spain in his discipline, and one of many 250 most talked about on this planet, because of a resume swollen with hundreds of self-dates and dozens of faux profiles devoted to relationship you. Corchado, born in Salamanca 53 years in the past, additionally gave written orders to his employees to summon him 20 or extra instances in every examine, in accordance with inner messages printed by this newspaper.

The rector, who since April 23 has refused to be interviewed by EL PAÍS on quite a few events, stated final Sunday in The Salamanca Gazette which has been made accessible to the Ministry and the Spanish Research Ethics Committee to make clear any doubts. The committee's report on June 12 urged the Salamanca college to oversee its personal rector. “Since the competence of this committee is to ensure scientific integrity and ethics and given the alleged seriousness of the facts, this committee considers an exhaustive and independent verification of them by the competent authorities to be essential and unavoidable,” the committee stated. , chaired by Jordi Camí, director of the Barcelona Biomedical Research Park.

The report doesn’t expressly point out the rector, however it does cite an article about Corchado from Retraction Watch, the American group specialised in scientific fraud that already uncovered the professor's dishonest in March 2022. Although it’s apparent that the committee's opinion refers to to his practices, Corchado sows doubt. “I am completely calm and we have received a report that is what they have made public.” […]. The University will analyze it with absolute transparency, however I’ll let you know that my identify doesn’t seem within the report,” the rector declared on Sunday in The Salamanca Gazette. In the identical interview, he insisted that he needs to construct a brand new campus on the outdated Mercasalamanca grounds, with the assistance of the Salamanca City Council, whose mayor is Carlos García Carbayo, of the Popular Party.

A dozen professors from the University of Salamanca consulted by this newspaper mistrust the establishment's means to transparently examine its personal rector. The president of the Research Ethics Committee of the Salamanca college is Bertha Gutiérrez, who has publicly supported Corchado and is one among its vice-rectors. The engineer introduced himself as the one candidate within the elections for rector on May 7, when his unhealthy practices had already been printed, and acquired 474 votes in favor amongst everlasting professors (tenured and full professors), with 401 clean and one other 48 null. .

At his inauguration ceremony on May 31, Corchado acquired a one-minute ovation within the auditorium of the University of Salamanca. “There will be nothing, absolutely nothing, that will stop us. I am sure that, in addition to winning, with our works we will also be able to convince,” proclaimed the new rector, paraphrasing his predecessor Miguel de Unamuno, who on October 12, 1936, in the middle of the Civil War, uttered his legendary phrase “Winning is not It is convincing.” Both the mayor of Salamanca and the president of the Junta de Castilla y León, Alfonso Fernández Mañueco (PP), supported Corchado on the ceremony. “If we continue working together, no one is going to stop us: all of us together,” stated Mañueco.

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