Since last year, research dialogues have been underway within both the Faculty of the Humanities and The Faculty of Science. The President, the Vice President, the Deputy Vice President and representatives of the departments have participated.
The dialogues are carried out on the basis of the research indicators that have been developed, which include publications, collaborations and external funding at the department. However, these compilations are just indications, and it is only in the conversation at the department level that the special circumstances concerning the research in that particular subject emerge.
The dialogues have been revealing and rewarding, often with an eye to the future and, many good examples of how productive research environments can be created and nurtured. But the dialogues have of course highlighted certain problems that need to be addressed, such as the scope of the basic grant for research, which is sometimes seen as too low.
Starting this spring, the part of the quality system called the focus evaluation will be carried out. This means that some departments/research environments have been selected to for a thorough review by external experts. In the first round, two research environments in each field of science have been selected. The departments have written self-evaluations, which the various expert groups will review and which, will provide, in combination with other materials, a good insight into the research environment.
The expert groups are tasked with writing a report and making site visits to meet researchers and management at the departments, as well as management in each domain, for a dialogue. The goal is to engage in a constructive dialogue concerning the composition of the research environments and their future development. Just as the review and dialogue within the quality system for education have led to constructive developments, there is every reason to believe that these reviews and dialogues will serve the same function in the scientific domains, and that we will be able to receive suggestions on how we can improve the quality of research carried out at the university even further.
This is a text written by Yvonne Svanström, Deputy Vice President and Dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences, under the subject line “Words from the University’s Senior Management Team”, where different members of the management take turns writing about current issues. “Words from the University’s Senior Management Team” is included in each issue of “News for Staff”, a newsletter that is sent to all university employees.