On the 15th of January Times Higher Education published an article by Dorothy Bishop entitled “The big grants, the big papers: are we missing something?” This article is an important reflection on current grant funding and research evaluation strategies in the UK. It also refers to important statements by the BSDB chair Ottoline Leyser summing up results from a survey by the Nuffield Council on Bioethics about scientific research in the UK (see THE CONSERVATION). Dorothy Bishop’s conclusion in THE article is bleak: “If our focus remains so narrow, we … risk losing sight of the purpose and meaning of science itself.” However, she also hints at a new path of communication with major UK funding organisations. If you would like to contribute to this discussion, please, leave your comment below.
