FAQ – Ronin Institute

The Ronin Institute is creating a new model for scholarly research that recognizes that the world outside of traditional academia is filled with smart, educated, passionate people who have a lot to offer to the world of scholarship. We aim to transform the way that scholarly research is coordinated and funded. Ultimately, we want anyone who is interested in pursuing high-quality scholarly research to be able to do so. Moreover, we want these people to be able to pursue their research in a way that is consistent with all of their life’s priorities.

Here are some Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) about the logistical aspects of how the Ronin Institute works and the purpose and necessity of the Institute. Have a question that you think should be answered here? Pass it along to us.

How does the Ronin Institute work? FAQs

What fields does the Ronin Institute represent?

All of them! Our Research Scholars hail from all across the academic spectrum, from physics to biology to history to philosophy. You can check out some of their self-described areas of interest on our Research Scholars directory.

Do you have departments?

No, we do not have formal departments. Many of our Research Scholars decided to pursue independent scholarship specifically because their research interests did not align well with a traditional academic department. As our numbers have grown we have begun to identify a number of Interest Groups of Research Scholars with overlapping and complementary interests. Some of these groups may resemble or overlap traditional departments in scope or field. However, unlike traditional departments, these groups are self-organized: these groups form, split and dissolve by the Research Scholars themselves, they are not created by the Institute itself. They are therefore descriptive, not prescriptive. When a Ronin Institute Research Scholar is required to provide the name of their department (e.g., for an inflexible web form), we recommend “The Fundamental Interconnectedness of All Things”.

Does the Ronin Institute have a library?

Unfortunately, no. Access to library resources remains one of the most significant challenges to the independent scholar. Access to most paid library resources, such as databases and paywalled journals, far exceeds the resources of many smaller institutions, including Ronin. We have collected a set of approaches that our Research Scholars have taken to address this problem.

What if my work requires large equipment or lab space?

The Ronin Institute does not possess physical lab space. Some Research Scholars whose work involves laboratory-based experiments also have an affiliation with a university or research institution with those facilities. Others work with collaborators who have access to lab space. In certain metropolitan areas, there are now also facilities where you can rent access to lab equipment on a short-term basis (e.g., bio-hacker spaces)

Do Research Scholars have different ranks?

No. The only academic title at the Ronin Institute is “Research Scholar”. We are deeply committed to a flat, egalitarian institutional structure. This means you can’t tell at a glance who is a “prestigious” or “senior” researcher, but we think that’s a good thing. For more detail on why, check out the FAQs under Why Ronin?

Do Ronin Research Scholars hold other academic affiliations?

Yes, in some cases they do. Research Scholars can hold dual (or multiple) affiliations with traditional academic/research institutions, or with other research organizations (like IGDORE). Holding multiple affiliations is consistent with our mission: facilitating scholarship in whatever mode works best for each individual Research Scholar. In many cases, holding a traditional academic or other research institute appointment alongside their Research Scholar position may be the best way for a scholar to support their research. For more details on multiple affiliations see Q7 on Why Ronin?

What does “scientiam consecemus” mean?

The Ronin Institute motto, scientiam consecemus, is Latin for “Let’s chop up some knowledge”.

Why Ronin? FAQs

Have questions about why the Ronin Institute exists? Why it needs to exist? You can find the answers to these questions and more here.

Why start the Ronin Institute?

The conventional wisdom in academic circles is that a tenure-track faculty position is the path to pursuing a career in scholarly research. While that is certainly a path, it is not a path that works for everyone. There are many more talented, dedicated scholars than there are faculty positions. We estimate that there are on the order of 100,000 underemployed PhDs in the United States alone. This represents an enormous waste of human potential. If we can develop ways to better engage these scholars and allow them to contribute to their fields, we all benefit.

Why “Ronin”?

According to the traditional Bushido samurai code of feudal Japan, a samurai was pledged to serve a master. If the samurai were to lose their master (due to the master’s death or loss of the master’s favor), they were expected to commit suicide. The ronin were masterless samurai who refused to kill themselves, choosing instead to make a living using their skills. The analogy is this: if you’re not employed by a university, you’re supposed to say, “Well, I guess I’m not an academic anymore.” What we’re saying is, “You know what? No, we can do this. We don’t need a master.”

Where will you get money to support the scholars?

The answer to this question is actually pretty simple. It’s the same place that money always comes from for research: a combination of grants from federal agencies (NSF, NIH, NASA, etc), private foundations, and individual donors. We work with independent scholars to identify, secure, and manage grants for specific research projects, just as university departments do for their faculty. In addition, we help some of our scholars to partner with other researchers, agencies, or even companies to take on consulting jobs or subcontracts that can make use of their expertise and supplement their incomes.

Why would a funding agency fund research through the Ronin Institute, rather than through a university?

Well, for one thing, it is a much more efficient way to spend limited resources. The Ronin Institute does not have the expensive physical infrastructure and bureaucracy found at the modern research university. This lower overhead means that more of the funding that comes in goes to directly support the researchers. In fact, when researchers have transferred existing university grants to Ronin, we have been able to rebudget the existing awards to increase the amount going to support research activities. Furthermore, independent scholars do not have the same sorts of administrative and bureaucratic duties that take up so much of a university professor’s time. So, not only does more of the funding go to supporting the researchers, more of the researchers’ time is available for the actual research.

How do I know if a Research Scholar at the Ronin Institute is any good?

You read the work. The only legitimate measure of academic quality is the academic product: the books, papers, and other outputs that the researcher creates. We’re proud of the quality of Ronin work and will happily compare it to the products of more “traditional” academic settings. However, if you are a funder or a reviewer, it is critical that you evaluate researchers and projects on a case-by-case basis, and that you not rely on indirect proxies like institutional name recognition, or publication in prestigious journals with a high impact factor.

If more people start participating in scholarship, won’t that devalue the work of traditional academics?

The hypercompetitive climate of academia – faculty searches, tenure track, publishing, and grants – diverts attention from scholarship to competition and finance. While those forces can be motivational, they produce zero-sum thinking that discourages speculation, innovation, and collaboration. Increasing the pool of developers to work on Linux (and other open-source projects) improved contributions and outcomes. The Ronin Institute aims to provide similar opportunities for the world of scholarship.

Some Research Scholars also have academic appointments elsewhere, aren’t you supposed to be “independent” scholars?

The Ronin Institute seeks to support scholars in whichever mode works best in the context of the rest of their lives. Some Research Scholars do not hold, nor have ever sought, university-based positions. There are also those who hold university appointments (either courtesy or paid positions) for many practical and logistical reasons, including access to campus, library and equipment, and ability continue to work with university-based colleagues. Others may be seeking traditional academic positions while a Research Scholar, and still others remain (or join) the Ronin Institute while in a traditional academic position.One of the long-term goals of the Ronin Institute and many of our Fellow Travelers is to remove the arbitrary and artificial barriers that have historically separated traditional and non-traditional academics and career paths. Whether you are a fully independent scholar or a full professor with tenure, you can still be part of the Ronin community. A commitment to truth-seeking and supporting the creation and development of empathetic non-zero-sum environments for scholarship, irrespective of one’s traditional academic appointment, is the main responsibility of being a Research Scholar.

If the scholars are “independent” why bother with an institutional structure at all?

In some fields, it is entirely possible to function as a fully independent scholar, but in others it is more difficult. Having an institutional non-profit structure makes it easier for Ronin Scholars to apply for and manage federal grants. In the United States in particular, much research is funded federally, and the current system is built around the funding of projects via institutions. Ronin’s 501(c)3 status makes Research Scholars eligible to apply for funding through foundations that restrict their support to non-profits. For individual donors, our non-profit status means that donations to support specific research projects are tax deductible. In addition, establishing a community of independent scholars who can share experiences and expertise, and can collaborate on papers and projects, is valuable in itself.

What’s wrong with just leaving this to the universities? How are we supposed to evaluate whether these “off-the-grid” contributions are worthwhile?

You read the work! If you are evaluating someone in the context of reviewing a manuscript, or a grant proposal, or on a hiring committee, you read their work and decide if it is good. If you don’t have the skills or knowledge or time to do this, you have no business evaluating them. If you are simply saying, “Well, this person got tenure at such-and-such University, I guess they must be good”, you’re not doing your job.

If somebody didn’t get a tenure-track job, or achieve tenure, surely that is a red flag? Most universities want their faculty to get tenure.

There are far more smart people out there than tenure-track jobs. We shouldn’t waste talent just because the university budget won’t support it. In addition, many independent scholars did not “not receive tenure.” Some have never wanted a tenure-track position. Some have received tenure and walked away from it. Some would, ideally, like tenure, but are geographically constrained. Also, yes, most universities work hard to support their tenure-track faculty and get them to tenure. However, most universities are also reducing the number of tenure-track positions in favor of adjunct positions, which pay less and provide little or no job security.

Doesn’t the current competitive environment for tenure-track faculty jobs just make for “fitter” academics and “better” research?

Two forces make the idea that the current tenure system creates “fitter” academics suspect: 1) issues in the quality of research that is carried out; 2) the cost to scholarship of research that isn’t carried out. The first force is the current environment of hypercompetition and metrics to publish more and faster which can lead to issues in quality, especially in science . The second force is driven by what might be called seniority bias. Senior faculty play a deciding role in the present tenure system. These are people who have proved their mettle, developing the presently accepted framework of thought. The evaluators believe in their paradigm; they respond favorably to ideas that build on it; they respond negatively to ideas that present alternatives that might threaten the foundations of their thinking. Hence, the tenure system rewards solid thinking that extends the current paradigm: ideas that are new, but not too new; scholarship that is creative, but not disruptive. The same might be said of the peer review system for publications.

None of these criticisms of existing academic structures of tenure and publishing should be taken as a reason to reject the large body of knowledge generated by those associated with academic institutions. There are broad consensuses amongst scholars in many fields (whether independent or otherwise) that are backed-up by years of evidence, including the link between smoking and cancer, the existence of anthropogenic climate change and the theory of evolution. Of course, individual researchers and scholars may contest the currently accepted paradigms, or pursue unconventional or experimental approaches in whatever field they are studying, but they do not reject careful scholarship, and fact-based solid reasoning itself.

Most scientists or scholars I’ve ever known about were employed by universities. What have independent scholars ever done?

For most of history, scholars were more or less independent. Household names such as Benjamin Franklin and Charles Darwin were independent scholars. The modern research university as we know it has really only existed for about 70 years, dating roughly from Vannevar Bush’s 1945 famous memo “Science: The Endless Frontier.” The subsequent growth of government funding of science and other disciplines has led to universities’ being the major employer of scholars. Nevertheless independent scholarship has continued throughout this time. Some recent notable independent scholars include Grote Reber, a pioneer in radio astronomy and developer of one of the first radio telescopes and James Lovelock, who co-developed the “Gaia hypothesis” with the late Lynn Margulis in the 1970s. Lovelock’s contributions heavily contributed to the emerging discipline of geophysiology and Earth system science.

What do we miss out on with the current academic system of tenure and promotion? Do you have specific examples?

• Scholarship informed by diverse life-experience. The most important discoveries in any field emerge from a combination of knowledge, passion, and creativity. Transformative, paradigm-shifting insights occur when scholars approach their subject from a new perspective. Often, that new perspective derives from the individual scholar’s life experience. Unfortunately, the demands of the traditional academic career severely constrain the set of life experiences that can be brought to bear, increasingly tending to reward people who are good at jumping through the various administrative and career hoops.
• Community-involved scholars. Independent scholars decide what projects they work on and allow them to be masters of their own time. It also allows them to get involved in their communities and spend time with their families. In many areas of scholarship, such as the humanities, which benefit from scholars actively involved in their communities, the current all-or-nothing nature of the academic lifestyle can select out those qualities
.• Collaborative and reflective interactions. Effective transdisciplinary collaboration and communication is needed to solve pressing problems in the world (global warming, development of alternative energy sources, etc). This is uncontroversial. However, the fiercely competitive nature of academia today, coupled with the relentless focus on finance, tends to reward aggressive self-promotion and aggrandizement, selecting against collaboration, interpersonal communication skills, empathy, and reflection. There is plenty of room for different personality types that want to participate in research but not make it the whole of their lives, this is what we mean by a humane and fractional approach to scholarship.
• Spaces for true transdisciplinary approaches. Despite institutional rhetoric around the creation of entrepreneurial and transdisciplinary initiatives, the current system tends to continue to reward excessive specialization at the expense of truly interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary approaches . Interdisciplinarity tends to be used as a talking point in grant applications, but often department colleagues will look askance if you stray too far from your home discipline, and the use of traditional journal rankings to evaluate faculty tends to downweight researchers who try interdisciplinary approaches .
• Long-term thinking. The current system optimizes for papers in “high impact” journals, bigger grants, but not always longer-term, smaller-scale, or more blue-sky approaches. And the increasing corporatization of universities is limiting the pool of researchers and the kinds of research questions allowed; e.g., there is an excessive emphasis on short-term research that can easily be “translated” into commercializable products.

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