The School of Economics in UCD publishes a periodic research bulletin, which I edit. The latest is now available. It features an interview with Colm Harmon, school member and director of the UCD Geary Institute, some fascinating research by one of our PhD students Alan Fernihough and other news items. I hope you enjoy it.
Kevin Denny
The previous edition, featuring an interview with Cormac O'Grada is here.
Showing posts with label research. Show all posts
Showing posts with label research. Show all posts
Saturday, March 31, 2012
Monday, January 09, 2012
External Funding Possibilities to work on Economics and Psychology in Stirling Group
Below are some external funding opportunities that people thinking of working with our emerging research group in Stirling might consider. Clearly, some of the below deadlines are too soon for this year but most of these are recurring calls. Potential PhD students, academic colleagues in other universities, potential postdocs and so on may find below useful. Specific PhD studentships for the group will be announced soon, and we will launch a website in September 2012.
1. 12th January 2012: Marie Curie ITN: Initial Training Networks (ITN) offer early-stage researchers the opportunity to improve their research skills, join established research teams and enhance their career prospects.Usually, at least three participants join together to propose a coherent programme for an ITN. The participants can be universities, research centres or companies (large or small). Any research field in the humanities or science may qualify for ITN funding – provided that there is an element of mobility across national borders.
http://ec.europa.eu/research/participants/portal/page/people?callIdentifier=FP7-PEOPLE-2012-ITN
2. 7th February: ESRC Knowledge Exchange Opportunities
This scheme provides researchers with an opportunity to engage with organisations in the private, public and civil society sector(s) on a social science issue. The Knowledge Exchange Opportunities Scheme now covers activities at all stages of the research process; from setting up networks to help inform the first stages of research; to the development of activities designed to apply previous research to policy and practice issues (previously covered by the ESRC Follow on Fund Scheme). Please note this is a collaborative scheme and, as such, all applications must include at least 25% co-funding from partner(s) in the user community (depending on the sector involved). For further details, including how to apply, please visit:
http://www.esrc.ac.uk/funding-and-guidance/collaboration/knowledge-exchange/opportunities/index.aspx
3. 14th February 2012: RSE/Scottish Government Personal Research Fellowships.
These postdoctoral Research Fellowships aim to provide outstanding researchers, who should have the potential to become leaders in their chosen field, with the opportunity to build an independent research career. Applicants will have completed between 2 and 6 years of relevant postdoc academic research and can currently reside anywhere in the world working in any of the physical, computational, engineering, biological, medical, natural and social disciplines (although the research project proposed must align to one or more of the Scottish Government’s National Outcomes - see
http://www.scotland.gov.uk/About/scotPerforms/outcome).
Applicants must show that they have an outstanding capacity for innovative research with a strong publication record relevant to their proposed field of study. The fellowships are tenable for up to 5 years in a Scottish institution (ideally from 1st Oct 2012) and will include an opportunity for the fellow to work anywhere abroad for up to a year during the fellowship to help establish research collaborations. Funds will cover up to 4.5 years of fellow salary costs, associated overheads, and up to £6K per year research support costs. The host institution must commit to covering the final 6 months of the fellows salary. Further information about the scheme along with the application form can be found at
http://www.royalsoced.org.uk/995_FormsandGuidance.html
4. 21st March 2012: Leverhulme Research Project Grant.
The aim of these awards is to provide financial support for innovative and original research projects of high quality and potential, the choice of theme and the design of the research lying entirely with the applicant (the Principal Investigator). The grants provide support for the salaries of research staff engaged on the project, plus associated costs directly related to the research proposed.
Proposals are favoured which:
* reflect the personal vision of the applicant;
* demonstrate compelling competence in the research design;
* surmount traditional disciplinary academic boundaries;
* involve a degree of challenge and evidence of the applicant’s ability to assess risk.
Value and Duration
The great majority of awards involve a spend of up to £250,000 over a duration of two to three years. If compelling evidence is provided, awards may be made for sums between £250,000 and £500,000 for research over a period of up to five years. The assessment procedures for these large grants are especially stringent, and can involve site visits and discussions with applicants.
Topics
Applications for research on any topic within the entire array of academic disciplines are eligible for support. However, an exception is made for areas of research supported by specialist funding agencies and, in particular, for medicine. In such cases, applicants should consider an application to these alternative funding bodies as being more appropriate. Specific attention is paid to the reasons given by applicants in justifying their choice of the Trust as the most appropriate agency for the support of their project.
http://www.leverhulme.ac.uk/funding/RPG/RPG.cfm
5. April 2012: Secondary Data Analysis (ESRC)
http://www.esrc.ac.uk/news-and-events/news/delivering-priorities-funding/secondary-data-analysis.aspx
The UK has a unique and internationally renowned collection of datasets which will form the foundation of the Initiative (see file attached). This data infrastructure provides a huge opportunity to address some of the most pressing challenges facing society today and into the future. For example, our portfolio of longitudinal studies has already revealed how fundamental and complex causal relationships influence individual life trajectories in a whole variety of ways. They have supported research across a wide terrain, including areas such as obesity, educational attainment, crime, social mobility and welfare and emotional wellbeing. These studies have also provided a strong evidence base to support a battery of government anti-poverty strategies, health campaigns, schooling policies, social welfare reform and other interventions.
The Secondary Data Analysis Initiative will build upon and extend the impact of longitudinal studies and a wide variety of other data resources. Given the richness of data available across the UK’s social and economic data infrastructure, the Initiative will not be thematically driven and proposals are welcome in any area which can generate policy and practitioner impact. Nevertheless there are significant opportunities for proposals to address key issues in our strategic priorities - http://www.esrc.ac.uk/strategic-priorities
Priorities:
· Economic Performance and Sustainable Growth
· Influencing Behaviour and Informing Interventions
· A Vibrant and Fair Society
The Initiative will also aim to penetrate a range of disciplines which move well beyond traditional users of these data, in, for example economics, and some areas of sociology and geography. The expectation is that use will deepen in these disciplines but also will also extend to researchers from wider backgrounds.
6. 19th April 2012. Marie Curie Industry-Academia Partnerships and Pathways.
This action seeks to open and foster dynamic pathways between public research organisations and private commercial enterprises, in particular SMEs, including traditional manufacturing industries, based on longer term co-operation programmes with a high potential for increasing knowledge-sharing and mutual understanding of the different cultural settings and skill requirements of both sectors. Participants under this action are on the one hand, one or more universities/research centres and on the other, one or more enterprises, in particular SMEs, that propose a project based on a joint cooperation programme. Within this scheme, the industrial partners must be organisations operating on a commercial basis, i.e. companies gaining the majority of their revenue through competitive means with exposure to commercial markets, and will include incubators, start-ups and spin-offs, venture capital companies, etc. The different participants should be from at least two different Member or Associated countries, of which at least one must be from a Member State. The participants recruit and/or host eligible researchers and contribute directly to the implementation of longer-term cooperation programmes established between them in line with the objectives of this action.
http://ec.europa.eu/research/participants/portal/page/people?callIdentifier=FP7-PEOPLE-2012-IAPP
7. 30th April 2012: Leverhulme Research Leadership Awards
The Research Leadership Award scheme provides funds to build a research group under the direction of the grant holder, who must be at least 2 years into their first university post (but not sufficiently long in post for the trajectory of their research contribution to have become established). Awards will be for a sum of between £800,000 and £1 million over a period of up to 5 years and funds can be used to employ a research group of research assistants and research students (but cannot be used to cover applicant salary or overheads). Applications for research in any subject area within the Trust’s normal remit will be eligible for support. See http://www.leverhulme.ac.uk/funding/RLA/RLA.cfm) for more details of the scheme.
8. September 2012: Marie Curie Career Integration Grant
Marie Curie Career Integration Grants are intended to improve considerably the prospects for the permanent integration of researchers who are offered a stable research post in Europe after a mobility period in a country different from the country where the researcher has been active during the past years (i.e. the researcher has to be mobile but can come from anywhere in the world – moving within Europe or coming from outside Europe). The duration of these grants is up to 4 years.
http://ec.europa.eu/research/participants/portal/page/people?callIdentifier=FP7-PEOPLE-2012-CIG
9. International Outgoing Fellowships for Career Development
The specific objectives of the Marie Curie International Outgoing Fellowships for CareerDevelopment can be described as follows:
"This action aims to reinforce the international dimension of the career of European researchers by giving them the opportunity to be trained and acquire new knowledge in a high-level organisation active in research, established in an Other Third Country. Subsequently, these researchers will return with the acquired knowledge and experience to an organisation in a Member State or Associated country" (2011 "People" Work Programme)
1. 12th January 2012: Marie Curie ITN: Initial Training Networks (ITN) offer early-stage researchers the opportunity to improve their research skills, join established research teams and enhance their career prospects.Usually, at least three participants join together to propose a coherent programme for an ITN. The participants can be universities, research centres or companies (large or small). Any research field in the humanities or science may qualify for ITN funding – provided that there is an element of mobility across national borders.
http://ec.europa.eu/research/participants/portal/page/people?callIdentifier=FP7-PEOPLE-2012-ITN
2. 7th February: ESRC Knowledge Exchange Opportunities
This scheme provides researchers with an opportunity to engage with organisations in the private, public and civil society sector(s) on a social science issue. The Knowledge Exchange Opportunities Scheme now covers activities at all stages of the research process; from setting up networks to help inform the first stages of research; to the development of activities designed to apply previous research to policy and practice issues (previously covered by the ESRC Follow on Fund Scheme). Please note this is a collaborative scheme and, as such, all applications must include at least 25% co-funding from partner(s) in the user community (depending on the sector involved). For further details, including how to apply, please visit:
http://www.esrc.ac.uk/funding-and-guidance/collaboration/knowledge-exchange/opportunities/index.aspx
3. 14th February 2012: RSE/Scottish Government Personal Research Fellowships.
These postdoctoral Research Fellowships aim to provide outstanding researchers, who should have the potential to become leaders in their chosen field, with the opportunity to build an independent research career. Applicants will have completed between 2 and 6 years of relevant postdoc academic research and can currently reside anywhere in the world working in any of the physical, computational, engineering, biological, medical, natural and social disciplines (although the research project proposed must align to one or more of the Scottish Government’s National Outcomes - see
http://www.scotland.gov.uk/About/scotPerforms/outcome).
Applicants must show that they have an outstanding capacity for innovative research with a strong publication record relevant to their proposed field of study. The fellowships are tenable for up to 5 years in a Scottish institution (ideally from 1st Oct 2012) and will include an opportunity for the fellow to work anywhere abroad for up to a year during the fellowship to help establish research collaborations. Funds will cover up to 4.5 years of fellow salary costs, associated overheads, and up to £6K per year research support costs. The host institution must commit to covering the final 6 months of the fellows salary. Further information about the scheme along with the application form can be found at
http://www.royalsoced.org.uk/995_FormsandGuidance.html
4. 21st March 2012: Leverhulme Research Project Grant.
The aim of these awards is to provide financial support for innovative and original research projects of high quality and potential, the choice of theme and the design of the research lying entirely with the applicant (the Principal Investigator). The grants provide support for the salaries of research staff engaged on the project, plus associated costs directly related to the research proposed.
Proposals are favoured which:
* reflect the personal vision of the applicant;
* demonstrate compelling competence in the research design;
* surmount traditional disciplinary academic boundaries;
* involve a degree of challenge and evidence of the applicant’s ability to assess risk.
Value and Duration
The great majority of awards involve a spend of up to £250,000 over a duration of two to three years. If compelling evidence is provided, awards may be made for sums between £250,000 and £500,000 for research over a period of up to five years. The assessment procedures for these large grants are especially stringent, and can involve site visits and discussions with applicants.
Topics
Applications for research on any topic within the entire array of academic disciplines are eligible for support. However, an exception is made for areas of research supported by specialist funding agencies and, in particular, for medicine. In such cases, applicants should consider an application to these alternative funding bodies as being more appropriate. Specific attention is paid to the reasons given by applicants in justifying their choice of the Trust as the most appropriate agency for the support of their project.
http://www.leverhulme.ac.uk/funding/RPG/RPG.cfm
5. April 2012: Secondary Data Analysis (ESRC)
http://www.esrc.ac.uk/news-and-events/news/delivering-priorities-funding/secondary-data-analysis.aspx
The UK has a unique and internationally renowned collection of datasets which will form the foundation of the Initiative (see file attached). This data infrastructure provides a huge opportunity to address some of the most pressing challenges facing society today and into the future. For example, our portfolio of longitudinal studies has already revealed how fundamental and complex causal relationships influence individual life trajectories in a whole variety of ways. They have supported research across a wide terrain, including areas such as obesity, educational attainment, crime, social mobility and welfare and emotional wellbeing. These studies have also provided a strong evidence base to support a battery of government anti-poverty strategies, health campaigns, schooling policies, social welfare reform and other interventions.
The Secondary Data Analysis Initiative will build upon and extend the impact of longitudinal studies and a wide variety of other data resources. Given the richness of data available across the UK’s social and economic data infrastructure, the Initiative will not be thematically driven and proposals are welcome in any area which can generate policy and practitioner impact. Nevertheless there are significant opportunities for proposals to address key issues in our strategic priorities - http://www.esrc.ac.uk/strategic-priorities
Priorities:
· Economic Performance and Sustainable Growth
· Influencing Behaviour and Informing Interventions
· A Vibrant and Fair Society
The Initiative will also aim to penetrate a range of disciplines which move well beyond traditional users of these data, in, for example economics, and some areas of sociology and geography. The expectation is that use will deepen in these disciplines but also will also extend to researchers from wider backgrounds.
6. 19th April 2012. Marie Curie Industry-Academia Partnerships and Pathways.
This action seeks to open and foster dynamic pathways between public research organisations and private commercial enterprises, in particular SMEs, including traditional manufacturing industries, based on longer term co-operation programmes with a high potential for increasing knowledge-sharing and mutual understanding of the different cultural settings and skill requirements of both sectors. Participants under this action are on the one hand, one or more universities/research centres and on the other, one or more enterprises, in particular SMEs, that propose a project based on a joint cooperation programme. Within this scheme, the industrial partners must be organisations operating on a commercial basis, i.e. companies gaining the majority of their revenue through competitive means with exposure to commercial markets, and will include incubators, start-ups and spin-offs, venture capital companies, etc. The different participants should be from at least two different Member or Associated countries, of which at least one must be from a Member State. The participants recruit and/or host eligible researchers and contribute directly to the implementation of longer-term cooperation programmes established between them in line with the objectives of this action.
http://ec.europa.eu/research/participants/portal/page/people?callIdentifier=FP7-PEOPLE-2012-IAPP
7. 30th April 2012: Leverhulme Research Leadership Awards
The Research Leadership Award scheme provides funds to build a research group under the direction of the grant holder, who must be at least 2 years into their first university post (but not sufficiently long in post for the trajectory of their research contribution to have become established). Awards will be for a sum of between £800,000 and £1 million over a period of up to 5 years and funds can be used to employ a research group of research assistants and research students (but cannot be used to cover applicant salary or overheads). Applications for research in any subject area within the Trust’s normal remit will be eligible for support. See http://www.leverhulme.ac.uk/funding/RLA/RLA.cfm) for more details of the scheme.
8. September 2012: Marie Curie Career Integration Grant
Marie Curie Career Integration Grants are intended to improve considerably the prospects for the permanent integration of researchers who are offered a stable research post in Europe after a mobility period in a country different from the country where the researcher has been active during the past years (i.e. the researcher has to be mobile but can come from anywhere in the world – moving within Europe or coming from outside Europe). The duration of these grants is up to 4 years.
http://ec.europa.eu/research/participants/portal/page/people?callIdentifier=FP7-PEOPLE-2012-CIG
9. International Outgoing Fellowships for Career Development
The specific objectives of the Marie Curie International Outgoing Fellowships for CareerDevelopment can be described as follows:
"This action aims to reinforce the international dimension of the career of European researchers by giving them the opportunity to be trained and acquire new knowledge in a high-level organisation active in research, established in an Other Third Country. Subsequently, these researchers will return with the acquired knowledge and experience to an organisation in a Member State or Associated country" (2011 "People" Work Programme)
Experienced researchers applying to this action need to identify and develop a research training project that will provide the means to advance significantly in their career. A fundamental concept underlying this action is that of advanced training and life-long learning. In essence, the fellowship should enable the experienced researcher to progress in the development of his/her career and should not represent a temporary solution. The fellowship is expected to be part of a structured, long-term professional development plan that is coherent with past achievements and clearly defines the future aims of the researcher.
http://ec.europa.eu/research/fp7/understanding/marie-curieinbrief/europe-world_en.html
10. Intra-European Fellowships for career development (IEF)
This action provides financial support for advanced training and trans-national mobility, for a period of 12 to 24 months (full-time equivalent), for individual projects presented by experienced researchers active in Member States or associated countries in liaison with a host organisation from another Member State or associated country. Overall, projects are expected to add significantly to the career development of the best and most promising researchers active in Europe, in order to enhance and maximise their contribution to the knowledge-based economy and society. http://ec.europa.eu/research/fp7/understanding/marie-curieinbrief/research-development_en.html
11. Economic and Social Research Council studentships for Scotland
(MSc+PhD or PhD only)
The SGPE is one of the research training pathways that forms part of the ESRC Scottish Doctoral Training Centre. ESRC 1+3 (MSc+PhD) and +3 (PhD only) studentships in Economics are available at the 8 SGPE universities: Aberdeen, Dundee, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Heriot-Watt, Stirling, Strathclyde and St. Andrews. They are intended solely for students either starting a PhD or intending to start a PhD following their MSc. Students wishing to apply for an SGPE "1+3" or a "+3" award must submit a written and credible research proposal for their PhD. Further information on eligibility and details can be found on the DTC and the ESRC Websites.
Applicants interested in PhD study only (+3) should have applied to and have received an offer from their preferred SGPE university by the 3rd of May, 2011.
Applicants interested in MSc+PhD study (1+3) should have applied to and have received an offer from SGPE MSc Programme taught at the the University of Edinburgh by the 3rd of May, 2011. 1+3 applicants should NOT apply for a PhD (in addition to the MSc) at their preferred Unviversity at this stage, but they MUST contact the relevant PhD Coordinator (see instructions below.)
Applicants who wish to be considered for an ESRC award must first register their interest. To do this they need to send two emails; one to the SGPE PhD Director, Liam Delaney at Liam.Delaney@stir.ac.uk (cc'ing sgpe.admissions@ed.ac.uk) and the other to the PhD coordinator at the department at the at which they are interested in pursuing their PhD (see below). These emails must be sent by Friday the 8th of April 2011. The coordinators are the relevant Dapartments are:
Aberdeen: Ioannis Theodossiou
Dundee: Hassan Molana
Edinburgh: Ed Hopkins
Glasgow: Kostas Angelopoulos
Heriot-Watt: David Cobham
St. Andrews: Paola Manzini
Stirling: Ian Lange
Strathclyde: Julia Darby
Applicants who register their interest will receive detailed instructions by email on how to apply.
In brief, these instructions will ask students to (1) identify a research topic, the SGPE University where they intend to pursue their PhD, and a specific supervisor within the SGPE, (2) provide details of their relevant degree and degree courses and (3) write a short research proposal, and (4) provide a letter of support from the relevant University department where PhD study is planned. The deadline for receipt of full applications is 4pm, 3 May 2011.
Successful applicants will hear back by Friday the 20th of May.
http://ec.europa.eu/research/fp7/understanding/marie-curieinbrief/europe-world_en.html
10. Intra-European Fellowships for career development (IEF)
This action provides financial support for advanced training and trans-national mobility, for a period of 12 to 24 months (full-time equivalent), for individual projects presented by experienced researchers active in Member States or associated countries in liaison with a host organisation from another Member State or associated country. Overall, projects are expected to add significantly to the career development of the best and most promising researchers active in Europe, in order to enhance and maximise their contribution to the knowledge-based economy and society. http://ec.europa.eu/research/fp7/understanding/marie-curieinbrief/research-development_en.html
11. Economic and Social Research Council studentships for Scotland
(MSc+PhD or PhD only)
The SGPE is one of the research training pathways that forms part of the ESRC Scottish Doctoral Training Centre. ESRC 1+3 (MSc+PhD) and +3 (PhD only) studentships in Economics are available at the 8 SGPE universities: Aberdeen, Dundee, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Heriot-Watt, Stirling, Strathclyde and St. Andrews. They are intended solely for students either starting a PhD or intending to start a PhD following their MSc. Students wishing to apply for an SGPE "1+3" or a "+3" award must submit a written and credible research proposal for their PhD. Further information on eligibility and details can be found on the DTC and the ESRC Websites.
Applicants interested in PhD study only (+3) should have applied to and have received an offer from their preferred SGPE university by the 3rd of May, 2011.
Applicants interested in MSc+PhD study (1+3) should have applied to and have received an offer from SGPE MSc Programme taught at the the University of Edinburgh by the 3rd of May, 2011. 1+3 applicants should NOT apply for a PhD (in addition to the MSc) at their preferred Unviversity at this stage, but they MUST contact the relevant PhD Coordinator (see instructions below.)
Applicants who wish to be considered for an ESRC award must first register their interest. To do this they need to send two emails; one to the SGPE PhD Director, Liam Delaney at Liam.Delaney@stir.ac.uk (cc'ing sgpe.admissions@ed.ac.uk) and the other to the PhD coordinator at the department at the at which they are interested in pursuing their PhD (see below). These emails must be sent by Friday the 8th of April 2011. The coordinators are the relevant Dapartments are:
Aberdeen: Ioannis Theodossiou
Dundee: Hassan Molana
Edinburgh: Ed Hopkins
Glasgow: Kostas Angelopoulos
Heriot-Watt: David Cobham
St. Andrews: Paola Manzini
Stirling: Ian Lange
Strathclyde: Julia Darby
Applicants who register their interest will receive detailed instructions by email on how to apply.
In brief, these instructions will ask students to (1) identify a research topic, the SGPE University where they intend to pursue their PhD, and a specific supervisor within the SGPE, (2) provide details of their relevant degree and degree courses and (3) write a short research proposal, and (4) provide a letter of support from the relevant University department where PhD study is planned. The deadline for receipt of full applications is 4pm, 3 May 2011.
Successful applicants will hear back by Friday the 20th of May.
Wednesday, February 16, 2011
Killing Research: Employment Control Framework
Colm Harmon, Director of Geary, has a good post on Ferdinand's blog on his views on the increasingly difficult situation relating to hiring researchers in Irish universities. We are in the land of anecdotal impressions but for a lot of the people I work with, salary reductions were mostly taken on the chin. If you want to see people blue with anger or just purely despondent around here then put stupid self-defeating obstacles in the way of doing serious research, obstacles that as Colm points out can lead to serious delays in projects, reputational damage, funding having to be turned down etc.,.
Friday, February 05, 2010
HEA Competition for Research Students
The Higher Education Authority and the Irish Independent are inviting research students in any discipline to make a short submission on the difference that their research work will make to 'a particular aspect of Irish life, to the country as a whole or indeed, internationally.'
The six researchers with the most innovative or challenging ideas will be invited to present how their research is making an impact at a public event at The Helix at Dublin City University on Monday 26th April.
The closing date is Thursday 4th March and more details are available on the HEA website.
The six researchers with the most innovative or challenging ideas will be invited to present how their research is making an impact at a public event at The Helix at Dublin City University on Monday 26th April.
The closing date is Thursday 4th March and more details are available on the HEA website.
Wednesday, July 22, 2009
Intrinsic Incentives and Evaluation
Related to the last post, I give a lecture in Behavioural Economics on alternative theories of motivation other than financial incentives.
Lecture Here
The intrinsic incentives literature has stressed the extent to which individual's intrinsic motivations to perform their tasks can be crowded out if they are excessively monitored or made to comply with different types of identity-conflicting beurocratic tasks.
In the context of a more behaviourally driven model of researcher and academic productivity, it is worth considering the potential effect of using incentives, punishments and centralised allocation models on the desire of individual researchers and academics to push to perform at very high levels. Related to this, the extent to which cultural and peer environments drive individual academic and researcher performance needs to be thought of a lot more also. A comment on a previous post suggests that just allowing academics to function without any accountability processes or centralisation will create better outcomes than costly central mechanisms that potentially create distortions and crowd out motivation. As against that though, what if people are gaming the system and are not that motivated to perform? What if whole institutions that are receiving public money are not producing anything of value other than lobbying? And perhaps more crucially to the current debate, what if researchers are very intrinsically motivated but have no interest in wider commercial or policy implications of their work? In some circumstances this may create outcomes and Im sure people will reference many geniuses who work oblivious to any practical applications. But is it really a sufficient model of human motivation to power lower level technological and research innovations?
Bruno Frey has written on this topic in a number of papers. Operationalising in the context of the current situation made pose challenges but these forces should not be dismissed.
Lecture Here
The intrinsic incentives literature has stressed the extent to which individual's intrinsic motivations to perform their tasks can be crowded out if they are excessively monitored or made to comply with different types of identity-conflicting beurocratic tasks.
In the context of a more behaviourally driven model of researcher and academic productivity, it is worth considering the potential effect of using incentives, punishments and centralised allocation models on the desire of individual researchers and academics to push to perform at very high levels. Related to this, the extent to which cultural and peer environments drive individual academic and researcher performance needs to be thought of a lot more also. A comment on a previous post suggests that just allowing academics to function without any accountability processes or centralisation will create better outcomes than costly central mechanisms that potentially create distortions and crowd out motivation. As against that though, what if people are gaming the system and are not that motivated to perform? What if whole institutions that are receiving public money are not producing anything of value other than lobbying? And perhaps more crucially to the current debate, what if researchers are very intrinsically motivated but have no interest in wider commercial or policy implications of their work? In some circumstances this may create outcomes and Im sure people will reference many geniuses who work oblivious to any practical applications. But is it really a sufficient model of human motivation to power lower level technological and research innovations?
Bruno Frey has written on this topic in a number of papers. Operationalising in the context of the current situation made pose challenges but these forces should not be dismissed.
Sunday, May 10, 2009
How Applied Research Can Help To Revive The Economy
Damien Mulley links to the new Enterprise Ireland blog on research commercialisation. The blog mentions that Enterprise Ireland are currently working on getting this year’s applied research forum organised (to be held on June 18th). The website is live and posters have gone out to the colleges to advertise it. The main focus is on how applied research can help to revive the economy.
Also, Enterprise Ireland has commissioned a special award called 'One to Watch'. The 2009 winner will be announced at this year's Applied Research Forum. The winner of 'One to Watch' 2008 was Dr. Declan Dagger from Trinity College Dublin. Dr. Dagger and his team developed a new personalised e-learning tool to tackle the challenges presented by the fact that no two people learn the same way. A new company called Empower the User has since been formed around the technology with Dr. Dagger in the position of CEO.
Also, Enterprise Ireland has commissioned a special award called 'One to Watch'. The 2009 winner will be announced at this year's Applied Research Forum. The winner of 'One to Watch' 2008 was Dr. Declan Dagger from Trinity College Dublin. Dr. Dagger and his team developed a new personalised e-learning tool to tackle the challenges presented by the fact that no two people learn the same way. A new company called Empower the User has since been formed around the technology with Dr. Dagger in the position of CEO.
Monday, February 09, 2009
A Guide for the Young Economist
"A Guide for the Young Economist - Writing and Speaking Effectively About Economics" is available on GoogleBooks.ie as a preview (here). The book is written by William Thomson; according to Repec.org(here), it is an invaluable guide for young economists working on their dissertations, preparing their first articles for submission to professional journals, getting ready for their first presentations at conferences and job seminars, or facing their first refereeing assignments. "In clear, concise language--a model for what he advocates--William Thomson shows how to make written and oral presentations both inviting and efficient. Thomson covers the basics of clear exposition, including such nuts-and-bolts topics as titling papers, writing abstracts, presenting research results, and holding an audience's attention."
Wednesday, February 04, 2009
Give Young Researchers More Money to Boost Productivity
is the conclusion (more or less) of a recent Fiscal Studies paper
http://ideas.repec.org/a/ifs/fistud/v29y2008i1p75-87.html
http://ideas.repec.org/a/ifs/fistud/v29y2008i1p75-87.html
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