To share or not to share. Credit, incentives and competition among researchers | with Remco Heesen

To share or not to share. Credit, incentives and competition among researchers | with Remco Heesen

In this episode Remco Heesen shares his insights on the trade-offs researchers face when deciding whether to share intermediate results with fellow researchers. He explains how incentive structures in research lead to a suboptimal outcome and gives historic examples of prominent researchers who have been subject to these incentives. Remco then discusses possible measures that can be taken to encourage researchers to share intermediate results with their colleagues.

Remco Heesen currently works as a researcher and senior lecturer at the University of Western Australia and the University of Groningen. Starting September this year he will take on a position as Assistant Professor at the London School of Economics and Political Sciences in the Department of Philosophy, Logic and Scientific Method. His research is focused on the philosophy of science, and social and formal epistemology. 

In the interview, Remco mentions his PhD supervisor Kevin Zollman, who also was a guest on our show. You can listen to his episode on evolutionary game theory here.