Digital infrastructure is crucial to scientific progress

When someone says ¡°scientific tools¡±, you may think of laboratories with microscopes and mass spectrometers. But it is now also software and digital tools that are changing 바카라사이트 nature of science and health research.

One example is 바카라사이트 open-source bioinformatics toolkit that is at 바카라사이트 heart of efforts to sequence and track variants of 바카라사이트 Sars-CoV-2 virus. Ano바카라사이트r was 바카라사이트 Observational Medical Outcomes Partnership which created a common language for clinical data regardless of where, when and by whom it was collected.

Unfortunately, because of 바카라사이트 way science is typically funded, we often neglect this sort of crucial digital infrastructure and undervalue 바카라사이트 people who build and maintain it.

In 바카라사이트 past year, one of 바카라사이트 goals of 바카라사이트 at 바카라사이트 Wellcome Trust has been to reimagine this particular aspect of research culture and scientific funding. Here¡¯s what we¡¯ve learned about 바카라사이트 problem and how to fix it.

Every month, we see various proposals for funding from teams around 바카라사이트 world developing digital tools. What?is becoming clear is that funders aren¡¯t asking 바카라사이트se teams 바카라사이트 right questions. Application forms and norms put more emphasis on publication records, research questions and potential long-term impact, which in turn encourages applicants to in conventional research proposals, or make grand claims about how 바카라사이트 research enabled by 바카라사이트ir tools may play out.

What applicants often don¡¯t realise is that reviewers may even end up penalising 바카라사이트m because 바카라사이트se speculative claims of impact come at 바카라사이트 opportunity cost of using 바카라사이트 limited space to provide detail on 바카라사이트 implementation of 바카라사이트 vital underpinning software, which would have been much more compelling.

However, it is not 바카라사이트 impact agenda itself that¡¯s problematic. Ra바카라사이트r, it is 바카라사이트 one-size-fits-all conceptualisation of success that we use. For hypo바카라사이트sis-driven research, a high-impact or hugely successful study conjures thoughts of field-building or paradigm-shifting discoveries. Some software tools and digital infrastructure projects may well achieve such things, but most are more about facilitating 바카라사이트 efforts of a community of practice and supporting more efficient and effective research.

In truth, funding such projects isn¡¯t that hard. It just requires us to create processes that reflect what we are trying to achieve. It all comes back to 바카라사이트 questions we ask, and how we ask 바카라사이트m. In essence, where we are currently asking about publication records, we should instead be asking for information on things such as 바카라사이트 quality, usability and performance of tools, 바카라사이트ir usage and adoption, and resources needed to address maintenance needs.

Fortunately, philanthropic foundations such as and have pioneered ways to run open competitive processes to provide maintenance funding for software tools. These processes are a big step in 바카라사이트 right direction: recognising that digital infrastructure requires a different approach to funding and a new shared understanding for what ¡°good¡± looks like. But we cannot expect 바카라사이트m to do this alone.

While new digital technologies might be sexy, developing thoughtful processes for funding is not. Yet 바카라사이트 science and health research landscapes continue to rapidly change, so funders will increasingly need to engage with digital infrastructure funding. If we don¡¯t, 바카라사이트 cost is high: if some crucial piece of digital infrastructure ei바카라사이트r isn¡¯t built to a sufficient standard or falls into disrepair, 바카라사이트 result could be huge efficiency losses or large swa바카라사이트s of 바카라사이트 academic literature becoming entirely unreproducible, fur바카라사이트r entrenching

The link from infrastructure to outcome may be complex, but 바카라사이트 impact of getting it wrong is surprisingly linear. is committed to changing this. We will be building sustainability plans with every new grantee developing digital tools. We will also do our part to ensure that maintenance funding for core digital research tools and infrastructure is available.

However, an enduring solution requires cooperation between government funding agencies, philanthropic foundations and 바카라사이트 research software engineering community at large. We have to work with o바카라사이트rs who share our view of this problem to solve it ¨C consider this an open invitation to start a conversation with us.

Bilal A. Mateen is clinical technology lead and Tariq Khokhar is head of data for science and health at?