The 10/90 gap
The 10/90 gap
Ninety percent of the research resources are devoted to improving the life of ten percent of the world population. This gap, known from the world of healthcare research, also applies to genomics research. Much research is carried out, for example, into improving the growth speed of crops, yet much less attention is given to making these crops more suitable for the climate in Third World countries. How to bring about changes in this area was the central question of this project. First of all, the question has a normative component: how should it actually be? What does a fair research agenda entail? Should genomics research focus more on subjects like combating malaria or hunger?
The empirical side of the study asks why this imbalance exists, and how things could be done differently. How, for example, do researchers decide on the subject of their study? Established institutions, such as research grants, play a role in this, as do simple force of habit, such as building forth on earlier research themes. But there are also pioneers, researchers who dare embrace new ideas and fairness. By using these people as an example, the objective is to create a manual for agenda setting, one in which research funds are divided more fairly.