DIY labs are an exciting alternative to university science research
Laden with institutional bureaucracy and hampered by protracted funding and publishing systems, the juggernaut of university research is slow to change direction. In an era of rapid global change, are universities really the best places for progressive research?
A quiet revolution is happening – independent research organisations and DIY labs have been popping up around the world, and with scientists becoming increasingly despondent about academia, the attractiveness of startup organisations is growing.
Independent research organisations are usually created to address a particular issue like wildlife conservation or space exploration, while DIY labs are typically based around open-source principles, providing community access to lab kit and to scientific training. Both offer alternative models for research that deserve attention in the face of discontentment of university research communities.
While some academics remain adamant that universities are the only place to do serious research, the space industry tells a different story.
The space exploration startup SpaceX was founded in 2002 to bypass bureaucratic delays associated with government-run organisations. Far from failing because of a lack of top-down management from a university executive board, SpaceX became the first private company to launch and return a spacecraft, and in 2012 signed a contract with NASA to provide the next generation of space flight.
Those sharp enough to have noticed that SpaceX was founded by someone with ample access to funding could look to the 2013 launch of OSSI-1, an open-source satellite, by a private individual for inspiration on big science on a small budget.
DIY labs can harness talent
Although it's evident that good, serious research can be done by startups and DIYers, aren't the best researchers found at universities? If anything, the opposite may be true, and corporations have caught on to the fact that the best and the brightest are often not to be found gracing the halls of university ivory towers.
DIY labs and startups offer the chance to harness this talent, allowing anyone to get involved in science and to perform their own research without the need for formal qualifications.
It is also becoming easier to set up an independent lab. The power of 3D printing for making affordable lab equipment, and citizen science for increasing feet on the ground, will help to fuel the progress of DIY labs. The rise of low-cost non-profit open access publishing models is beginning to enable research findings to be shared and further reduce the reliance on the university model of research.
Freedom to pursue research
Access to conventional research funding remains difficult for new organisations and DIYers, as the UK research councils open up their funding only to large eligible independent research organisations. Nevertheless, being forced to move away from traditional research funding models can offer great advantages, including faster access to funds, and more freedom to pursue research that might be deemed unfundable by a risk-averse research council.
Crowdfunding for research is on the increase and offers a real alternative. Unlike public consultations by research councils, crowdfunding offers citizens the chance to vote with their wallets, meaning that science that benefits the most people is likely to be the easiest and quickest to fund. This model offers an agility unrivalled by universities, allowing fast and flexible local-scale, solution-driven research by citizens, for citizens.
Forging such direct links between society and science can only be beneficial. Universities and research councils have increasingly been making strained attempts to improve community relations, but a recent survey showed that half of people still think scientists are secretive, and 69% say that scientists should listen more to ordinary people. Community-based labs have the potential to reduce mysticism and mistrust by changing the very idea of who can do science and what science is.
This is an intriguing time for research – we are in a position where academic careers are unappealing and insecure, meanwhile technologies such as crowd-funding and citizen science offer real alternatives for talented pioneers.
Big names are coming on board to encourage the formation of new labs, with UNICEF offering a model for solution-driven innovation labs, and DIY community labs like GenSpace in New York are thriving. Are we approaching a perfect storm that could significantly alter the research landscape?
Amber Griffiths is a scientific adviser for FoAM Kernow. Follow her on Twitter @amberfirefly.
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