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Science funders gamble on grant lotteries

A growing number of research agencies are assigning money randomly.
  1. David Adam
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Albert Einstein famously insisted that God does not play dice. But the Health Research Council of New Zealand does. The agency is one of a growing number of funders that award grants partly through random selection. Earlier this year, for example, David Ackerley, a biologist at Victoria University of Wellington, received NZ$150,000 (US$96,000) to develop new ways to eliminate cells — after his number came up in the council’s annual lottery.

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Nature 575, 574-575 (2019)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-019-03572-7

References

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