Do We Still Need Curiosity-Driven Research?
Session ID#: 282817
Session Description:
Curiosity-driven research is increasingly under pressure in today’s funding landscape, where agenda-driven projects promising short-term impact are prioritised. Yet, most groundbreaking scientific advances have emerged not from predefined goals, but from open-ended questions.
This Union Session, convened by the New Frontiers Committee of the AGU Fellows College, will explore the role and future of curiosity-driven research in the Earth and space sciences. A classic example is the development of lithospheric plate tectonics, which evolved from early speculation into a unifying framework for Earth dynamics. Deterministic chaos and cascade processes are further examples.
Despite such successes, evaluation systems emphasise predictability and impact, that undervalue high-risk ideas - especially for early-career scientists.
This session will debate whether current trends risk undermining the foundations of scientific innovation and explore how funding, evaluation and research culture might evolve to better support curiosity-driven inquiry, how essential it is for the future of science.
Index Terms:
6329 Project evaluation [POLICY SCIENCES & PUBLIC ISSUES]
6610 Funding [PUBLIC ISSUES]
6620 Science policy [POLICY SCIENCES & PUBLIC ISSUES]
6699 General or miscellaneous [PUBLIC ISSUES]
Primary Convener: Daniel J M Schertzer, Ecole Nationale des Ponts et Chaussées, Hydrologie Météorologie et Complexité (HM&Co), Champs-sur-Marne, France and "New Frontiers Committee of the AGU Fellows College"
Conveners: Gordon E. Grant, Oregon State University, College of Earth, Ocean, and Atmospheric Sciences, Corvallis, United States, Anthony Brian Watts, Univ Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom, Yoshihide Wada, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, Biological and Environmental Science and Engineering Division, Thuwal, Saudi Arabia, Ronald Amundson, University of California Berkeley, Department of Environmental Science, Policy and Management, Berkeley, CA, United States, Michael D Dettinger, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California San Diego, Center for Western Weather and Water Extremes (CW3E), La Jolla, United States, Malte F Stuecker, International Pacific Research Center and Department of Oceanography, University of Hawaii at Manoa, Honolulu, United States, Megan Konar, University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign, Urbana, United States and "New Frontiers Committee of the AGU Fellows College"
