Monday, May 4, 2009

Mission Creep

Professor in Training has a post on the amazing amount of time that it takes to certify a lab and/or a researcher. I find it very interesting how there has been a slow increase in the amount of overhead to do research. Each step may be both reasonable and justified. But the total effect can be quite counter-productive.

And, I must admit, that I am not altogether clear that it is a better world when the key skill for a junior professor is negotiating bureaucracy and/or finding ways around regulation. I know why making these rules apply to everyone is useful (as people avoid these things if they have any chance at all -- or at least I do). But maybe we should learn to balance total impact on research with protection of lab-workers and research subjects?

No comments:

Post a Comment