A comprehensive review of research into the economic consequences of controversial water buybacks in the Murray-Darling Basin reveals many studies are of poor quality. Better standards are needed.
Indonesian policymaking is predominantly informed by research with poor theoretical engagement, with no strong tradition of peer review and with legal threats to academic freedom.
Money doesn’t grow in flasks – scientists have to find funds outside the lab.
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Money always seems tight for university scientists. A sociologist conducted hundreds of interviews to see how they think about funding sources and profit motives for basic and applied research.
For research to have an impact, it needs to be used or applied in some way.
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A team of archaeologists strived to improve the reproducibility of their results, influencing their choices in the field, in the lab and during data analysis.
Opening up data and materials helps with research transparency.
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Partly in response to the so-called ‘reproducibility crisis’ in science, researchers are embracing a set of practices that aim to make the whole endeavor more transparent, more reliable – and better.
The scientific refereeing process can be tedious, time-consuming and isn’t very rewarding.
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There is a very real risk that South Africa’s major research projects will stumble and the whole research machine will be shut down by ongoing student protests.
Experiment design affects the quality of the results.
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Embracing more rigorous scientific methods would mean getting science right more often than we currently do. But the way we value and reward scientists makes this a challenge.
South Africa needs some universities that focus on teaching, and others that concentrate on research.
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South Africa must examine how science funding is allocated to universities. It also needs to acknowledge that not all universities should be focusing on research and development.
Pinpointing the problems with the way research is assessed.
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Engagement is not impact, and simple measures such as non-government research income tell us very little about genuine external engagement between universities and industry.
Over the next 10 years, there is forecast to be 14 million more students studying in India.
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India has invested hugely in to reforming its higher education sector – Australia must view this as an opportunity to capitalise on this growth through partnerships and training schemes.
How useful is ERA for measuring research quality?
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Previous Vice President of the Academy of Science of South Africa and DSI-NRF SARChI chair in Fungal Genomics, Professor in Genetics, University of Pretoria, University of Pretoria