Navigating Research Culture and Funding Practices: Highlights from Shanghai

RoRI Senior Research Fellow Tom Stafford recently presented at two prominent events in China, offering insights into the dynamics of research culture and funding practices.

“Research Culture in the UK”

Keynote at Pujiang Innovation Forum 2024, Shanghai, China, 8 Sep 2024

Britain has a rich industrial and scientific heritage, with an established and diverse research culture anchored within a world-leading University sector. To maintain and enhance the reputation of British research, it is crucial to address the challenges and criticisms that have emerged in the 21st century. 

Tom reviewed several of these challenges, including hypercompetition and excessive workload, employment precarity, perverse metrics, unfortunate publishing practices, lack of transparency, irreproducibility of findings and threats to international collaboration. He then discussed some of the solutions that are currently under consideration.

Slides: PPT, PDF, transcript

“Experiments with the funding of research”

Shanghai Institute for Science of Science, 9 Sep 2024

Research funders share some common concerns: how do they know if they are allocating funding in the way that is most effective, fair and best balances risks versus possible rewards? 

Although a large variety of different funding systems exist, rigorous evidence on how funding can be designed to promote the best outcomes is not common. 

Tom spoke about RoRI and AFIRE, the programme on formal experiments that he leads at RoRI. He showcased good examples of strong evidence on aspects of funding systems, and talked about how funders might better use and generate evidence in the future.

Slides: PPT, PDF

Tom said:

The Forum was a really valuable chance to reflect on British research culture “from the outside”. 

It also made me see connections between our research and the wider context of innovation and industry. 

Researchers in America and Europe are used to turning to a wide array of private and government agencies for research funding, something which I got the sense was less true in China. 

Nonetheless, there are many common themes, even if the system for allocating funding is very different – evaluating research proposals is complex, and everyone is concerned to make the best use of limited research funds (and to fund the most impactful research).

The speakers at the Forum emphasised that China wants to contribute to, and be part of, the global research system. The benefits of openness, and the idealistic vision of improving public knowledge and contributing to the public good were frequently repeated.

Overall, the trip left me with many warm feelings for my Chinese hosts and I was inspired by progress being made in science and innovation in China.”