Dear IGDORE Community,
I would like to initiate a discussion on a pressing issue highlighting the systemic vulnerabilities of institution-dependent research: the 2025 US DOGE budget cuts.
Sudden, massive contractions in research funding serve as a macro-level example of how rapidly traditional academic scaffolding can collapse. This development gives immediate urgency to the need for sovereign, independent research frameworks and robust Open Science (OS) infrastructures.
When traditional funding pathways are abruptly severed, it creates a new wave of “epistemic exclusion.” Researchers find themselves suddenly cut off from essential resources due to administrative volatility rather than scientific merit.
Institutions providing open science frameworks, such as IGDORE, are no longer just “alternative” spaces. They are rapidly becoming essential survival mechanisms that prevent the collapse of epistemic agency for researchers facing systemic exclusion.
I would love to hear the community’s thoughts on:
- Infrastructure Resilience: How can the Open Science community build infrastructures resilient to state-level funding shocks?
- Affiliation and Access: How can we accelerate universal affiliation models (and access to essential tools like .edu benefits) for researchers displaced by administrative crises?
- Reframing Independence: Should we begin framing “independent scholarship” not just as a career choice, but as a necessary systemic safeguard against the “states of exception” in science policy?
Best regards,
Rafet IRMAK