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https://theconversation.com/arc-grants-if-australia-wants-to-tackle-the-biggest-issues-politicians-need-to-stop-meddling-with-basic-research-174607>
"In countries like Denmark and Germany, gifts are given on Christmas Eve,
rather than Christmas morning. Likewise, on Christmas Eve 2021, 587 groups of
researchers at universities around Australia received a festive gift from the
Australian Research Council (ARC), in the form of news that their 2022
Discovery Projects were to be funded.
More brutally, 2,508 other groups of researchers also received the less than
festive news that their proposed Discovery Projects were to be denied funding.
This acceptance rate was even lower than it should have been. Among the 2,508
unlucky applications were six that had passed the ARC’s rigorous peer-review
process, but were vetoed by Stuart Robert, acting federal education minister,
on the grounds they “do not demonstrate value for taxpayers’ money nor
contribute to the national interest”.
In an open letter published today, I and 62 of my fellow ARC laureate fellows –
including one who is also a Nobel Laureate – complain vigorously to the
minister and to the chief executive of the ARC about this political
interference in the funding of basic research."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
