Research grants are available

 if you wish to study something a little different.

There was a recent report about the Downunder Research Council handing out millions of dollars of research funding and what the money would be used for - or at least some of the money.

Some of these grants seem a little odd to me. One university has been given $752,000 to "examine the form and development of Chinese temple theatre architecture in mainland China".  I am sure this is research of great importance and that the Chinese government is delighted someone is interested enough to follow up this very important topic. It will no doubt have a great deal of relevance in modern Communist China and here.

Then there is the $216,000 grant to "explain how the Asterix comic book series is relevant to the cultural history of France". Well, I quite like Asterix so I suppose there is something in this which is important enough for such a large grant.

More importantly there is the $458,000 to "understand gender inequality in opera". I am sure that is absolutely vital research for the preservation and development of opera in general.

All this matters because another university has been given $909,000 "to determine the optimal length for on-the-job napping". I was not even aware that this sort of thing was done let alone that it was so important. Yes, I know Winston Churchill was said to have short power naps but how many other people do?

But then there is the $1,293,000 to "improve understanding of whale watching tourists". This must be a massive business to need this sort of funding.

Yes, please pardon the sarcasm. I can think of better things to do with the money that is apparently available. (If we are doing social science research then a better understanding of the value of libraries, who uses them, how and why would be a very valuable piece of research. It may remind government why they need to be funded and kept open,)

It is difficult to take the above examples as serious, academic research of value to the wider community. They may be topics of great interest to someone and they have obviously managed to write a research proposal to that end. It is claimed they were "vigorously peer-reviewed" but I would ask, "By whom?"