The new federal education minister has kicked off what could be a major reset of university research funding in Australia, with a review and stern letter to the Australian Research Council.
Australian researchers will welcome the newly announced review of how their main source of non-medical federal funding, the Australian Research Council, operates. There’s a lot to consider.
A Senate committee is discussing a bill designed to shore up the independence of the Australian Research Council, after recent high-profile cases of ministers vetoing research grants.
Decisions on research funding are too complex for a pub test. Assessing grant applications requires a high level of expertise and diligence, which the minister simply disregarded.
Basic research is best when it’s allowed to proceed on merit, rather than with political interference, says an open letter from 63 leading researchers protesting government interference in ARC grants.
After years of government rhetoric about boosting the commercial benefits from university research, Australia’s record is still among the worst in the developed world.
Preprints are scientific papers made available before being published in a peer-reviewed journal. The Australian Research Council has banned researchers from citing them in grant applications.
After 11 years of Excellence in Research for Australia, the time and costs for universities and the value it creates for other sectors (none of which made submissions to a recent review) are unknown.
A Boxing Day Test match at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. Our research project sought to investigate the capacity of professional sport to communicate environmental issues and awareness.
Joe Castro/AAP
The decision to refuse the ARC and academic researchers a right of reply appears to be a straightforward breach of the News Corp Australia code of conduct.
What about the research that’s not considered a ‘priority’?
Flickr/Grant Williamson
It’s hard enough to get research funding in Australia, so what if your work falls outside one of the areas declared a “priority”?
The compact fluorescent lamp was primarily developed by private companies such as General Electric, Philips and Osram rather than in publicly funded research institutions.
Marcus Williams/Flickr
Research institutions don’t have a monopoly on innovation. In fact, most innovation comes out of business, and it’s this sector that needs more attention in innovation policy.
Gagging clauses in contracts permit purchasers of research to modify, substantially delay, or prohibit the reporting of findings.
stallio/Flickr
Government departments often commission research to help them understand and respond to policy issues. But they impose contract conditions that threaten to undermine the integrity of the work.
Not all scientists are motivated to engage in outreach in the same way.
Brad.K/Flickr
Science communication and outreach can be motivated in ways other than reforming research funding bodies.
Current research metrics only reward publishing in academic journals and effectively punish publishing in the popular press.
Tobias von der Haar/Flickr
If we want scientists to spent time sharing their discoveries with the general public, then we need to change research metrics to reward them for their efforts.
Resistance against the higher education reforms appears to have led to the scrapping of the Future Fellowships scheme.
COURTNEY BIGGS/Newzulu