Thinking about private funding of Arctic science

Interesting news this week about Arctic research: a Vancouver couple has generously donated $60 million to ArcticNet, to support research in the Canadian Arctic.  It sounds like a wonderful initiative: those involved say it�s enabling innovative research on issues of interest to Indigenous communities that may not otherwise happen.

It�s also an instance of an historical development I�ve commented on before (including here, in 2014): the increasing significance of private funding for scientific research.  That kind of support changes our understanding of both nature and society: aspects that may otherwise be ignored receive attention; and people who might not otherwise have access to funding are able to pursue their interests.  And that new knowledge, in turn, may well have consequences: raising new issues, bringing new players into the policy process, generating a more pluralistic scientific and political landscape.

Government remains the dominant source of funding for academic science, just as it has been since the 1950s.  But I wonder if we are at all returning to a landscape of science a little closer to what it was like before that time (especially in the United States), when private funding (particularly from foundations) shaped much of the research that got done.  If that�s the case, it�s worth watching this more carefully, keeping in mind that even acts of great (private) generosity have consequences for what we know, and how we think and act.