The last couple of days I’ve been posting on issues of discovery and innovation and its ties to higher education pointing to a lot of the problems associated with the way that the scientific enterprise has been organized. These are complex problems because there is no one solution to them and no single cause. A confluence of policies, practices, assumptions accompanied by a culture that is rather resistant to change (despite being in the business of research, which is all about creating NEW knowledge).
It is one thing to identify the problems, another to articulate their scope and impact, but nearly all of that is moot if there isn’t action for change and some strategies for moving forward (or at least some other direction). So what are some ways in which we can take the current system, work with its strengths, and propose something different that shifts the standards, while doesn’t provoke such pushback that it can’t move forward without an unreasonably high amount of energy?
Any examples out there of examples where universities and research institutions (including funders) have got it right?
I’d love to hear your ideas while I look for some solutions and examples of my own.