Utility, impact, fashion and lobbying: An agent-based model of the funding and epistemic landscape of research

Abstract

The paper presents an agent-based model of an evolution of research interests in a scientific community. The research epistemic/funding landscape is divided into separate domains, which differ in impact on society and the perceived utility, which may determine the public willingness to fund. Scientific domains also differ in their potential for attention grabbing, crucial discoveries, which make them fashionable and also attract funding. The scientists may ‘follow’ the availability of funds via a stylized grant based scheme. The model includes possible effects of the additional public relation and lobbying efforts, promoting certain disciplines at the cost of others. Results are based on two multi-parameter NetLogo models. The first uses an abstract, square lattice topology, and serves as a tool to understand the effects of the parameters describing the individual preferences. The second model, sharing the internal dynamics with the first one, is based on an actual research topics map and projects statistics, derived from the UK Research Council data for 2007–2016. Despite simplifications, results reproduce characteristics of the British research community surprisingly well.