Research council launches 100m kroner fund as Norwegian government calls for the protection of academic freedom
Norway has launched a new scheme to lure top international researchers amid growing pressure on academic freedom in the US under the Trump administration.
Following in the footsteps of multiple institutions across Europe, the Research Council of Norway on Wednesday launched a 100m kroner (£7.2m) fund to make it easier to recruit researchers from other countries.
The initiative is open to researchers from around the world, but it was expanded and accelerated after the Trump administration announced substantial cuts last month.
Oh no, what dastardly plan could they be concocting? Respecting science? Research based decision making? Affordable lifestyle?! These 'wegians truly are the most crafty of villains!
Also an American here: The GOP’s scheme to destroy scientific knowledge and deport all who question them is feeding right in to Norway’s plan.
Is scheme a devious word to you?
That is a US versus UK difference! In UK English it is simply a synonym for a program or policy, whereas in US English it implies something negative, often underhanded!
For instance:
🇺🇸 The scammers were running a scheme to trick people.
🇺🇸 Some consider cryptocurrency to be a scheme where one sells, leaving others holding the bag.
🇬🇧 Paying into the national pension scheme ensures you’ll receive a payment upon retirement.
🇬🇧 The company has introduced a new scheme allowing employees to work from home.
scheme , the term is always used as some obfuscated, convoluted way to do something.
‘Scheme’ has that connotation in the US, yeah.
I know publications outside the US use it in a much more neutral manner, but it’s funny to us.
This is true. When I was a young salesman, I once took offense at a British client referring to the program I was selling as a scheme. My boss had to explain to me that he meant no offense, the meaning is slightly different outside of the US, where it is simply a synonyn for a program or plan, and doesn’t carry the same American nuance as being nefarious.
I think you use the word program in its place. But it’s always been scheme to everyone else in the world.
Even though I know it’s innocent elsewhere, something like “retirement scheme” still suggests some kind of Last Big Heist to me.
That’s interesting. I’m also in the US and have never heard it used in this context before. Learned something new!
I’ve honestly never heard it used in a way that doesn’t imply “bad”.
Bad guys scheme, good guys plan.
That is a US versus UK difference! In UK English it is simply a synonym for a program or policy, whereas in US English it implies something negative, often underhanded!
For instance:
🇺🇸 The scammers were running a scheme to trick people.
🇺🇸 Some consider cryptocurrency to be a scheme where one sells, leaving others holding the bag.
🇬🇧 Paying into the national pension scheme ensures you’ll receive a payment upon retirement.
🇬🇧 The company has introduced a new scheme allowing employees to work from home.
We’ve had a Color Coding Scheme here for years, and no one bats an eyelid at those words even though it could be horrifying for someone in the US.
What “Color Coding Scheme” meant in this context
It’s basically a ban on vehicles from driving along major roads and highways in our largest metropolitan area based on the last digit of their license plates:
Fun fact: the protocol part of each URL (http/https at the start) is officially called the scheme too. So I guess technically you scheme every time you click a link.
Mueh-heh-heeeh…(Click)…(rubs hands together while it loads)
And then there’s the whole scheme language. With PLT Scheme’s main dialect of the language sufficiently deviating from the standard, they renamed themselves to Racket.
So it’s never used as a noun?
Yeah, but only in a negative, bad guy, context.
It is used as a noun in the US, but its use as such is not nearly as common as words like, “initiative,” “plan,” or, “program,” in this context.
It is but with inherent negative connotations.
One schemes to get away with shady shit but plans to do good things.
Yeah the title really is written in a way to badmouth the norwegians. A “scheme” to “lure” the scientist away. Luckily for the US this dastardly scheme would only work if the scientists were treated bad in their home country!
Oh wait
Scheme is british english for “program” or “arrangement”.
A plan or program to accomplish a goal is a scheme, whether it’s beneficial or not.
Handing out flyers that properly define what socialism and communism are with the intent of educating people that they aren’t the boogeyman is still passing out propaganda, even if it’s beneficial and correct.
So yes, scheme is appropriate.
Sure, though colloquially as Merriam Webster points out it’s
Usually if you don’t mean that it’s secretive you’d just say plan
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/scheme
Sure, but it’s an article in a British paper and you’re referencing an American dictionary. Brits can use it for the nefarious connotation, but they very commonly use it to mean an officially organized plan / program.
https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/scheme