An enlightening article on the grant scene. Take home message: Ask for the money for projects appealing to the grant granters and use part of what you get for what you deem to be interesting/promising. Even though this strategy seems to have worked so far, it feels counterproductive in the long run…
That being said research funding is a subject where consensus is hard to come by. Even the source of funding incites heated debate as the spectrum of convictions stretches from absolutely no private funding, to no government or private funding for certain areas (ie. political science, public policy, stem cell research) to absolutely no government funding… Obviously some of these stances go hand in hand with the ideology and political beliefs of the individual. So if we cannot separate science from politics and policy making where does this leave the scientists and science policy? Here is one view on the subject.
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