When Professor Dave Goulson decided to study the impact of pesticides on bees, he didn’t rate his chances of getting funding from one of the big research councils. The University of Sussex biologist turned to the public, raising almost £8,000 through crowdfunding for the screening for pesticides of random plant samples from garden centres and supermarkets.
Archaeologist Dr David Petts, from Durham University, has also used crowdfunding, raising almost £25,000 to fund a project on Lindisfarne, off the Northumberland coast. The dig, in June, led to some significant finds, including fragments of human bone and Anglo-Saxon headstones.
Image: Prof David Goulson crowdfunded research on how garden chemicals might harm bees. Photograph: David Levene for the Guardian
