After a PhD and postdoc in molecular biology, Fiona swapped her Dublin lab bench for a desk in the south of France to write about other peoples' research. She is interested in anything got to do with medicine, medtech and research policy. Fiona is also a medical writer, mostly sifting through reams of data to write reports after clinical trials.
The parachuting of a politician with no research experience into the coveted top position at INRA, France's national institute for agricultural research, last summer did not go down very well with the scientific community in the country. This raises the question of whether research institutions should be managed by professional research manger without first-hand experience of research? This issue keeps arising in discussions across European academic institutions. And it is unlikely to go away any time soon. Fiona Dunlevy investigates for EuroScientist. Read more [...]
For every characteristic of uberisation, there is a parallel in the world of research. This raises the question of whether research was "uberised" before Uber even existed? In this article EuroScientist explores which aspects in research have been most impacted by technology, and the challenges ahead to leverage uberisation for the good of science and scientists. Read more [...]
E-democracy is entering a new phase in France through the first public online consultation of a new law. Fittingly, the law under review is the digital law promoting open data, safeguarding of net neutrality and opening internet access to all citizens. This attempt at bottom-up participation of citizens in law making is commendable. However, experts believe it's not an easy task. Read more [...]
The debate about reproducibility studies is becoming more and more high-profile. The open data movement is helping science become more reproducible but there is still scant reward - academic or financial - for scientists who try to reproduce published science. Reproducibility studies, and increasingly post-publication peer-review, are at the heart of scientific research and such work should be counted as a positive factor in academic evaluations. Here we find out how that could work. Read more [...]
As it nears its tenth anniversary, the European Charter for Researcher has failed to be fully implemented across Europe. This disappointing state of affairs shows that there are still many ways in which the status of researchers in Europe can be improved. Yet, future improvements hinge on such documents having more binding power in the future. Read more [...]
Researchers across France, Spain and Italy are orchestrating a wave of national protests, which will culminate on the 17th and 18th October 2014 in their respective capitals. Their objective is to highlight how Europe’s knowledge economy is being undermined by a lack of investment in research, amongst other factors. European national research systems are struggling; that much is beyond doubt. The question is how to balance national versus EU research support and how the EU can drive rehabilitation of national research systems. Another question is whether the increased focus on excellence-based funding is really necessary. This debate is now fully open. Read more [...]
French research is in trouble. A protest movement has arisen from the ranks of research centres and universities to protest against what French scientists consider a progressive assault on research funding, jobs and autonomy by successive French administrations. Research activists from Montpellier have devised a very French response to this problem: marching out on the street—albeit this time with a twist. From the 27th September 2014, the grassroots movement Sciences en Marche, will see researchers march on Paris. They are planning to arrive in the French capital on 18th October, having bicycled in stages from labs all over France. Read more [...]
European science conversations by the community, for the community
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