Given the challenges Australian cities face, the need for urban planning based on solid research is greater than ever. Sadly, when it comes to research funding, planning is at the back of the queue.
Humboldt University in Berlin. German universities may emerge as ‘winners’ from Brexit.
Tilemahos Efthimiadis
Research is the foundation for evidence-based policies. But because of funding prohibitions, there’s little US research to inform the contentious debate around gun violence and gun control.
There’s no blueprint for excellence, but some building blocks are crucial.
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Research institutes and “centres of excellence” exist around the world to draw talent and to share resources - all with the aim of solving important problems.
You can’t keep a good scientist down.
Vlad Tchompalov on Unsplash
President Trump’s first year was a rough one for scientists and others who value truth and expertise. Many rallied to the cause, while others used research to make the case for the value of science.
Predatory publishers are vultures feeding on academics’ worries about output and incentives.
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If there’s a general sense that academic publication is about knowledge dissemination rather than meeting performance targets, academics and universities become less vulnerable to predatory journals.
The National Research Foundation doesn’t have enough money for the growing number of researchers who qualify for “incentive” funding.
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South Africa’s National Research Foundation will dramatically scale back “incentive” funding to rated researchers, both those who already have a rating and those who will be rated in the future.
With no money to research guns, there’s no evidence to base policy on.
Håkan Dahlström
Horrific mass shootings in the US typically renew the national debate about gun policy. A gun researcher explains the lack of funding for study in this area and what that means for informed policy.
Sub-Saharan Africa can achieve meaningful and sustainable change in health by 2030.
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Alex Ezeh, African Population and Health Research Center; Nelson Sewankambo, Makerere University et Peter Piot, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine
Sub-Saharan countries have unprecedented opportunities to substantially improve health outcomes within a generation, largely with their own resources.
Basic research and applications coexist in a tangled two-way ecosystem.
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Research dollars don’t stay locked up in academia and government labs. R&D collaborations with the private sector are common – and grow the innovation economy.
Fishing boats docked at Hobart, Tasmania
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Scientists need funding to do their work. But a new study finds turning to industry partners taints perceptions of university research, and including other kinds of partners doesn’t really help.
University lecturers must keep learning new ways to teach.
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If you’ve only ever paired the idea of ‘rhetoric’ with ‘empty,’ think again. Rhetoricians of science have concrete techniques to share with researchers to help them communicate their scientific work.
Not much science will get done without the money to fund people and equipment.
Michael Pereckas
What are research dollars actually spent on? Rather than looking at artifacts like publications and patents, a new initiative directly tracks the people and businesses that receive research funding.
Director, Walter and Eliza Hall Institute & Professor of Medical Biology, and an honorary principal fellow in the Department of Zoology at the University of Melbourne, WEHI (Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research)
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