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Exactly. That, plus we have to pretend that we have a clear planning for several years and make a Gantt chart of what we will be researching each year. Which I

Exactly. That, plus we have to pretend that we have a clear planning for several years and make a Gantt chart of what we will be researching each year. Which I guess in some areas with very structured processes or long studies (medicine with its clinical studies where you follow patients for years, I guess) may make sense, but in mine (CS) is impossible because each research step is rather short and subsequent steps depend on the result of previous steps. So we write pipe dreams about discovering an algorithm using technique X to solve problem A on year 1, then finding a faster version on year 2, extending it to a larger coverage on year 3, etc.; when in reality technique X fails (which is legitimate, if it were obvious that it would succeed it wouldn't be cutting-edge research) and you end up using technique Y, and maybe solving problem A' instead. Which of course also has to be justified in reports about how everyting went different from planned but results are still awesome, again taking a huge amount of time. LLMs are a godsend for writing these formulaic things and since the starting point is a situation with useless processes where everyone wastes inordinate amounts of time, I can't imagine them being harmful overall for the grant process. The bar is just very low.

Evidlo 1y ago
Requiring a formal research plan can still serve as a filter for researchers who are not serious or disciplined, even if they don't stick to it exactly.
- Al-Khwarizmi 1y ago
  I personally don't agree. Anyone can make a Gantt chart, it's basically busywork. If it's required, every applicant will include it, serious or not. In fact is the kind of thing you could even outsource to a consultant (if you had access to one) and now, of course, to an LLM. Where seriousness matters is in actual execution. Which takes me back to what I previously said: we would probably be better off evaluating just the CV (which has signal about past execution) than evaluating project proposals.

Evidlo 1y ago

Requiring a formal research plan can still serve as a filter for researchers who are not serious or disciplined, even if they don't stick to it exactly.

Al-Khwarizmi 1y ago
I personally don't agree. Anyone can make a Gantt chart, it's basically busywork. If it's required, every applicant will include it, serious or not. In fact is the kind of thing you could even outsource to a consultant (if you had access to one) and now, of course, to an LLM. Where seriousness matters is in actual execution. Which takes me back to what I previously said: we would probably be better off evaluating just the CV (which has signal about past execution) than evaluating project proposals.