To me, the main disadvantage of being funded through a fund is that I would be tied to a research topic and a timeframe in which I would have to complete the project (or at least that’s how I imagine it). Working at an organization allows me much more flexibility. I can begin researching a topic, see that it’s not as tractable as I thought, and then drop it. Alternatively, I can increase the scope of the project, or change it into something different, depending on what I feel will be more impactful. All of these scenarios happen often because the more I work on the project, the more informed I am about the most promising directions of that project.
Good point! This does sound limiting. I guess I’d flag it, for one, as a message to funders when determining how to structure things. I’d hope that the EA Fund managers and others can be convinced to eventually donate in more and more optimal ways, if those ways really are optimal (and that can be made very clear). For instance, when donating to specific projects, paying attention to make clauses to ensure that the researchers have flexibility to make significant modifications if necessary.
To me, the main disadvantage of being funded through a fund is that I would be tied to a research topic and a timeframe in which I would have to complete the project (or at least that’s how I imagine it). Working at an organization allows me much more flexibility. I can begin researching a topic, see that it’s not as tractable as I thought, and then drop it. Alternatively, I can increase the scope of the project, or change it into something different, depending on what I feel will be more impactful. All of these scenarios happen often because the more I work on the project, the more informed I am about the most promising directions of that project.
Good point! This does sound limiting. I guess I’d flag it, for one, as a message to funders when determining how to structure things. I’d hope that the EA Fund managers and others can be convinced to eventually donate in more and more optimal ways, if those ways really are optimal (and that can be made very clear). For instance, when donating to specific projects, paying attention to make clauses to ensure that the researchers have flexibility to make significant modifications if necessary.