… in case you are wondering how many are following this blog and what are its most popular topics. It is somewhat depressing but understandable to see that our posts on NSERC’s new ways have been the most viewed (The most popular is not even ours!). This should not surprise. Early and mid-career researchers, who are disappointed, even wounded by the outcome of questionable peer review, need to know the full story before they revert to self-doubt, get demoralized and give up. They are looking for answers that bureaucracies are sometimes not eager to provide.
Access to information is essential for the role of academics and researchers in shaping their discipline and in governing their institutions. An increased transparency is an instrument for promoting trust and participation, and an antidote against wrong headedness and abuse of authority. This blog has been a modest contribution to this task. The quest for more accountability, transparency and inclusion will continue.
Title ————————————————————- Views
- NSERC … A Senior Scientist Speaks Out 1,215
- The downhill race between NSERC and CIHR 1,206
- The Kafkaesque grip of bureaucrats on Canada’s peer review and granting process 1,205
- NSERC’s Discovery Grants: The numbers by discipline 1072
- NSERC Discovery Grants II: On intentions and consequence (Old vs. new) 1027
- A quick reality check on NSERC’s principles at Discovery 1005
- NSERC Discovery Grants: What do we know about the 2011 Math/Stats competition? 902
- The one-two punch of mathematicians and … upcoming good news 897
- A “Successful” NSERC Discovery Grant applicant replies to Isabelle Blain 890
- Accountability may be the biggest casualty of NSERC’s new ways at Discovery 812
- When Orwell meets Baden-Powell at the NRC 762
- 20 years of NSERC funding for Discovery 762
- Tea partying is busting the NSF budget 718
- NSERC should stick with linear thinking…and own principles 665
- NSERC’s Discovery Grants I: Of banality and burden (Agendas and consequences) 665
- NSERC’s 3 newest programs 664
- The R&D expert panel and the $7-billion that won’t buy much 646
- Could the research community cost Harper a majority government? 634
- Is Canada’s research strategy too politicized? 598
- Houston, we have a problem … with the UBC governance 577
- Time to draw a line in the sand 559
- NSERC responds (What took you so long?) 548
- Assessing Science is hard! NSERC bureaucrats should know it, but then so do we! 546
- If the “binning” of Canada’s scientists is here to stay, then here is a way to fix it! 541
- What’s with the Borg and Quest University? 537
- Psst! Pass it on! Concerns about NSERC’s ways 537
- The good, the bad and the ugly in Tories Research Policy 511
- How relevant is an author’s citation index? 499
- How mathematicians settle their differences, new NSF findings, and “Too Asian” at UBC 497
- A business dean’s rant: Ignorance of the facts or pure “Chutzpah”? 496
- Cry out! Indignez-vous! 496
- Are universities becoming family affairs? 489
- UBC and U of T: A tale of two student housing initiatives 488
- Time for textbook tycoons to give students a break 483
- To the memory of two beautiful minds 482
- No need for expert reviewers nor NSERC staff: Computer can run new binning system 465
- The University as a New Media superpower 471
- Who is standing up for Canada’s basic research? 471
- The “binning” of Canadian scientists 456
- Why is the 2011 data on NSERC’s Discovery Grants so radioactive? 455
- Tri-council continues to move funds from discovery to industry 455
- Move over G5 and G13, here come the Colleges 448
- How Alzheimer’s stole the things he loved: Mathematics and Music 447
- Who is shredding SR&ED? 431
- Faculty representation: Here we go again! 428
- The astronaut and the mathematician 407
- PPP: Plagiarism, Philanthropy and Politics 404
- No students? Don’t bother apply for Discovery Grant 392
- 16 NSERC panelists write to Suzanne Fortier about the 2011 Discovery Grants Competition 386
- From MITACS to Mprime: Where do we go from here? 371
Piece of Mind 