Over the last decades, most EU countries have profoundly reshaped their public research funding systems by shifting from traditional institutional block-funding towards more project-based mechanisms. The main rationale underlying this evolution builds on the assumption that project funding would foster research performance through the introduction…

While ethical norms for conducting academic research in the United Kingdom are relatively clear, there is little empirical understanding of how university research ethics committees (RECs) themselves operate and whether they are seen to operate well. In this article, we offer insights from a project focused on the Scottish university context. We…

Far from allowing a governance of universities by the invisible hand of market forces, research performance assessments do not just measure differences in research quality, but yield themselves visible symptoms in terms of a stratification and standardization of disciplines. The article illustrates this with a case study of UK history departments…

Specific campus projects that Congress has directed federal agencies to support this year at over 120 colleges and universities are listed. The agencies neither requested support nor sponsored merit-based competitions for the awards. In some cases, the institutions have a history of receiving special federal treatment. (MSE)

A discussion of resource allocation for scientific research identifies the ethical principles underlying the present debate and begins to construct a framework for evaluating various resource allocation proposals. The intent is to promote greater consideration of the link between ethics and science resource allocations. (Author/MSE)

This article uses the political struggles that have enveloped the research assessment exercises (RAEs) to interpret the UK's current funding council model of governance. Ironically, the apparently widespread improvement in the research performance of British universities, as demonstrated by RAE 2001, has made it more difficult to distribute…

Federal appropriations for fiscal 1991 for projects involving specific colleges and universities has set an all-time record for such spending. Actual totals are probably even higher. Spending is for research facilities and varied projects. The increases may reflect lawmakers' impatience for an administration policy on promoting technology. (MSE)

New federal regulations concerning direct cost accounting for college and university research projects are explained. It is concluded that the new standard allows institutions to reduce the signatures required on cost transfers and use reasonable cost allocation methods to simplify distribution of direct costs when research is supported by…

The current funding of research in Australia's universities is examined, including the recent forces that have changed the research system and resource allocation, allocations by field, expenditures per researcher by field, and measures of and emphasis on productivity. Prospects for research in the late 1980s are discussed. (MSE)

The distribution pattern of a Canadian research fellowship award is examined in light of application patterns, patterns of research funding in U.S. institutions, and the peer review system. The need to encourage participation through competition is discussed. (MSE)

There are many excellent scientists in the natural and human sciences in Canada's small universities. If the institutions implement internal procedures to encourage and foster a research climate and if research councils consider alternative strategies for research funding, research productivity could expand greatly in quality and scope. (MSE)

The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) has begun funding longer research award terms, limiting the number of projects to be funded. A model was developed to assess alternative research funding policies that might allow NHLBI to support more competing awards. Findings and implications for research stability are reported. (Author/MSE)

It is proposed that universities fund all research prospectively, one project at a time, as publishers do, and require faculty whose research has not been funded to fill his work schedule with teaching, effecting significant savings and the understanding that time off for research is not automatic. (MSE)

Analysis of the role of research councils and the awarding of research grants suggests that they have become part of the reward system of the scientific community. It is proposed that research councils must become entrepreneurial, seeking both resources and a role in strategic networks, or face obsolescence. (MSE)

It is suggested that, in the Netherlands' system of resource allocation for research, there is subtle and powerful pressure for consensus. Changes in science policy orientation since the 1960s are traced, and the current framework for policy formation, planning, and decision making is sketched. Three peer review models are examined. (MSE)