Abstract

In Flanders, the regional government annually grants subsidies to an earmarked internal research fund at each university to promote fundamental scientific research at the universities. At Ghent University, the Research Council plays an important role in the design and approval of research initiatives that are eligible for funding, the assessment and selection of research proposals, and the provision of recommendations relating to the allocation of research resources. This Council initiates, encourages, and supports high-quality scientific research by, among other things, defining the necessary funding categories and allocating financial resources on a competitive basis. Yet, research shows that competitive funding is to a large extent bad for science and bad for scientists. In order to at least partly remedy some of these negative effects, the Council recently installed a non-competitive model of research fund allocation (“basic research funding”). A limited number of criteria were defined to decide to allocate the funding to a researcher, including project acquisition, publications, and supervision of PhD students. This type of allocation puts trust in the researcher and confirms one’s competence to perform innovative scientific research.

In this presentation, we will take stock of the challenges faced during the preparation phase and the implementation phase of this funding scheme. The way RMAs interact with the research community differs between the two types of research funding schemes and continuously balances between a proactive and a reactive approach. In addition, we will provide a first analysis of how researchers are using this funding. Basic research funding can only be used for research costs but is not earmarked in any other way. Researchers are free to decide to spend it on personnel (e.g., a PhD student), infrastructure, research stays, or other research-related costs. It therefore remains to be seen if this will foster more creative, innovative, and groundbreaking research as well as provide some more comfort for our research staff. Using data from a selection of faculties, we will provide a preliminary evaluation of how researchers are using and experiencing this model of funding. As such, we will provide a first insight into the effects of this funding scheme.