The discussions have been based on what are known as research indicators that show, among other things, how the research is published, collaboration, recruitment of teachers and researchers, and success in attracting external research grants. Before the meetings, the departments were given the opportunity to submit a brief account of aspects that they wanted to highlight in addition to the indicator report. During the dialogues, we discussed the departments’ efforts to further strengthen their research in various ways, and the similarities and differences between different research cultures. Often highlighted are the departments’ strategies for recruiting teachers and doctoral students, and whether the departments support the application work of teachers and researchers (and if so, how). The latter can be done, for example, through internal seminar activities or in workshops in which draft applications are discussed. It can also be done by colleagues providing direct feedback on each other’s drafts.
The conditions for providing time for research differ between different departments and between different academic areas. An overwhelming majority of Stockholm University's research environments are strong and successful, including those in departments with a major educational mission. As we recently mentioned in a management article, activities in research and education enrich each other. Research is crucial to the ability to offer education based on the latest scientific knowledge.
There are different research traditions within a large university. Most of our departments and research environments have extensive experience in applying for external funding from government research councils, from private funding bodies and foundations, and from international funding bodies such as the EU. Some environments still have room to increase their involvement in this important aspect of research work. We recognise that this can be particularly challenging for some activities and especially when the potential funding bodies are small in number and have limited resources.
What has emerged most clearly during our dialogues is that the diversity of subjects and subject areas at Stockholm University provides a very good foundation for conducting high-quality research that can be both in-depth in highly specialised areas and broad-based with the possibility of exciting interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary projects. The quality dialogues for research give us Deputy Vice Presidents important insight into the research conducted in our respective academic areas. We will use the experiences from this first round of quality dialogues to further develop the format and content of the dialogues, in close cooperation with the President and Vice President.
This is a text written by the Deputy Vice Presidents Elisabeth Wåghäll Nivre, Henrik Cederquist and Yvonne Svanström. It appears in the section ”Words from the University’s senior management team”, where the management team take turns to write about topical issues. The section appears in every edition of News for staff which is distributed to the entirety of the University staff.