Nine wise pieces of advice for the creative research process
“Without the ability to create new things, research makes no sense,” said DNRF Director Søren-Peter Olesen in an interview with Science Report , which is part of a current series of articles in the media with the theme: Has the power of research run out of ideas?
The series of articles focuses on how the research community is equipped to deliver technological solutions at a time when there is a dire need for research breakthroughs that can help solve some of the major challenges facing our society.
The concept of creativity, or the ability to come up with new ideas that can move society forward, plays a central role in the debate, and researchers are more than happy to contribute with important new ideas. But many researchers are calling for better conditions that to a greater extent support researchers’ ability to produce breakthroughs.
At the DNRF, we believe that it is important to discuss the conditions for creativity in research and to shed light on which experiences that promote creativity. This should be seen not least in light of the fact that studies* indicate that research breakthroughs on a global level are becoming rarer in relation to how much is invested in research and that Danish research is losing ground.
On this basis, it is also obvious to delve into the question of the role, conditions and nature of creativity in Danish research in 2024, said Søren-Peter Olesen in the interview with Science Report:
“We expect researchers to be creative,” he said and continued:
“We want the Centers of Excellence to think outside the box, but the debate about creativity also means that it must create research value. On this, the centers have many different takes that we would like to share.”
Søren-Peter Olesen highlights the publication, The Pursuit of Novelty which the DNRF has published on the occasion of the foundation’s Annual Meeting 2024, where a diverse group of research leaders, foundations, and others are invited to an inspiring debate on the concept of creativity.
In the publication, we present nine calls for action for people who want to stimulate a creative research environment. The invitations were created based on the discussions and considerations that our Centers of Excellence presented at meetings with the DNRF, where we talked with the researchers about how they work on a daily basis to stimulate the creative research process. Download the DNRF annual meeting publication 2024 here
*Creativity as an antidote to research becoming too predictable