Research funding has become increasingly concentrated in the hands of senior investigators. This is problematic as analysis indicates the situation is detrimental to productivity, and, as junior leaders struggle to progress, bad for the long term health of the research community. Various efforts are being taken to address this challenge. In Australia a funding cap has been introduced, meaning there is a limit on the number of grants any one investigator can hold simultaneously. However, efforts to implement similar measures in the US have met with strong resistance with critics arguing it would be detrimental to progress. Join us in October to discuss the pros and cons of funding caps, the wider issues involved and what can be done to move forward.
Vinodh Illangovan
Chair; eLife Early-Career Advisory Group
Vinodh is a postdoctoral researcher at the Max Planck Institute, he has a particular interest in funding issues for early career scientists.
Twitter: @InquisitiveVi
Needhi Bhalla
Associate Professor of MCD Biology, UC Santa Cruz
Needhi’s lab is interested in the mechanisms that ensure that chromosomes segregate correctly during cell division. Defects in this process can cause miscarriages and serious developmental disorders, such as Down and Klinefelters syndrome. Needhi has previously spoken in favour of a funding cap.
Twitter: @NeedhiBhalla
Casey Greene
Assistant Professor in the Department of Systems Pharmacology and Translational Therapeutics in the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania.
Before starting the Integrative Genomics Lab in 2012, Casey earned his Ph.D. for his study of gene-gene interactions in the field of computational genetics from Dartmouth College in 2009 and moved to the Lewis-Sigler Institute for Integrative Genomics at Princeton University where he worked as a postdoctoral fellow from 2009-2012. The overarching theme of his work has been the development and evaluation of methods that acknowledge the emergent complexity of biological systems. Casey will provide the perspective of an early-career researcher on funding caps.
Website: http://www.greenelab.com/
Twitter: @GreeneScientist
Mark Peifer
Michael Hooker Distinguished Professor, UNC
Mark’s lab explores how the machinery mediating cell adhesion, cytoskeletal regulation and Wnt signaling regulates cell fate and tissue architecture in development and disease. He also has an interest in reducing global inequities in education and healthcare, and has written several articles in favour of a NIH funding cap as well as organised a petition to support its implementation.
Twitter: @peiferlabunc
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