Whether we are in search of the 'God (damn) particle' or seeking to understand something about mortal existence that descended from such a particle through the so-called scientific methodologies, we need to be funded.
I was just wondering who would fund me with my present capacity if i want to investigate some new idea that occurred to me. I could only laugh at myself. I was not born rich, nor have I accumulated wealth to fund myself and I live in a world, especially in a country that refuses to change for good! When I talk about change, one recent experiment done by NSF in the USA is worth mentioning. The experiment sought to find out if anonymous, short project proposals reduce the possibility of bias in selection processes for science funding.
The experiment resulted in surprising(??!!) results. One such proposal that was rejected when presented in full form with all the details was approved by the selection committee when presented without personal or affiliation details, only with the conceptual briefing! Funding was released for two proposals: both came anonymously, but only one was considered both in its short and long formats, and the other only considered in its short form, selected purely based on the concept it proposed. NSF however, was non-committal about the interpretation of these results and future funding based solely on this. It will do many such funding experiments to eliminate bias and put such a process into practice.
I only wish funding agencies in India too follow or carry out such an exercise here to see if new ideas are worth funding. If India's scientific future is to be bright, it can only happen through eliminating favoritism, nepotism and whole lot of other corrupt practices that exist in its science establishments. It is surprising that news channels that grab every opportunity to expose corruption in Govt departments, have failed to notice the cancer in science establishments!
Take a look at the news I mentioned regarding NSF funding in Science Magazine [www.sciencemag.org] Vol 336; page 969; 25 May 2012
I was just wondering who would fund me with my present capacity if i want to investigate some new idea that occurred to me. I could only laugh at myself. I was not born rich, nor have I accumulated wealth to fund myself and I live in a world, especially in a country that refuses to change for good! When I talk about change, one recent experiment done by NSF in the USA is worth mentioning. The experiment sought to find out if anonymous, short project proposals reduce the possibility of bias in selection processes for science funding.
The experiment resulted in surprising(??!!) results. One such proposal that was rejected when presented in full form with all the details was approved by the selection committee when presented without personal or affiliation details, only with the conceptual briefing! Funding was released for two proposals: both came anonymously, but only one was considered both in its short and long formats, and the other only considered in its short form, selected purely based on the concept it proposed. NSF however, was non-committal about the interpretation of these results and future funding based solely on this. It will do many such funding experiments to eliminate bias and put such a process into practice.
I only wish funding agencies in India too follow or carry out such an exercise here to see if new ideas are worth funding. If India's scientific future is to be bright, it can only happen through eliminating favoritism, nepotism and whole lot of other corrupt practices that exist in its science establishments. It is surprising that news channels that grab every opportunity to expose corruption in Govt departments, have failed to notice the cancer in science establishments!
Take a look at the news I mentioned regarding NSF funding in Science Magazine [www.sciencemag.org] Vol 336; page 969; 25 May 2012
