FSE wants special funds for rejected proposals
The Faculty of Science and Engineering (FSE) wants to create a fund to finance research proposals that didn’t make the cut for national and European subsidies.
The idea is part of the conceptual 2021-2026 strategic plan the FSE faculty council discussed last week.
The fund is aimed at lightening the workload of academic staff. People who, as dean Jasper Knoester said, ‘feel like the whole thing’s a lottery’.
Consequences of the crisis
It’s not yet clear where the money for the fund will be coming from, especially since no one knows how the corona crisis will impact the university.
Which proposals would stand the best chance has also yet to be determined. But, said Knoester, the chance that proposals concerning the faculty’s core themes are prioritised is small.
Many researchers already feel the pressure to submit proposals that conform to a certain agenda. ‘On top of that, independent research suffers from a lack of funding.’