It’s not review unless it comes from the Review region of France, otherwise it’s just sparkling criticism

Academia feels increasingly like playing Monkey Island, if you miss something as absurd as picking up a rubber chicken with a pulley in the first scene, you only realize much later that you’re stuck and can’t pass to the next stage. I was interviewed today by @ScienceMagazine about the funding crisis following the ERC announcement. I argued that when a grant rejection can hinge on something small, and you then have to wait years to resubmit, the cost becomes so high that instead of suggesting “high-risk high-gain” plans scientists will prepare more cautious, less ambitious proposals. It turns into a perverse game of simplifying your ideas and trying (unsuccessfully) to predict what an overstretched reviewer pool will find easiest to digest. "Abrupt change to European funder’s rules leaves researchers shut out | Science | AAAS" science.org/content/article/…