The new Prime Minister has an opportunity to reverse the cuts to science funding and transform Australia into an innovative nation.
Tracy Sorensen/Flickr
A Turnbull government has an opportunity to redirect Australia towards being a science and innovation nation.
A researcher buried in records requests can’t attend to actual science.
Man image via www.shutterstock.com
Some activists use open records requests to bully researchers – distracting them from their actual work and silencing others who don’t want to draw attention.
National priorities can help focus our research efforts.
AAP Image/Lukas Coch
The nine science and research priorities will help focus and coordinate our efforts, and aid government departments in supporting the future of Australian science.
It’s the people that make the projects a success.
Brookhaven National Laboratory/Flickr
A shift in our research funding model to fund individual people rather than whole projects could help support the best science.
Connecting researchers to industry and investment is a great idea.
Caleb Roenigk/Flickr
If we want to boost innovation in this country, we should emulate a scheme that has proven highly successful in the United States.
Cooperation among scientific disciplines still requires individual experts in their fields.
Sharon & Nikki McCutcheon/Flickr
Interdisciplinary research is a lofty ideal, but the realities of how science is conducted mean that silos should not be so quickly dismissed.
Like in 2010, cuts to science are a real possibility.
sw77/Flickr
Science funding is changing – let’s make sure it’s for the better.
A good scoring system can help the best rise to the top.
Michael Coghlan/Flickr
Academic metrics are only problematic if they’re poorly implemented. If they’re used carefully, they can be a powerful tool to allow talent to rise to the top.
Our research metrics have been twisted from their original purpose to determine quality.
NessieNoodle/Flickr
Metrics are changing the way research is conducted and funded, and for the worse. They need to be radically revised to measure genuine scientific output.
This is something that is worth preventing, whether in the concrete world or the world of academic publishing.
Wikimedia
Another retracted paper in the social sciences underscores the need for greater vigilance and reflection upon the causes of scientific fraud.
Australia has a long history of first class science.
Willem van Aken/CSIRO
Australian scientists are listened to by government and business, but must do more to ensure their advice and work contributes to a stronger future for Australia.
Academic publishers are attempting to build a walled garden around their content, blocking it off from public eyes.
the.Firebottle/Flickr
A new policy by publisher Elsevier is threatening to wind back the gains made by the open access movement.
Who’ll use the equipment if funding for researchers is cut back?
Flickr/Steven Lilley
The federal government’s 2015 budget has done little to restore confidence in the government’s support for science in Australia.
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.
Facilities funded under NCRIS, such as the Murchison Widefield Array, will continue to be supported under this budget.
Natasha Hurley-Walker/Wikimedia
The National Collaborative Research Infrastructure Strategy and Future Fellowships schemes have won a reprieve in this year’s budget.
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.
Not all science is about blue-sky research, such as that done at the Large Hadron Collider.
Maximilien Brice, CERN
If science wants to maintain funding it needs to be more socially relevant, but that will require reforming the metrics we use to judge its success.
The Southern Africa Large Telescope in South Africa’s Karoo region is the largest optical telescope in the southern hemisphere.
EPA
South African scientists and scholars produce the most significant portion of Africa’s recognised research publications.
Will this generation of politicians’ children choose science?
Shawn
Neither Labour nor the Conservatives have pledged to do as much as retain the current level of funding in their manifestos, despite their enthusiastic comments about science in the UK.
An uncertain future for science funding as the federal budget draws closer.
Maggie Hardy
One way to protect researchers from funding cuts in May’s budget is to make sure they explain the importance of their work to a wider audience.