Rethinking the research funding allocation process

Recently, more innovative methods for funding allocation have been presented to and tested by funding agencies. These methods include different types of funding lotteries as they intrinsically acknowledge the role of chance and uncertainty in the funding allocation system. The Swiss National Science Foundation introduced, in 2022, a Bayesian ranking combined with a lottery. In this meta-science project, the goal is to refine and extend this methodology (developed by Rachel while employed at the SNSF).

Project Lead

Rachel Heyard

External Collaborators

Matthias Egger, Manuela Ott, Georgia Salanti, David Pina, Ivan Buljan, Ana Marusic

Publications

• Heyard, R., Ott, M., Salanti, G., and Egger, M. (2022) Rethinking the Funding Line at the Swiss National Science Foundation: Bayesian Ranking and Lottery, Statistics and Public Policy, 9(1):110-121. https://doi.org/10.1080/2330443X.2022.2086190

R packages

• ERforResearch: Expected Rank for Research Evaluation