It generally doesn't scale. You're not going to raise $500k a year from donations from friends, or from a kickstarter, or any of the other schemes people talk about. Or, maybe one or two labs in the country manage to pull this off, but the average lab won't. It also tends to reward popularity rather than good science.
Would be super interesting to see the inflows and outflows of a major research department. The thing I’ve heard many times at ucla is almost all departments and divisions run in the red. Meaning research grants and overhead don’t pay for departmental expenses.
I would also say while teaching / research might be different inflows of money, I think they are also intertwined in the mindshare of what people focus their time and attention on.
All of this said, it’s also weird that universities are not more public with these finances. There is a lot hidden here and it breeds mistrust.
One problem is how fragmented and confusing it all is. A major research department has probably several hundred accounts, all with their own funding sources and spending requirements/constraints.
Out of curiosity, have you seen any less traditional ways of funding a lab?
It generally doesn't scale. You're not going to raise $500k a year from donations from friends, or from a kickstarter, or any of the other schemes people talk about. Or, maybe one or two labs in the country manage to pull this off, but the average lab won't. It also tends to reward popularity rather than good science.
Would be super interesting to see the inflows and outflows of a major research department. The thing I’ve heard many times at ucla is almost all departments and divisions run in the red. Meaning research grants and overhead don’t pay for departmental expenses.
I would also say while teaching / research might be different inflows of money, I think they are also intertwined in the mindshare of what people focus their time and attention on.
All of this said, it’s also weird that universities are not more public with these finances. There is a lot hidden here and it breeds mistrust.
Have you looked at this book? https://escholarship.org/uc/item/59p124ds It goes into excruciating detail.
One problem is how fragmented and confusing it all is. A major research department has probably several hundred accounts, all with their own funding sources and spending requirements/constraints.