Research infrastructure funding is set, there were no budget big-hits so now researchers guarding the lab can stand down and get back to science.  But if you think that you are not paying attention to the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Employment, Education and Training which is starting an inquiry into “efficiency, effectiveness and coherency” of federal government funding for research.

This could be an opportunity for rants about irrelevant research with the committee interested in, “prioritising delivery of national priorities and public benefit”. It might be an opportunity to get the gate-keepers to open up a bit. The committee will look at, “the range of programs, guidelines and methods of assessment of grants.” And perhaps it will upset institutions who do well from existing arrangements; examining, dual funding through “competitive grants and performance-based block grants.”  But whatever the committee considers, every university, agency and lobby will have to make a submission, lest rival organisations’ unsound ideas go unchallenged.