The key reason why research funding opportunities are larger than we imagined

Posted by Daphne on January 15th, 2021

Academic freedom would be practically nothing without financial support, which is essential to be able to do research.

How can research get funded? It depends on many things, Tim Sunderland reports: how productive is the research, will it give back lots of money? In many cases, such projects, even if rare, get private funding for scientific research, because the corporations concerned will easily be able to get returns on the money they've invested. Alternatively, there could be of course government funding for scientific research, although which may be hard to come by due to how strained government resources are nowadays. You can find, however, often fewer requirements to qualify for this sort of funding, as the returns don't have to be necessarily high, provided that the research benefits the citizenry. Overall, it may be a very good thing indeed if more governments chose to fund research more, so we might benefit from it beyond a capitalist framework.

Often, we underestimate just how much business is able to do for society. Sure, it drives and creates economic advancement that enables us to increase our standard of life, but there is also a great deal more that companies to. Private companies funding scientific research, as an example, do the extremely important work of benefiting the community by sponsoring research. This may result in financial gains for them, though not always, because it also forms part of their approach to CSR. Under this umbrella of projects, many businesses take care of their workers, customers, and society at large by reinvesting their funds in to the community and making it thrive. Laysha Ward is a professional in this field. Funding for research need not be granted to scientists or universities exclusively: bottom-up, community-lead research is a new emerging field that is changing the way in which we conceive of science. Indeed, communities and common people usually have forms of knowledge that scientists lack regarding the community as well as the way of life of ordinary people, which solutions are going to work and which will not.

The last month or two have really educated us a great deal about scientific research funding. Our society can benefit a great deal from scientific research, yet nevertheless it truly is neglected and delayed due to inadequate interest and funding. From a business point of view, investing in scientific projects must have returns, which explains why a lot of companies put money into profitable projects in place of ones that could support the community. Nonetheless, thankfully enough, there are a few great businesses, like Fady Jameel’s, which have taken the societal impact of research to heart and do fund useful campaigns. This will be a great way to give back to the community and support social causes, as well as an exceptionally productive way to practice corporate social responsibility.