Send us a link
Europe’s Science Spending Set for Another Big Boost
On 7 June, the European Commission will lay out detailed plans for one of the biggest single research programs on the planet. Called Horizon Europe, the program could be worth EUR97.6 billion between 2021 and 2027, up from about EUR77 billion for the current 7-year program, Horizon 2020.
No Race or Gender Bias in a Randomized Experiment of NIH R01 Grant Reviews
No Race or Gender Bias in a Randomized Experiment of NIH R01 Grant Reviews
A randomized experiment of NIH R01 grant reviews finds no evidence that White male PIs receive evaluations that are any better than those of PIs from the other social categories.
How an Abandoned Lab Could Show us the Future
The Amani Hill Research Station in Tanzania was once one of East Africa’s leading laboratories – now it is a shadow of its past glory.
New Fund to Support Groundbreaking Open Research
Wellcome new Open Research Fund supports innovative approaches that enable data, code or other research outputs to be discovered, accessed and reused.
Scientists Get More Bang for Their Buck If Given More Freedom
Scientists are more efficient at producing high-quality research when they have more academic freedom, according to a recent study of 18 economically advanced countries. Researchers in the Netherlands are the most efficient of all. The existence of a national evaluation system that is not tied to funding was also associated with efficiency.
Against Metrics: How Measuring Performance by Numbers Backfires
By tying rewards to metrics, organisations risk incentivising gaming and encouraging behaviours that may be at odds with their larger purpose. The culture of short-termism engendered by metrics also impedes innovation and stifles the entrepreneurial element of human nature.
Are Funder Open Access Platforms a Good Idea?
Ethical, organizational and economic strengths and weaknesses of funder open access platforms: opportunities and threats presented by funder open access platforms in the ongoing transition to open access.
Limiting Grants to Well-Funded Labs
While no one is arguing for funding failure, the challenge is how we define “success.”
On Basic and Applied Science – and Red Herrings
Whatever we call it, investment in research will lead the way to important short- and long-term discoveries.
UK’s Powerful Funding Body Takes Shape
UK’s newly minted unified funding agency has released the first outline of its strategy. The long-awaited document gives the nation’s researchers an insight into how the mega-funding agency - which will command a budget of GBP6 billion (USD8 billion) - will work.
Billionaires Are Rushing into Biotech. Inequality Is Following Them into Science
Billionaires Are Rushing into Biotech. Inequality Is Following Them into Science
In this era of billionaires and unequal funding, where is research going? And perhaps more importantly, how will our changing resources affect the training, success, and diversity of the scientists of our future?
What was Missing in Australia's $1.9 Billion Infrastructure Announcement
What was Missing in Australia's $1.9 Billion Infrastructure Announcement
It’s not hard to get excited over money that will support imaging of the Earth, or the Atlas of Living Australia. But important as these projects are, there’s a whole set of infrastructure that rarely gets mentioned or noticed: “soft” infrastructure. These are the services, policies or practices that keep academic research working and, now, open.
Money talks
With detailed proposals on the next R&D programme due within weeks, MEP Christian Ehler, the European Parliament’s Horizon 2020 lead, explained his priorities to Ben Upton.
Budget 2018: When Scientists Make Their Case Effectively, Politicians Listen
Ministers prepare to debate Horizon Europe
EU research ministers will meet at the end of the month to debate how the EU’s next R&D programme, Horizon Europe, can help address the bloc’s societal and economic challenges.
Australian Budget Delivers for Science Facilities and Medical Research
Research facilities and medicine were among the winners for science in Australia's 2018/19 national budget. The government will push to invest almost Aus$1.9 billion (US$1.4 billion) over the next 12 years in shared research infrastructure. Scientists welcome relative windfall after years of stagnating funds.
Luck of the Draw
Funders should assign research grants via a lottery system to reduce human bias, says Dorothy Bishop.
Report Harassment or Risk Losing Funding, Says Top UK Science Funder
The Wellcome Trust vows to pull grants if researchers or institutions do not abide by its new misconduct policy.
Federal Partners Release Interagency Strategic Plan for Microbiome Research
A group of 23 U.S. government agencies, including the NSF, have joined to produce the Interagency Strategic Plan for Microbiome Research, which outlines the objectives, structure and principles for coordinated research in this important field of study.
Scientists' Early Grant Success Fuels Further Funding
A new paper suggests that positive feedback in funding may be a key mechanism through which money is increasingly concentrated in the hands of a few extremely successful scholars, but also that the origins of emergent distinction in scientists' careers may be of an arbitrary nature.