Go meta!

And it has spurred an expansion of metascience. Its simple premise – that we should turn the methods of science towards analysing and improving the scientific system itself – is now becoming mainstream.

These agendas aren’t new: metascience builds on a rich history of research into R&D systems. But there is also a growing cadre of researchers—in universities, R&D-intensive firms, public funding agencies, private labs and foundations—deploying new tools and data-driven methodologies to investigate the scientific process. Several countries have launched initiatives for metascience, such as:

• The UK, where the government has established an in-house Metascience Unit.
• Canada, which has launched a new cross-agency funding call.
• Germany, where the Volkswagen Foundation has a programme for “Researching Research”.
• USA, where the NSF is running its “Science of Science” funding program and experimenting with new methods.

In this talk, James Wilsdon will explore the changing landscape for metascience. He will argue that metascience is less a discipline, and more a mode of engaging with questions that most researchers encounter at some point in the networks and institutions they inhabit. Finally, he will offer a few thoughts on the metascientific possibilities of the present moment for the Austrian research system.

Resources

• James Wilsdon’s presentation slides (PDF)