Could Distributed Peer Review Better Decide Grant Funding?
The landscape of academic grant funding is notoriously competitive and plagued by lengthy, bureaucratic processes, exacerbated by difficulties in finding willing reviewers. Distributed […]
Washington and Social Science: Bullets Dodged in 2017
The House and Senate cleared the final version of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, which was signed into law on December 22. Congress also approved a short-term continuing resolution to keep the government funded through January 19, and cleared a disaster assistance package for victims of hurricanes and wildfires
UNC, Michigan Once Again Tops in Federal R&D on Social Science
The University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill and the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor continue to lead the United States in total federal social science research dollars, according to a just-released annual survey from the Consortium of Social Science Associations
Science vs. 2017: Five Essential Reads
2017 may well be remembered as the year of alternative facts and fake news. Truth took a hit, and experts seemed to lose the public’s trust and scientists felt under siege as the Trump administration took office. Five stories, from The Conversation, showcase where scholars and scientists stand in this new climate and various ways to consider the value research holds for society.
Tinkering With Symptoms: Why Britain’s Debate About Vice Chancellors’ Salaries Is Misguided
The last few weeks have seen a growing public debate about the pay packages of Britain’s academic CEOs. The vice chancellors at a number of universities, including Birmingham, Bath, Bath Spa and others, have come under heavy pressure to justify salaries that far exceed £100,000, Oddly, all the arguments for and against this start with the assumption that universities are just like any other business.
FactCheck: Means, Ends and Absurd Science
Rand Paul used the ol’ ‘shrimp-on-a-treadmill’ example to disparage the ability of the NSF and NIH to make wise grant decisions while promoting his bill to put a non-scientific ‘taxpayer advocate’ on science grant-making panels. That poor crustacean gets more exercise being trotted out on Capitol Hill than he ever did in David Scholnick’s lab.
Washington and Social Science: Bills on Evidence-Based Policy, Peer-Review
While most eyes in Washington are focused on tax reform, two new bills that affect social science have been introduced: one that re configures how peer-review would be used for determining research grants, and another that would make use of recommendations from a bipartisan study on evidence-based policy.
Canadian Policymakers, Please Follow Naylor Recommendations You Asked For
It is time, argues Andrew Craig, for the Canadian government to demonstrate they are moving ahead with all recommendations from the Naylor report — Canada’s Fundamental science review — to return balance and support Canadian science in all its wonderful diversity.
House Science Committee Chairman Lamar Smith Will Not Seek Re-election
Republican Congressman Lamar Smith, chairman of the House of Representatives science committee since 2013 and a burr in the side of countless social and climate scientists, will not seek re-election in 2018.
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