User:OpenScientist/ESOF 2012/Research funding 2.0

About
''This page hosts a proposal for a scientific session at the Euroscience Open Forum 2012 that will take place in Dublin from 11-15 July, 2012. It was submitted on 30 June, 2011 and rejected in November 2011. Call. ''

Title
Research funding 2.0

Programme
Scientific Programme

Theme
Science, Education and Innovation Policy

Session format
Panel

Abstract
The Polymath project originated from posting a research idea in public and inviting comments. No project-specific funding was involved but a few weeks a thousand public comments later, the originally posted problem was solved, even in a more general way than anticipated. Traditional research funding mechanisms may or may not have treated this research idea favourably, but they would certainly have taken longer to get the project started, and it is not clear whether the complex set of knowledge and skills necessary to tackle the problem could have been assembled in the framework of a projects conducted in the traditional non-open way.

The focus of this session is to explore a number of avenues in which research funding schemes can be enriched by using the World Wide Web for the matching of research funds with project ideas, researchers, research facilities and other elements of funder's missions, including outreach. Drawing from examples like the Polymath project, crowd-funding platforms, and research support by patient initiatives, the panelists will discuss web-enabled funding mechanisms and how they could be used to the systemic benefit of research.

Target audience
Research funders, researchers, research institutions, research communicators, research policy makers, patient initiatives and other stakeholders in fields pertaining to scientific research.

Length of session
90 min

Special needs and remarks
General remark: The session will be prepared on-wiki at http://en.wikiversity.org/wiki/User:OpenScientist/ESOF_2012/Research_funding_2.0. IT requirements: stable LAN for the panelists, stable WLAN for the audience. Remote participation is encouraged.