{"id":3455,"date":"2015-07-31T09:56:19","date_gmt":"2015-07-31T08:56:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/occamstypewriter.org\/mindthegap\/?p=3455"},"modified":"2015-07-31T21:46:33","modified_gmt":"2015-07-31T20:46:33","slug":"cash-freeze-labsciencefunding","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/occamstypewriter.org\/mindthegap\/2015\/07\/31\/cash-freeze-labsciencefunding\/","title":{"rendered":"In which we make do: live from the cash-freeze lab"},"content":{"rendered":"

The government loves to tell us scientists how good we are at doing ‘more with less’. Over at the Guardian, I’ve posted yesterday about how the UK’s core research budget is again under threat<\/a>, with the possibility of up to 40% cuts to be announced at the Spending Review in November. <\/p>\n

I’ve also summarized how things have been tight ever since that budget was frozen in real terms in 2010. Many highly respected scientists I know are spending all of their waking hours submitting grants and facing a string of rejections. Even high-scoring grants often cannot be funded: as the price of research goes up with inflation, the pool of available funds is depreciated by it. <\/p>\n

Of course grant writing is good for focusing your thoughts and honing experimental plans. But to be a successful scientist, you also need to spend time writing papers, supervising your team and helping to analyze the data. Many of us also have to teach and sit on committees. When you’re in the throes of a grant application, other stuff tends to go out the window – which ultimately isn’t good for your team or for your science. We may be doing more with less, but imagine how much more scientific output we could produce if we had better resources – and if the perilous funding situation didn’t put people off taking the risks that are often required to break new ground.<\/p>\n

Anyway, I’m doing my bit for the more-for-less thing. Long-term followers of this blog may remember my descriptions of several home-made pieces of lab equipment<\/a> crafted out of cheap starting materials, including plywood, tin foil and a baby bottle sterilizer. Several years later, we’re having to be increasingly creative.<\/p>\n

Behold this piece of kit:<\/p>\n

\"Expensive<\/a>