DAVID GREENE, HOST: More than 40,000 scientists in Spain have signed a petition calling on the government to end cuts to their budget. They're blaming austerity for an exodus of the country's best and brightest researchers.</s>DAVID GREENE, HOST: Lauren Frayer has more from Madrid.</s>UNIDENTIFIED GROUP: (Spanish spoken)</s>LAUREN FRAYER, BYLINE: Hundreds of lab-coated scientists delivered their petition to Spain's Economy Ministry. They marched there last week because the Science Ministry, itself, was closed in budget cuts.</s>LAUREN FRAYER, BYLINE: Spanish universities are now allowed to fill only one in 10 jobs that open up. And researchers are still waiting for grant money due last January.</s>ANXO SANCHEZ: You don't have the money, you can't start the project. And this I am seeing all around me.</s>LAUREN FRAYER, BYLINE: Anxo Sanchez is a math professor, who's seen his department gutted. And he worries if there will even be a next generation of Spanish scientists.</s>ANXO SANCHEZ: I feel that my research is going to suffer soon - both my research and my family. So far, I believe my kids are receiving a good education. But as more and more good university professors are leaving, this may not be the case anymore.</s>LAUREN FRAYER, BYLINE: Research has been cut 40 percent in the past three years. Ruling conservatives are offering tax breaks to private sector labs instead. Marta Elvira is a management professor.</s>MARTA ELVIRA: There have been opportunities for partnerships. But obviously, that doesn't make up for the unavailability(ph) of public funds.</s>LAUREN FRAYER, BYLINE: Elvira returned to Spain five years ago from California. Had she waited any longer, she says she probably wouldn't have found a job here.</s>LAUREN FRAYER, BYLINE: For NPR News, I'm Lauren Frayer in Madrid.
More than 40,000 scientists in Spain have signed a petition calling on their government to freeze budget cuts blamed for an exodus of the country's best and brightest researchers. As the Spanish government struggles to avoid a bailout, it has cut the number of university jobs and research grants.