Is there a future for scientific research?

In recent decades, the trend to give preference to applied research over basic research has been clear in the Western countries. Yes, there are special calls for funding basic research projects, but we should clarify what those in charge of allocating research budgets understand by basic research.

This is the Wikipedia definition for basic research: scientific research with the aim of improving scientific theories for better understanding and prediction of natural or other phenomena.

Basic research par excellence is pure mathematics. Another example is the effort of taxonomists to catalog biodiversity. In a threatened world, where many living species are in danger of extinction, we have cataloged just one half of the existing species, although a few experts think that the actual proportion is much less. This is a work with potentially enormous practical applications, which are not immediate, but if this is not done, we risk losing many species that could provide us with useful substances.

In fact, the work of researchers (all of them, not just those engaged in basic research) has becoming an obstacle course.

• They must publish as much as possible to be well evaluated.
• They must read ever more articles just to keep up to date, either on the Internet or in specialized magazines, whose number is also growing.
• A lot of time must be spent (perhaps 50%) to make up research project proposals adapted to what the allocators of research funds would like.

I am afraid the time is not far away when researchers will be able to do nothing but read and write articles, and perform administrative tasks, without having time to investigate. When this happens, scientific research will stop. Technology will continue to advance by inertia for quite some time: we know that there were important technological advances during the European Middle Ages.

On top of this, the criteria used by the allocators of research funds change with time, together with the people who performing this work. In recent decades, we have witnessed a swing between favoring large research groups, which are supposed to make better use of resources, and less sclerotic small groups. On the other hand, the economic crisis has negatively affected budgets dedicated to training, making it increasingly difficult to find funding for doctoral students. The consequence is that research groups are not renewed or rejuvenated, a phenomenon with a greater impact in basic research fields without immediate application.

The same post in Spanish

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Manuel Alfonseca