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+--- Thread: Funding isn't enough to fix science (/thread-10396.html)
Funding isn't enough to fix science - C C - May 30, 2021
https://worksinprogress.co/funding-isnt-enough-to-fix-science/
EXCERPTS: There is an urgent need to shore up America’s research establishment. But inadequate funding is only the tip of the iceberg: More fundamental problems have dogged American science and innovation for years.
Today, our breakthrough scientific discoveries appear less fundamental and less frequent than in decades past; scientists are spending increasing amounts of time on paperwork, administration, and bureaucratic compliance rather than on research itself; funding has become concentrated in a handful of well-established institutions; the average age of primary researchers continues to climb; and the so-called replication crisis has raised concerns about the reliability of many published findings. All of these point to deeper, structural problems in America’s R&D system.
The goodwill provided by the current R&D push has created an ideal opportunity to implement much-needed reforms to U.S. science funding. Yet, as it stands, the U.S. Innovation and Competition Act (USICA) does little, if anything, to address these problems.
[...] the USICA does little to address the many other systematic issues that have bedeviled the American research establishment for years. Most conspicuous, perhaps, is the so-called replication crisis. Independent confirmation of experimental findings — whether by reproducing experiments or replicating experimental results — is generally held to be an important, even essential, part of the scientific process. Yet, in recent years, it has emerged that an alarming number of published scientific findings cannot be reproduced or replicated. The problem is particularly acute in psychology, biomedical research, ecology, economics, and the social sciences.
[...] The latest version of the bill does include provisions intended to protect American research from undue foreign influence or theft, including bolstering intellectual property, cybersecurity, and supply-chain resiliency. These, too, are important goals. Yet, insufficient attention has been paid to whether and how these measures may help or hinder the other problems facing American research, especially the compliance costs associated with byzantine federal grant requirements.
[...] American science does need more funding. But it needs structural reform too. The USICA risks offering American research establishment a spoonful of sugar — billions of dollars’ worth —without any medicine. Reforming long-established institutions and programs is difficult, but the future of American innovation demands it... (MORE - details)