Point of View: Strategies from UW-Madison for rescuing biomedical research in the US
Congratulations to the authors on an excellent summary of problems facing the research enterprise. I am particularly grateful for the clarity brought by separating core issues from symptoms.
I am curious, however, to hear an explanation of PIs' concerns that training grants limit intellectual diversity. In my view, an independent source of funding for trainees is critical in establishing productive intellectual relationships between mentors and students. In contrast, payrolling students and postdocs on research grants sets up the expectation that they are workers whose role it is to carry out the intellectual directives of the PI. Limiting the intellectual independence of the largest sector of the biomedical research workforce hardly seems an effective way to promote diversity of ideas.
Therefore, I wonder if this and other concerns raised about training grants could instead be addressed by modifying these funding mechanisms rather than avoiding them.
