Monday 23 June 2014

Bourses doctorales de l'ED PIF: quelques précisions

L'École Doctorale Physique en Île-de-France (ED PIF) vient de procéder à son premier concours de recrutement des doctorants. Ayant présenté un candidat (malheureux) à ce concours, et ayant eu des échanges avec certains membres du jury, je peux donner quelques éléments sur le fonctionnement du concours, dans le but d'informer les candidats potentiels aux prochaines éditions.

Saturday 7 June 2014

Positive feedback loops in research funding

Funding research should mean sending money where it is most useful, considering the strength of the researchers to be funded, the interest of their projects, and how much these projects need money. However, in practice, already being well-funded or belonging to a well-funded institution is helpful, and sometimes even necessary, for a researcher to obtain funding. So there are positive feedback loops in research funding, which should be distinguished from other mechanisms that tend to concentrate research funding -- such as some people being better than others at getting money. (That these people are not necessarily the best researchers is not our subject here.)

Let's discuss some positive feedback loops: