The Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) has expressed concern on the way the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC), the UK's primary science funding body for chemistry, is introducing new measures. EPSRC's failure to give adequate advance notification of new demand management procedures is causing confusion and concern on some campuses where important new research is being performed, RSC noted.
RSC has expressed appreciation that EPSRC felt the need to take measures to address the problem of the low responsive mode success rates. However, the Society is disappointed that it was not consulted about the new measures and had no advance notification of the details of the changes.
As a result of confusion, some chemical scientists have expressed concerns over alleged "blacklisting", and this has led the RSC to seek clarification of the new procedures that have been introduced by EPSRC. UK chemists - at all stages of their professional development - could find it very difficult to maintain momentum in their research programmes due to administrative constraints at the EPSRC, it is felt.
In addition, the RSC is worried that the policies may result in young, less experienced researchers not getting the support needed to launch their research careers. It is trying to gain a more accurate picture of how severe the problem is as a result of some researchers putting in many unsuccessful submissions. What is very clear is that there has been a very low rate of success (15%) by those entering to the EPSRC 'responsive mode' submissions to fund research projects, RSC has observed.
At the same time the RSC is pressing the EPSRC to communicate more candidly and more widely its new policy and intentions. Without greater transparency by the research council it risks losing the trust of a significant portion of the research community, it has stated.
