Research Programmes That Promote Novel, Ambitious, Unconventional and High-Risk Research: An Analysis

Many governmental agencies and private foundations provide funding programmes that aim to stimulate high-risk research which is often unconventional and from which a high social and/or economic gain is expected. In this paper the authors survey the availability of such grants in Europe. In particular, they are interested in what funding agencies hope to achieve by funding such research, and whether or not the criteria used for evaluation of research proposals is compatible with such objectives. Some definite trends are found, such as the importance given to ‘originality’ and the lack of favour afforded to ‘speculative’ projects. Similarly, ‘track record’ is considered important. Therefore, it would seem that the risk-taking expected of proposers is not always matched by risk-taking on the part of the funding agencies. The authors discuss the wider implications of carrying out risky and unconventional research in an academic environment.