One of four scenarios attempting to answer the question “Why should a research institute exist?”

In this scenario the answer is: To be a strong community of decent people doing stable, low impact research.

Axes: commitment to organisational culture in an unattractive environment with hangers on.

The “Beer Club” is an insular community of researchers working on long term (ocean) studies, that might or might ever become relevant to anyone except them. One of the foremost hiring criteria is that the people are “nice”, have good social skills and a strong liver. The institute has its own daily rhythm, going back to tea times of the Brittish Empire. They begin with breakfast together, morning tea, lunch, afternoon tea, tea, supper, nightcap… Lunch alone takes over two hours every day (and their working hours are 10-17h) And in between they attempt to engage in their work, but there is almost always something that goes wrong, providing an excuse why they haven't achieved their goals yet. The resources are limited and the institute is plagued by the effects of financial downturns. No incentives are provided for hard workers, and the contracts make it very hard to fire people who don't perform well. So why bother? “Next time” is one of the most common phrases in the “Beer Club”, as is “We _could_ have done that, but…” The collaborators are all good friends and the relationships somewhat incestual. All of them are nice people who make token gestures of placid friendliness to people outside of their Club, but they would prefer for the world to leave them in peace, perhaps on a small island that provides for all of their needs.

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