NERC Increases Size of Peer Review College

Hot on the heels of the ESRC's announcement that it is seeking new panel members, NERC is taking on additional members for its Peer Review College, raising the number from 450 to 600. This is 'to make involvement in NERC peer review activities more manageable and to allow NERC to widen the expertise-base of the College'. It is looking for members with all types of environmental sciences expertise, including those from the public and private sector user communities. The deadline for nominations is 27 January. More info here.

This, I think, is a Good Thing. One of the reasons for academics to fight shy of getting involved with the funders is the workload. If the research councils are able to increase the available pool of reviewers then, hopefully, it will lessen the load for all, as well as allowing more to see that the process of peer review is not the mysterious, loaded, unfair system that it can sometimes seem.