Mirka Smolej (2011) writes in her research´s ”News media, crime and fear of violence” preface: ”Itseironisesti olen todennut, että Suomesta harmittavasti puuttuu apurahahakemusten tekemisen mahdollistava tukimuoto.”
She argues (in an ironic way) that researchers should have financial support to writing applications for research grants. There is lots of truth in her words. Have you ever counted how many hours you have been writing applications, reports and other forms? I must say, it takes far too much time from the actual research work.
If you add to that the time you spent carrying books back and forth to library because of the limited online check out systems, you get a picture of the two most time consuming parts of researchers` routines.
The competitor is not the popularly blamed email, but the bureaucracy of the doorkeepers!
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At this moment the flow of money is guide for studies and research. Is it possible to get money for non fashionable projects? It seems to be so that current projects are formulated by hot words of time. This might lead to rather narrow path if we are talking about avantgardistic research…