Roar of the crowd heard in science

A British project to land a spaceship on the Moon is relying on crowdfunding to get off the ground. Picture / AP

Thanks to public support, researchers can get on with their work and their backers can learn new things, too.

You can take a role in testing the effect of warming skin on memory. Or you can involve yourself in a bid to land a spaceship on the Moon. Or you can help researchers understand the social behaviour of the dwarf mongoose.

It is a mixed bag - but it has a common theme. For all these scientific projects, and hundreds more, are getting the go-ahead through a new approach to supporting research projects: crowdfunding.

Now worth more than 3 billion ($6 billion) worldwide, the crowdfunding industry involves the raising of money for a project or venture by appeals on the internet. In the past, many appeals raised funds for local projects - repairs for schools or parks - but now the practice has spread as scientists have discovered its potential.

An example is provided by Lunar Mission One, a project aimed at landing a British spaceship on the Moon. Set up last month, the crowdfunding appeal aims to raise 600,000 to get the mission started.

Earlier this year Natalie Jonk established Walacea, a crowdfunding agency (www.walacea.com) that raises money to fund projects, including studies of the dwarf mongoose and the impact on mussels of ocean acidification.

"Some of Britain's best brains are in jobs that do not challenge them," said Jonk. "At the same time, there are thousands of young scientists seeking a chance to do exciting work. We want to help them do that."

A recent example of the scientific value of crowdfunding is provided by Professor Tim Birkhead of Sheffield University. His 42-year project monitoring guillemots on Skomer island in Wales faced the axe this year after Natural Resources Wales announced it would not continue to fund the 12,000-a-year survey - despite its importance in understanding the wellbeing of the sea birds' population and the health of seas in general. However, the zoologist's project was rescued after a crowdfunding appeal raised more than 14,000.

Another example is provided by Walacea's first crowdfunded project. It has provided support for research based at the Sorabi Rock Lodge Reserve in South Africa's Limpopo province, where a joint research endeavour by the universities of Bristol and Pretoria is exploring the social behaviour of the dwarf mongoose. "I am looking at vocal communication with a long-term aim of trying to provide some clues to human language evolution," said researcher Katie Collier.

Set up in 2011, the project involves studies of eight groups of wild dwarf mongooses who have been carefully habituated to the presence of humans, so that researchers can get an intimate view of their social interactions. Giving the animals near-constant attention is essential to the project's success and that is a pricey business in a cold climate for funding. As principal investigator Dr Andy Radford of Bristol University pointed out, the competition for funds is fiercer than ever, making it tougher to secure cash from research councils.

"It is not impossible [to get funds] but it is harder, so we are all having to search for alternative sources."

Through Walacea, Radford is hoping to raise funds for further studies of the impacts of bonds that exist between mongooses. "What we are interested in is the day-to-day, minute-by-minute benefits of having friends," he explains.

The team is hoping to raise 4000 through crowdfunding, though Radford insists it's not just about raising money: the platform also offers rewards for those who pledge financial backing, from video diaries to field trips, he added. Involvement is intended to be both entertaining and educational.

This point is backed by Jonk. "The public can become involved in research that interests them. They will learn a lot of interesting science in the process, while scientists, in taking a role in explaining their work, will gain skills in making their research understandable to the public."

- Observer

Crowdfunding industry
$6
Billion worldwide
$1.2m
Sought by Lunar Mission One project to send a spaceship to the Moon
$8000
Sought for studies of the dwarf mongoose