Case Study 2: Grant Review
Professor Polly Nomial has been asked to review grant proposals that have been submitted to a funding agency. Professor Nomial receives 10 proposals to review and is asked to give them letter grades based on their merits. Only 10% of the proposals for this prestigious grant are expected to be funded.
One of the proposals in Prof. Nomial’s pile is from Dr. Uppen Kumming. Dr. Kumming is a new professor at another university and was a Ph.D. student of Prof. Nomial’s departmental colleague, Prof. Ecks Ponential. Before reading the proposal, Prof. Nomial has lunch with some of her colleagues. Here’s the conversation that transpires:
Prof. Polly Nomial: “Did I tell you that I was asked to review a grant proposal submitted by Uppen Kumming? He’s in his first year on the faculty at the Pasadena Institute of Technology.”
Prof. Trigo Nometric (a colleague): “I really hope he gets the grant. It will be great for Uppen’s career and it will reflect well on our department since he’s one of our graduates. Could you pass the ketchup please?”
Prof. Hy Perbolic (another colleague): “Polly, I think that you should recuse yourself from reviewing this proposal – it looks to me like a conflict of interest. Pass the ketchup back please.”
Prof. Polly Nomial: “I don’t see the conflict. I’d like him to get the grant, but I’ll review the proposal impartially. Moreover, I know professionally the Ph.D. advisors of most of the people applying for the grants. Some of them I like and admire and others I think are absolute … well anyhow… I’m not going to let any of those feelings impact my reviews of these proposals.”
Prof Trigo Nometric: “Polly’s got a very good point, Hy. Where do you draw the line here? I’ll bet that most – if not all - of the reviewers have some indirect personal connections to the authors of these proposals. The review system will come to a grinding halt if people everyone starts recusing themselves. We just need to assume that the reviewers are decent and fair people and let them do their work. Where’s the ketchup?”
Imagine that you’re at the lunch table. You’ve just squeezed a glop of ketchup on your fries and look up to see your colleagues gazing at you and waiting to hear your thoughts on the matter.
· What’s your advice to Polly?
· Is there any additional information that you feel that you’d like to have before being absolutely certain about the right way to proceed?