Archive by category | Policy and Public

NSF workshop on broader impacts of science and technology

The National Science Foundation (NSF) held a research workshop “”https://www.ndsciencehumanitiespolicy.org/workshop/“>Making sense of the broader impacts of science and technology” earlier this month (5 – 7 August), to reflect on why (rather than how) scientists and engineers ought to address the broader impacts of their research. A preliminary report of the workshop is now available (PDF).  Read more

Public peer-review for stem-cell grants

An article in the San Francisco Chronicle (31 March) outlines the process by which awards were given by the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine, the state’s new $3 billion stem cell research programme. Public peer-review is a central component. According to the Chronicle, a panel of out-of-state experts ranked the proposals in private meetings, and the identities of the also-rans were not revealed. But the names of the successful applicants, and surprisingly candid summaries of the panel’s reviews, were made public on the stem cell agency’s web site. As the Chronicle put it: “the summaries offer a rare glimpse into the traditionally cloistered world of scientific peer review.” So far as I am aware, this is not so much rare as unprecedented.  Read more

Politics and peer review in climate research

From ABC News: WASHINGTON, March 19, 2007 — – “A top government climate scientist told Congress today that political appointees without scientific backgrounds are corrupting the scientific process and confusing the public by censoring scientists and improperly editing their research on global warming.  Read more

Earmarking versus peer review

The Voice of San Diego features an interesting article on the role of peer-review in earmarked government-funded projects. The article is about a proposal to build two new dams in California, but it addresses the more general question of the usefulness of earmaking federal money to particular academic institutions for specific research. According to the Voice of San Diego, 10 per cent of the US$30 billion “pork barrel” annual spend now goes to universities.  Read more