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[Scoops Novel]

Yup. From what my scientist acquaintances/teachers told me, begging for money is half the job.

Dont forget the backstabbing. We have to be good at that, too.

Details, please.

[MonkeyHead]

Well, funding is tight and usually portioned off by field - so as a Solar System physicist, I generally cant access money allocated to, say, Nuclear physics. As a result, I am competing against those in my field. Lots of secret deals about which senior staff member is supporting which projects in which fields tend to get done, with people trying to get the most support though exaggerated claims (so more probability of mo monies) whilst undermining the chances of others in thier field (lowering the chance of competitors getting some of the limited cash). In other words, pretty much like any environment where idividuals are competing over limited resources. In theory, its survival of the fittest (i.e. best science). In pracice, its survival of the best system manipulator.

[Scoops Novel]

Any comment on "they wont let us do anything!"?

[MonkeyHead]

I feel its more a case of having to do something that is more likley to get funding. I have worked in a facualty obsessed with robotics in the past - so no suprise which projects tended to get money, before next round EVERYONE had robotics ideas.

[Scoops Novel]

How much control over funding does the scientific community have? How much of a sore point is it? What controls have you noticed, or expect there are on that community?

[10ebbor10]

I'm not sure how it works in other countries, but in Belgium a significant proportion, if not a majority, of all research is commisioned by private partners. (Often large industrial consortia). So well, they expect results, which means that there's an increased focus for practical research.

Otherwise, you have to rely on governement subsidies, which, unless you're working on a major flagship project, won't often be enough to finish it. You might progress far enough to attract other subsidies, or get private funding.

Hell, I believe there's some kind of kickstarter like for science studies and such.

[XXSockXX]

The problem with corporate funding is of course that the sponsors may direct your research into something that can be monetized. It also creates an imbalance, where everything that produces practical results gets great funding, while everything that is less interesting economically, like the humanities, has to rely on government money or non-profit foundations.

[10ebbor10]

The problem with corporate funding is of course that the sponsors may direct your research into something that can be monetized. It also creates an imbalance, where everything that produces practical results gets great funding, while everything that is less interesting economically, like the humanities, has to rely on government money or non-profit foundations.

Which is to be suspected. Worse problems are that neutrality can be compromised. Ie, in medical safety studies, corporate sponsored ones find the product to be safe almost 90% of the time, a number that's much lower in other studies.

[Scoops Novel]

What's the contact between government scientists who work in say Darpa and others like? How is the difference between the commonly held to be more advanced government technology/arguably science viewed?

[10ebbor10]

What's the contact between government scientists who work in say Darpa and others like? How is the difference between the commonly held to be more advanced government technology/arguably science viewed?

??

Doubt it's as easy to draw a line like that. I mean, there's a certain divide between pratical and fundamental research, but I'm pretty sure that gaps between fields themselves are larger.

[XXSockXX]

Well, there is contact between scientists through peer review of published research and conferences. However I guess that research produced by something like Darpa is not always made accessible to the public and the scientific community. Also research by corporations is obviously often kept secret. Most of that research would be much more "project-based" than regular university research I assume.
My personal experience in the scientific community is fairly on the humanities side, so I can't really tell. There is not much going on in terms of secret government research in the humanities. 

Worse problems are that neutrality can be compromised. Ie, in medical safety studies, corporate sponsored ones find the product to be safe almost 90% of the time, a number that's much lower in other studies.

Yeah, that is a huge problem, also in technological research. Sometimes even in sociological studies, depending on who funds them.

[MonkeyHead]

Kinetic penetration probes in development... how to find life on Europa - fire a massive bullet into it. SCIENCE!

[Osmosis Jones]

Well, there is contact between scientists through peer review of published research and conferences. However I guess that research produced by something like Darpa is not always made accessible to the public and the scientific community. Also research by corporations is obviously often kept secret. Most of that research would be much more "project-based" than regular university research I assume.
My personal experience in the scientific community is fairly on the humanities side, so I can't really tell. There is not much going on in terms of secret government research in the humanities. 

You'd be surprised, actually. In my uni, there's a research group for these guys. While obviously the major research findings etc. were kept hush hush (being, ya'know, military secrets), the guys are usually very approachable, and perfectly happy to discuss the basic outline of their research. A few times now I have shot the shit with a defence researcher about their topics over a beer or 4.

[alway]

Here's that kickstarter-for-research site that was mentioned earlier: http://www.petridish.org/
At least I think that was it.... their website seems to be kinda empty.

[10ebbor10]

There are quite a lot of different kickstarters for science out there. Hadn't heard of that one.