Lovelace Future Scientific Institutions Essay Prize by the Better Science Project

We're excited to announce the launch of the Lovelace Future Scientific Institutions Essay Prize, an initiative by the Better Science Project aimed at reimagining the future of science. We're offering £1500 each for 3-5 essays that offer bold, transformative visions for new scientific institutions. 

Why we think this would suit the EA community

We think metascience is a key target area for impact. Ultimately, we need to understand problems to solve them, and the current scientific institutional ecosystem does not facilitate doing this with adequate epistemic clarity.

In particular:

1. Better science leads to more reliable knowledge. This lets us know what to do and how to get there better.
2. Innovative scientific institutions could be pivotal in tackling global challenges like pandemic preparedness, climate change, and existential risks.
3. Current scientific research is enormously wasteful - using these resources better could have huge impact

Competition Details:

• Prize: £1500 each for 3-5 visionary essays.
• Focus: Bold ideas for new scientific institutions that challenge current models and offer scalable, impactful solutions.
• Eligibility: Open to non-established researchers, including graduate students and early-career professionals. We don't require formal research experience as long as you have substantial interests in the space.
• Submission Format: Essays (max 3 A4 pages) should focus on innovative concepts for the structure and function of research institutes.

Submission Deadline: 20th December 2023

Please send your entries in .pdf or .docx format to [email protected]. For more information and detailed guidelines, visit https://www.betterscience.co.uk/essayprize

More info can also be found on our Twitter here: https://x.com/BetterScienceUK/status/1726637264418345438?s=20

If our mission resonates with you, please consider retweeting this link to your followers. Thanks for reading and look forward to seeing some of your submissions!