Building Utopia, Part 3: Grant Applications are a Poor Use of Time.

A series of 6 blogposts where I offer my personal perspective on problems with academic culture from the point of view of a former early career researcher. I make suggestions on how to start combating these problems, based on my professional experience of 12 years in British academia, which included positions at Oxford, King’s College and University College London between 2008 and 2020.

Other Parts in this Series: Part 0 | Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 4 | Part 5

Problem #3: Grant Applications are a Poor Use of Time

Problem Statement

Scientific funding is predominantly allocated via competitive grant applications which consume an amount of scientific time disproportionate to their expected value.

Process and Consequences

Funding rates have fallen in most countries over the years, making more scientists compete for less money. Applying for funding is often a multi-stage process, with several grants including preliminary, invited full and interview application stages.

This creates a situation where scientists are being taken away from their useful duties of scientific enquiry and putting in increasing amounts of time and…