With Christmas not far off, universities will be hoping for some early presents in the form of good results in the UK’s long-awaited assessment of the quality of university research. Although the funding…
For the first time, the “impact” of academic research on the wider world has been included in a large-scale assessment of the quality of university research, which has just been published. One-fifth of…
Postdocs do the lion’s share of research, so maybe it’s time we started listening to them.
∞ katherynemily./Flickr
David Riglar, Harvard University and Douglas Hilton, WEHI (Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research)
Postdoctoral scientists – postdocs – are the engines of biomedical research. As early career researchers, they conduct the most experiments and are responsible for sculpting how we treat disease in decades…
It’s the research that counts.
Library by Shutterstock
I love my job. I’m trying to understand how plants build themselves out of thin air. It’s exciting, it’s creative, it’s beautiful and on top of all that it’s important and useful. I like working with other…
Who’s going to pay for this?
image via www.shutterstock.com
Foundation essay: This article is part of a series marking the launch of The Conversation in the US. Our foundation essays are longer than our usual comment and analysis articles and take a wider look…
Participants and guests at a Walk for Breast Cancer decked out in pink.
Breast cancer walk image via www.shutterstock.com
Awareness efforts can focus public attention and help scientists raise funds for research. But the impact on eradicating the disease itself and helping patients today is much less clear.
‘Trespassers will not be prosecuted’.
Giles Gasper
Bringing together great academic minds and diverse perspectives from different disciplines can transform university research. A recent project at Durham University called “Hearing the Voice” challenges…
Conflicting recommendations about flu drugs has made it difficult for doctors to decide whether to prescribe them.
Andrew Wales/Flickr
Research involving pharmaceutical company input is notoriously compromised. While not all industry ties lead to biased research, and not all biases are a consequence of industry ties, many studies show…
Who owns the university after the crash?
simononly
By international standards, British universities have extraordinarily high levels of autonomy. They control all of their assets, they employ their own staff, renew their own leadership and governors and…
Ian Macfarlane – here at the Anglo Australian Telescope in April – had science lumped in with his industry ministry.
AAP/Alan Porritt
On science and technology, the Abbott government is somewhat of a paradox. On one hand, the government passionately believes that deregulating the university sector is essential. By taking caps off fees…
When money’s tight, there’s no better time for researchers to bust out of the Ivory Tower and actively engage with the public.
Nhoj Leunamme == Jhon Emmanuel/Flickr
Much has already been written about the pressure on the Australian university system due to the federal government’s planned deregulation of fees, course funding cuts and significant research funding cuts…
Industry Minister Ian Macfarlane (right) wants universities to be more supportive of industry, but without significant funding into research and development, that’s a big ask.
AAP
Industry Minister Ian Macfarlane let his discretion slip this week in a speech to the Queensland Media Club when foreshadowing an upcoming report on research funding and competition. Distancing himself…
Scottish voters are still in the dark about key health and research issues.
Andrew Milligan/PA Wire
With September 18 drawing nearer, the people of Scotland still lack answers about how independence will affect a number of institutions, policies and their everyday lives. It is crucial to uncover what…
Research is a public good in itself, not only for the benefit of creating jobs and economic prosperity.
Flickr/International Institute of Tropical Agriculture
Forcing research and innovation to fit corporate needs exclusively sounds like a pretty blunt way to govern how public funds are awarded and used in universities. Granted, in a political environment touting…
Expanding protected areas to safeguard the unique biodiversity, such as these emperor penguins, is just part of the Australian research role in Antarctica.
Australian Antarctic Division
The Australian government’s blueprint for the Antarctic is due out soon. Given the recent cuts in public funding for science, what hope is there for any extra monies for the polar region. And what should…
This week saw the awarding of the 2014 “Future Fellowships.” The Australian Research Council (ARC) scheme totalling A$115 million provides 150 mid-career researchers with four years of salary and an annual…
Prof Brian Schmidt speaking at the TEDxSydney in 2012
Flickr/TEDxSydney
New funding expected to encourage world class excellence in research is not enough for the work involved in measuring the research, says Australian Nobel prizewinner Professor Brian Schmidt. In a perspective…
Teresa Marques, Centro de Filosofia da Universidade de Lisboa
Every five years, the Portuguese Science and Technology Foundation (FCT) reviews its research institutes from Astronomy to Zoology. But this year, for the first time, the FCT contracted the European Science…
Research funding will continue to be haphazard if an anecdotal approach continues to be taken.
Lisa S/www.shutterstock.com
Taxpayers want to know that their money is well spent on research. Yet funding agencies persist in trying to explain research results in terms of papers and publications rather than in terms of people…
How do we know if we’re getting value for money on research funding?
Flickr/Régis Matthey
Australia allocates around A$9 billion a year of taxpayers’ money for research, but how do we know if that money is being spent wisely? With the Australian Government threatening to reduce the amount of…
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