DISQUS

Jo Badge · 4 months ago

thanks for this Alan. I know Richard has been thinking very seriously about open science. The genetics department still operate in as a very altrustic (some would say old fashioned) community where resources and money are shared centrally so that researchers without current grants can still continue to do benchwork. This is recognised, rightly, as essential. You can't get your next grant if you don't have any results, you can't get results if you don't have any money to buy reagents. I think what has been perculating is how much more could be done on this basis in a more highly shared and networked fashion outside the confines of the department? The economics may indeed force scientists down this route, but I think the world will be richer place for it.

AJCann · 4 months ago

Sadly, Genetics at UoL is in a privileged position in the resource sharing they are able to do. Because they have been doing this for so long (essentially since the inception of the Department) they have been granted exceptions to continue the practice. Other departments who have tried to set up similar plans have been warned not to by external bodies (including the UK Research Councils) and threatened with action if they go ahead.
That's not to say that it wouldn't be possible to resurrect the Enzyme Club, but it wouldn't make economic sense now. What we need to do is identify the scarce resources and concentrate on alleviating those bottlenecks by sharing.

Andrew · 4 months ago

"... especially when you remember that two million pounds was enough to buy you a house back in the 1970s!"

WTF? 2m is enough to buy you a *large* house. Today. In London.