https://medianwatch.netlify.app/tags/funding/ Recent content in funding on Median Watch Hugo -- gohugo.io en-uk Tue, 02 Jun 2026 00:00:00 +0000 https://medianwatch.netlify.app/post/panels/ Tue, 02 Jun 2026 00:00:00 +0000 https://medianwatch.netlify.app/post/panels/ There’s been another call to “Bring back panels!” for the NHMRC, this time published in Science. These calls normally appear on social media on the day of major funding announcements, when the majority of people find out that they’ve been unsuccessful and vent their frustrations. There are some scientists who, when their applications are rejected, don’t consider that it was bad luck or that there’s some flaw in their ideas. Instead, they conclude that the system must be wrong and therefore must be changed. https://medianwatch.netlify.app/post/ai_grants/ Mon, 30 Mar 2026 00:00:00 +0000 https://medianwatch.netlify.app/post/ai_grants/ Last week, I blocked out two hours of protected time in my diary for “grant writing”. I’ve done this before, but the difference this time was that at the end of two hours I had a nearly finished NHMRC Ideas Grant. Of course I used AI. I used PRISM, a new free tool from OpenAI designed for academic writing. I gave PRISM the Ideas Grant criteria, a document on what makes a good application, and a title and an aim. https://medianwatch.netlify.app/post/acspri/ Wed, 05 Feb 2025 00:00:00 +0000 https://medianwatch.netlify.app/post/acspri/ “What is the purpose of research funding?” Phew, that is a big question. If I could hear your answers, I am sure there would be a wide range of opinions. Let’s put that in the too hard basket. What about this question, “What should research funding not do?" Again, I can imagine lots of answers, but there are likely some answers that we could all agree on. How about an axiom that “A research funding scheme should never cost more than it awards. https://medianwatch.netlify.app/post/research_fraud/ Fri, 23 Jun 2023 00:00:00 +0000 https://medianwatch.netlify.app/post/research_fraud/ Reposted from The Conversation. Fraud in science is alarmingly common. Sometimes researchers lie about results and invent data to win funding and prestige. Other times, researchers might pay to stage and publish entirely bogus studies to win an undeserved pay rise – fuelling a “paper mill” industry worth an estimated €1 billion a year. Some of this rubbish can be easily spotted by peer reviewers, but the peer review system has become badly stretched by ever-rising paper numbers. https://medianwatch.netlify.app/post/crushing_careers/ Mon, 06 Mar 2023 00:00:00 +0000 https://medianwatch.netlify.app/post/crushing_careers/ Reposted with permission from Campus Morning Mail. Researchers have a dark sense of humour when it comes to research funding. One of my favourite sneers was from the ecologist Terry McGlynn who said, “instead of writing this grant, I should walk the whole country and get a penny from each person. Same amount of money, but less hassle.” Applicants to last year’s early- and mid-career Medical Research Future Fund fellowships may be wishing that they had gone on a long walk rather sitting at their computers, with speculated success rates at under 5 per cent. https://medianwatch.netlify.app/post/hidden_funding_costs/ Thu, 16 Sep 2021 00:00:00 +0000 https://medianwatch.netlify.app/post/hidden_funding_costs/ Johnson & Johnson have a funding scheme for women in STEM. Of course this is a great idea and much needed given the chronic under-representation of women in health and medical research, which was confirmed again this week with the latest NHMRC figures. But there’s a huge potential problem with this scheme: the success rate is under 1%. The last round had 650 applications and 6 awarded. Given this incredibly low success rate, this scheme could be costing as much as it rewards. https://medianwatch.netlify.app/post/career_disruption/ Wed, 23 Sep 2020 00:00:00 +0000 https://medianwatch.netlify.app/post/career_disruption/ Re-posted from this 2016 AusHSI blog because this is still an issue. Let’s start with the obvious. Winning funding for health and medical research is soul-crushingly hard. Success rates for major schemes are under 20%, so failure is the norm. Your application will be judged by a panel of 6 to 12 senior researchers. A key marker of success is your track record, which may simply mean the number and quality of your papers, and your previous research funding (a very circular measure). https://medianwatch.netlify.app/post/quit-research/ Fri, 17 Jul 2020 00:00:00 +0000 https://medianwatch.netlify.app/post/quit-research/ Re-posted from the AusHSI blog (8 May 2015). After yet another failed fellowship application I considered if I should leave research. I now have seven fellowship failures and no successes, and that seems like a lot. Success rates for grants are nose-diving and even the former head of the NHMRC says that researchers should be considering other careers (pay-walled). I’ve spent a lot of time running research projects for no money, but working for no money is a luxury I can’t afford. https://medianwatch.netlify.app/post/funding-gender-disparity/ Mon, 02 Mar 2020 00:00:00 +0000 https://medianwatch.netlify.app/post/funding-gender-disparity/ The gender disparity in research funding. There is a large gender disparity in the number of research grants awarded in Australia. For years men have won more funding than women. This disparity in success is driven by a disparity in applications, as women apply far less often. Success rates for men and women are relatively close, so policies to reduce the gender disparity in funding should focus on encouraging more applications from women.