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2023-04-17
Rockefeller Archive Center;
This report chronicles the events that led to the inception of the Chinese materia medica (CMM) research program at the Peking Union Medical College (PUMC). Dozens of herbal drugs were investigated during the decade after the program was conceived in 1921, including ma-huang, from which ephedrine, an anti-asthmatic drug of global impact, was isolated in 1924. Â The program was primarily born out of a serendipitous intersection of two independent pursuits by Dr. Ralph G. Mills and Mr. Bernard E. Read, two PUMC faculty members, of their interests in CMM, instead of a preconceived grander aim or strategy by the institution or by any visionary. The establishment of the program, however, was the result of pragmatic handling of personnel and administrative issues by the China Medical Board (CMB)'s key decisionmakers, who accepted the seemingly plausible scientific value and various utilitarian promise of CMM and were open to its research at the PUMC.The discovery of ephedrine is the most celebrated scientific achievement from the CMM research program, and one of the few highlights of Chinese science during the entire Republican Era. Reconstructing the origin of the program will hopefully place this highly acclaimed scientific event in an accurate historical context and enable the construction of a non-whiggish historiographical narrative.
2023-05-16
Carnegie Corporation of New York;
This report assesses progress toward the vision of science instruction provided a decade ago by the National Research Council with support from the Corporation. In order to elevate the status of science education in the U.S. and to broaden the involvement of underrepresented groups in ongoing reform efforts, a field-level agenda for change is necessary. To that end, the report includes recommendations to inform improvements over the next 10 years in service of making science education a priority for all.
2023-01-05
Rockefeller Archive Center;
The Nazi movement, heavily rooted in eugenics, caused the persecution and exile of hundreds of neuroscientists. Additionally, eugenic research took place in Nazi Germany with the motivation of improving the so-called "German race" through elimination of hereditary neurological diseases. With the advent of illegal killing of neuropsychiatric patients after World War II started, those patients could be used unethically as research subjects. Thus, neuroscience was at the heart of immoral and unethical activities in Nazi Germany from 1933 to 1945. The Rockefeller Foundation (RF) supported at least twenty exiled academic neuroscientists who either had prior RF support, or who showed "merit" to justify their being awarded limited funds to restart their careers abroad. The RF also supported eugenic neuroscientific research in Nazi Germany (and Denmark) despite escalating racial persecution in pre-war Germany. Some RF funds went to an institute which was also funded by the elite Nazi paramilitary group, the SS. And, an initially RF-funded project, a monkey farm in Würzburg, was used in unethical experiments to prove the cause of multiple sclerosis (MS) with subjects targeted for killing. Overall, the RF walked a fine line between supporting some victims of Nazi persecution, while ironically continuing to fund some neuroscientific research that could be linked to their persecution in the first place, or to destruction of neuropsychiatric patients. While supporting academic refugees was laudable, there was an undercurrent of supporting "best science" without regard for the ethical implications, from which current neuroscientists and others can learn valuable lessons.
2023-09-01
Philanthropy Europe Association (Philea);
This publication on responsible research assessment aims to explore diverse approaches taken by foundations to enhance the fairness, transparency and effectiveness of evaluating research proposals for funding. The publication delves into three distinct methodologies that challenge traditional assessment methods and offer innovative alternatives: 1. Using artificial intelligence (AI); 2. Adopting narrative curriculum vitae (CVs); and 3. Implementing randomised selection. It provides an overview of general principles of responsible research assessment, key framing documents and recommendations for implementing these principles; and offers examples of the real-world application of these methods by various foundations and organisations.While these approaches demonstrate the innovative potential within research assessment, they are by no means an exhaustive representation of all available tools and methods. Nevertheless, they serve as compelling illustrations of the ongoing efforts to revolutionise evaluation practices and foster a more inclusive and equitable research ecosystem.
2023-09-13
Open Environmental Data Project (OEDP);
On March 23, 2023, the Open Environmental Data Project and the California State Water Resources Control Board co-hosted a Dataset Re-Mix Workshop. We explored and discussed potential improvements to the state's water quality datasets, and their uses in understanding and achieving Human Right to Water and Safe and Affordable Funding for Equity and Resilience (SAFER) program goals. This report contains recommendations synthesized from these conversations.
2023-10-24
Rockefeller Archive Center;
Beginning in 1914, the Rockefeller Foundation's International Health Commission (which became the International Health Board in 1916 and the International Health Division in 1927) committed itself to the project of eradicating yellow fever. Its efforts were modeled on the sanitary techniques deployed by US sanitarians in Havana in 1901 and, more importantly, during the construction of the Panama Canal between 1904 and 1914, with mosquito control preeminent among them. William C. Gorgas, who led these campaigns and then came to work for the Rockefeller Foundation, argued for a key center approach to yellow fever eradication that targeted the remaining urban endemic foci of infection, with the assumption that once these seed beds of the disease were eliminated, yellow fever would fade from the planet. But as the IHB conducted campaigns in South America, Central America, and West Africa during the late 1910s and 1920s, they discovered that yellow fever's ecology and epidemiology were more complicated than they had assumed, and that a "key center" approach would not work to eradicate the disease. By the 1930s, and particularly with Fred Soper's discovery of sylvan or jungle yellow fever, the Rockefeller Foundation gave up on their eradicationist dream.
2023-10-16
American Enterprise Institute;
Key PointsPublic confidence in science has declined sharply in recent years, with only 69 percent of Americans in May 2023 expressing confidence in scientists to act in the public's best interest, compared to 86 percent in January 2019.Public confidence in science is starkly divided along partisan lines, but education, race, ethnicity, and religion also play significant roles.Climate change remains a divisive issue among Americans, but evolution appears less divisive today than it did a decade and a half ago.Party affiliation, age, education, media-consumption habits, and religious identity all influence Americans' views of vaccines, but institutional trust also plays an important role.
2023-12-22
Aspen Institute;
Open Science has the potential to increase scientific collaborations and the sharing of information for the benefit of science and society; make multilingual scientific knowledge openly available, accessible, and reusable for everyone; and open the processes of scientific knowledge creation, evaluation, and communication to societal actors beyond the traditional scientific community. Among the multiple components of Open Science, open access, which falls under the open scientific knowledge pilar, is at the core of reform efforts. UNESCO defines open access as having "free access to information and unrestricted use of electronic resources for everyone," adding that "any kind of digital content can be open access from texts and data to software, audio, video, and multi-media." The broad nature of Open Science and open access gives room for complexity and controversy—requiring inputs and perspectives from diverse stakeholders within and outside of the scientific community.Always working at the pulse of critical issues at the intersection of science and society, the Aspen Institute Science & Society Program convened a roundtable of experts from across six countries and multiple sectors to foster what might be considered a 'provocative' conversation on open access, in that participants could not always find common ground on aspects of a future model for open access. This roundtable forms one piece of a constellation of Open Science activities within our program's Global Science pillar.Four central questions guided the discussion:What are the obstacles or barriers to open access?How can we overcome unequal country wealth, technology access, and education across countries to promote the benefits of scientific research toward solving societal issues?What are financial models for open access to which most (even for-profit) publishers could agree?How can political solutions (including legislation) help to promote the implementation of open access?
2023-12-13
Science Philanthropy Alliance;
The Science Philanthropy Alliance has released its inaugural Science Philanthropy Indicators Report. This timely analysis dives deeply into NSF data, examining basic research funding in the U.S. through a philanthropic lens, with a focus on the higher education and nonprofit research sectors. In these sectors, philanthropy today fuels the U.S. basic research enterprise at a level approaching the federal government, providing an estimated nearly 40% or $24.7B of support in 2021. The report illustrates the value of engaging with philanthropy as a key driver of innovation.
2023-11-15
Frontiers in Research Metrics and Analytics;
Indigenous Peoples are reimagining their relationship with research and researchers through greater self-determination and involvement in research governance. The emerging discourse around Indigenous Data Sovereignty has provoked discussions about decolonizing data practices and highlighted the importance of Indigenous Data Governance to support Indigenous decision-making and control of data. Given that much data are generated from research, Indigenous research governance and Indigenous Data Governance overlap. In this paper, we broaden the concept of Indigenous Data Sovereignty by using the CARE Principles for Indigenous Data Governance to discuss how research legislation and policy adopted by Indigenous Peoples in the US set expectations around recognizing sovereign relationships, acknowledging rights and interests in data, and enabling Indigenous Peoples' participation in research governance.
2023-11-22
Frontiers in Research Metrics and Analytics;
Introduction:Â Indigenous Peoples are increasingly exerting governance and oversight over genomic research with citizens of their nations, raising questions about how best to enforce research regulation between American Indian, Alaska Native, and Native Hawaiian peoples and researchers.Methods:Â Using a community-engaged research approach, we conducted 42 semi-structured interviews with Tribal leaders, clinicians, researchers, policy makers, and Tribal research review board members about their perspectives on ethical issues related to genetics research with Indigenous Peoples in the US.Results:Â We report findings related to (1) considerations for Indigenous governance, (2) institutional relationships upholding sovereignty, (3) expectations for research approvals, and (4) agreements enacting Indigenous governance. Participants described concerns about different ways of exerting oversight, relationships and agreements between Indigenous Peoples and researchers, and gaps that need to be addressed to strengthen existing governance of genomic data.Discussion:Â The results will ultimately guide policy-making and development of new strategies for Indigenous Peoples to enforce oversight in research to promote ethically and culturally appropriate research.
2022-01-24
Allen Institute;
Whether it's classifying the billions of neurons that make up our brain, tracing the lineages of our development or understanding the detailed ins and outs of our cells, Allen Institute scientists are making the unknown known — and ultimately helping us to understand what it means to be human.