1st Edition

The Social Politics of Research Collaboration

    188 Pages 2 B/W Illustrations
    by Routledge

    200 Pages 2 B/W Illustrations
    by Routledge

    The past two decades have seen an increasing emphasis on large and interdisciplinary research configurations such as research networks, and centers of excellence including those in Social Sciences and Humanities research. Little research has been undertaken, however, to understand how these new large research structures that are being called forth by research funders and research/higher education institutions alike function socially, and what the impact of operating within such structures is on those working within, and those working with, them. Past writers have discussed the "intra-agentic" operations of human researchers and the material laboratory environment in its broadest sense. This volume is concerned with the social politics of research collaboration in relation to six key positions: leaders of large research formations, leaders of sub-projects within large collaborations, participant researchers, junior and early career researchers, advisory board members, and those who look in from the outside such as researchers who are un-funded. It explores the mostly unacknowledged but critical aspect of social structures in research, discussing issues such as struggles over leadership styles, the marginalization of researchers working cross-disciplinarily, power hierarchies and intellectual ownership, and the silencing of dissent in research.

    1. Introduction  Gabriele Griffin, with Katarina Hamberg and Britta Lundgren  Part I: Leading Large Research Structures  2. Brave New World?: Leading Large Research Structures  Britta Lundgren  3. Managing Differences: The Complexities of Leadership and Leadership Styles in Interdisciplinary Research Collaboration  Gabriele Griffin and Katarina Hamberg  Part II: Projects Within Projects: Leading Sub-Themes/Sub-Research Projects  4. "Frontstage" and "Backstage" Managerial and Emotional Labour in a Comparative International Research Project  Line Nyhagen Predelli  5. The Political Implications of Research Collaboration  Malin Rönnblom  Part III: Participating in a Large Research Structure  6. Negotiating with Neo-Liberal Instrumentalism: The Foreseeable and the Uncontrollable  Anders Johansson  Part IV: Being the Junior Researcher  7. Young Blood: The Social Politics of Research Collaboration from the Perspective of a Young Scholar  Mia Liinason  8. At the Interstices of Disciplines: Early Career Researchers and Research Collaborations Across Boundaries  Maria Wiklund  Part V: Being an Advisory Board Member  9. Critical Friends: A Contradiction in Terms?  Gabriele Griffin  Part VI: Looking in from the Outside  10. Boundary Work and Symbolic Capital Exchange: Knowledge Transfer in Multidisciplinary Research Revisited  Helena Pettersson

    Biography

    Gabriele Griffin is Professor of Women’s Studies at the University of York.

    Katarina Hamberg is Professor in Family Medicine at Umeå University in Sweden.

    Britta Lundgren is Professor of Ethnology at the Department of Culture and Media Studies at Umeå University.