Panel:
Science and Technology Policy: Leveraging New Data to Strengthen the Connection Between Scientific Funding and Scientific Outcomes
(Science and Technology)
Friday, November 3, 2017: 10:15 AM-11:45 AM
Horner (Hyatt Regency Chicago)
*Names in bold indicate Presenter
Panel Organizers: Emily Nwakpuda, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
Panel Chairs: Paige Clayton, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
Discussants: Jeryl Mumpower, Texas A&M University
The objective of this panel is to use new data and diverse methodologies to bring to bare deeper considerations of the factors that complicate scholars and practitioners efforts to better connect scientific funding to scientific outcomes. Paper one begins the panel with an in-depth evaluation of a federal agency’s efforts to improve the selection process of research proposals. The federal government has traditionally been the primary funder of academic research but on-going efforts to improve funding mechanisms is complicated by demands to fund the most innovative research, which is also most difficult to evaluate. Paper two, draws attention to a less explored and under appreciated class of academic research funders, individual donors. Individual donors have played a historic role in the support of academic research therefore there is value in understanding the scientific and technological disciplines these donors have impacted, although the contributions of individuals are typically overshadowed by other forms of philanthropy. Paper three, demonstrates the dispersion of scientific outcomes of funded research due to issues of private stakeholders exploiting publicly funded scientific discoveries. Paper four concludes the panel by exploring institutional factors as a cause of the disconnect between scientific funding and scientific outcomes. The institutions that encompass and support research are not stagnant. A greater theoretical understanding of how the characteristics of institutions influence the trajectory of scientific discovery is required if new data can indeed strengthen the connection between scientific funding and scientific outcomes.
