Reward mavericks

A St Andrews University economist will this weekend call for an overhaul of research funding to reward mavericks and "collaborative competition". Manfredi La Manna, reader in economics, argues that encouraging competing teams of scientists to share results could boost productivity. Research funding models that assessed research proposals and whole departments on a case-by-case basis were inefficient, he said. Dr La Manna will make his case at an international conference, "Governing University Research", at Glasgow University, sponsored by the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science.