6.5 Serendipity counts
Whilst carefully posed research questions are the main drivers of
scientific progress, serendipity is often overlooked as part of
research. In long-term environmental observation, this may include
capturing extreme events (e.g. floods (Soulsby et al., 2017a) or
droughts (Soulsby et al., 2021)) which offer new insights that would
have been difficult to anticipate. Also, visitors to the site have
brought fresh ideas, knowledge and experience that have resulted in
collaborations and step changes in understanding. Even painful mistakes
and errors provide opportunities where new ideas and conceptualisations
emerge. There is a danger if research programmes become too tightly
controlled and highly constrained as budgets tighten, and many benefits
will be lost without the potential for serendipity and the ability to
engage with other researchers.