A to-do list for research policy in 2021

This year’s themes should be openness, collaboration and early-career researchers, says Lidia Borrell-Damián

Any reflections on the year ahead must begin with the Covid-19 pandemic. We should celebrate the advances in mitigation, care-giving and treatment born out of scientific research—along with, of course, the vaccines. Yet we should also recognise that these are built on decades of both curiosity-driven and targeted research. 

Research and innovation will remain vital to the management of and recovery from the pandemic. There will be lessons on how to adapt the practices and policies devised to meet this emergency to aid the response to other pressing global challenges