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I've just finished my Doctoral Studies, and I'm currently in the process of producing an API tool for Molecular Dynamics simulations.

The applicability of this tool could be very wide, however, I need funding to continue development. How can I find organisations that fund work similar to this and how should I look for potential grants?

For context, I'm based in the UK.

Connor
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  • Why is this flagged for closure? Seems like a legitimate question. – Dilworth Jan 25 '22 at 16:37
  • Why is this a "shopping question", and why would such a question be illegitimate here? It is simply a question about listing websites/agencies that provide funding in the UK. I myself would be very interested, for instance. – Dilworth Jan 25 '22 at 16:44
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    @Dilworth https://academia.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/3657/why-was-my-question-put-on-hold-for-shopping is linked from the close reason; "In most cases a shopping question can be identified by fulfilling one of the following criteria¹: ... Naming one or more of the above would be an answer to the question. ... Evaluating, criticising, or comparing one or more of the above would be an answer to the question." – Bryan Krause Jan 25 '22 at 16:47
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    @BryanKrause I guess I don't see why listing things is a bad thing. in fact, this is one of the most useful functions of this website. The explanation given on the Meta for this seem very unconvincing to me. – Dilworth Jan 25 '22 at 19:34
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    @Dilworth This isn't a new conversation, it's been had numerous times over the lifetime of SE as a broader network. With a few exceptions, the consensus has been to avoid the types of questions that evoke lists, especially lists that are primarily based on opinion and/or are not constrained in length. I do think when building a community consensus on a multitude of issues it is highly unlikely that every person will be convinced by every consensus. – Bryan Krause Jan 25 '22 at 19:38
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    @BryanKrause, building a consensus if obviously important. I'm simply explaining that in this case the arguments are unconvincing and inconsistent in my opinion. Indeed, every question requests a "list" of answers. The weakness of the arguments leads also to inconsistent decisions. See here for almost a similar-styled "shopping question": https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/181570/how-to-choose-very-good-journals-in-mathematics – Dilworth Jan 25 '22 at 21:32
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    What could I do to make it no longer a shopping question? It appears to me that it is already a how question of sorts, an objective list of possible funders absent of any bias? – Connor Jan 26 '22 at 14:36
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    @Connor, unfortunately I don't understand the concept of a "shopping question" to assist you on this. To me, it seems that every question asking for information is a "shopping question", by definition: it "shops" for an answer. – Dilworth Jan 26 '22 at 17:40
  • @BryanKrause Could I get a little bit more context on why my edit isn't sufficient to open this question again? I would be extremely grateful for it! The list that would be provided here would not be based on opinion and is limited in length necessarily. Reading the explanation of what a shopping question is, it should be clear that this isn't asking for any individual funding body, but a none opinionated list of possible ones.

    I fail to see how it could be different from a reference request question, which seems to be allowed.

     – Connor Jan 27 '22 at 16:15
  • @Connor The question has been in the Review system and community members have indicated they still feel it should remain closed (though it hasn't been unanimous). Generally the community prefers that moderators defer to the community when possible. In the explanation for why things are closed as shopping questions, "Naming one or more of the above would be an answer to the question" is mentioned as a criterion; I disagree with you that providing such a list would be "non-opinionated". – Bryan Krause Jan 27 '22 at 16:20
  • Your latest edits have put the question into the review queue again and you can see how the community responds to this iteration. – Bryan Krause Jan 27 '22 at 16:22
  • @BryanKrause Thank you for your response! So I guess the intent behind this is you don't want to leave leeway for opinion, but if I ask for options the person providing them might have an opinion on the organisations they offer (presumably positive), however that doesn't mean it's a bad thing for them to list them. Surely it's a good thing in this instance. You could say it will slant the answer to organisations they prefer, but any answer would be slanted by limited knowledge of funding organisations anyway. Hopefully, we can reach a resolution after this most recent edit! – Connor Jan 27 '22 at 16:28
  • @Connor It's mostly that opinion-based lists and recommendations are not a great format for the SE model of building a repository of Q&A. We've made some exceptions and now software recommendations are allowed, but we don't want the site to turn into a repository for everyone's opinions on what journals/funding sources/universities are best for each person in each possible way you can carve out their circumstances. We instead prefer questions that get at the core "how" answers that extend to many different people in different circumstances. Q&A here shouldn't be about just helping one asker. – Bryan Krause Jan 27 '22 at 16:33
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    Depending upon your current business circumstances, the Innovate UK EDGE program may be a starting point. – Daniel S. Fowler Jan 27 '22 at 17:27
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    @Dilworth: I am not sure what usage of the term shopping question your criticism is based on, but it is not ours. In the SE context, the term shopping question has a special meaning and we have further refined it for the purpose of this site – which is why there is a FAQ about it that is linked in the above. Note that the term list (or similar) doesn’t appear in that FAQ at all. If you have any suggestions on how to improve that FAQ, please comment there. – Wrzlprmft Jan 27 '22 at 17:29
  • @Wrzlprmft, my understanding now is that a shopping question is a one of which answer is a named individual or institute or agency, etc. So asking: "Is there a university that teaches X" is a shopping question. I think this is too restrictive to this site. – Dilworth Jan 27 '22 at 18:28

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