Why I’m giving my research data away: Durcan

July 19, 2019

“Science is a competitive field, and finding a way to cure a major disease can be the ticket to rarified air,” writes Thomas Durcan, assistant professor of neurodegenerative disorders at McGill University. But the impulse to compete and safely guard one’s data runs counter to the way that science actually advances, the author adds, especially in the realm of neuroscience, where developing potential cures “takes a massive amount of fundamental research done through collaborations.” We live in a world where private industry spends billions every year on research that has already been done, the author adds, the reason being that researchers keep their data to themselves. But if science is going to make the impact it is truly capable of, Durcan concludes, more scientists will need to share their data freely. University Affairs (National)