This is so much in tune with my previous post that can't resist sharing it.
Monbiot: "our universities are being turned by the government into corporate research departments. No longer may they pursue knowledge for its own sake: now the highest ambition to which they must aspire is finding better ways to make money... The research councils, which provide 90% of the funding for academic research in Britain(1), introduced a new requirement for people seeking grants: now they must describe the economic impact of the work they want to conduct. The councils define impact as the “demonstrable contribution” that research can make to society and the economy(2). But how do you demonstrate the impact of blue skies research before it has been conducted?"
Read on... http://www.monbiot.com/archives/2009/05/12/captive-knowledge/ -- Alexey Voinov _____________________________________________________________________ !!!**** please note new e-mail address: aavoi...@gmail.com ****!!! _____________________________________________________________________ Chesapeake Research Consortium Community Modeling Program & Johns Hopkins University Dept. of Geography and Environm. Engineering 645 Contees Wharf Road, P.O. Box 28, Edgewater, MD 21037 TEL: 410 798-1283; 703 880-1178 WWW: http://www.likbez.com/AV Fellow, Gund Institute for Ecological Economics,University of Vermont President,Int.Envir.Modeling. and Software Soc.,http://www.iemss.org/ New book: Systems Science and Modeling for Ecological Economics http://books.elsevier.com/companions/9780123725837
