Breaking the grant cycle: on the rational allocation of public resources to scientific research projects
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Authors
Avin, Shahar
Advisors
Lewens, Tim
John, Stephen
Date
2015-04-07Awarding Institution
University of Cambridge
Author Affiliation
Department of History and Philosophy of Science
Qualification
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
Language
English
Type
Thesis
Metadata
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Avin, S. (2015). Breaking the grant cycle: on the rational allocation of public resources to scientific research projects (Doctoral thesis). https://doi.org/10.17863/CAM.16172
Abstract
The thesis presents a reformative criticism of science funding by peer review. The criticism is
based on epistemological scepticism, regarding the ability of scientific peers, or any other agent, to have access to sufficient information regarding the potential of proposed projects at the time of funding. The scepticism is based on the complexity of factors contributing to the merit of scientific projects, and the rate at which the parameters of this complex system change their values. By constructing models of different science funding mechanisms, a construction supported by historical evidence, computational simulations show that in a significant subset of cases it would be better to select research projects by a lottery mechanism than by selection based on peer review. This last result is used to create a template for an alternative funding mechanism that combines the merits of peer review with the benefits of random allocation, while noting that this alternative is not so far removed from current practice as may first appear.
Keywords
science funding, fitness landscape, grant peer review, allocation by lottery, models of scientific research
Identifiers
This record's DOI: https://doi.org/10.17863/CAM.16172
Rights
Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0 UK: England & Wales
Licence URL: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/uk/
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