Social Science Space

A new report on supporting the big data infrastructure needs of universities offers a variety of real-world recommendations for improving the research environment.

Totalitarian rule and the governance strategies it entails have direct implications for academic internationalization at Chinese universities and for their collaboration with universities abroad.

Jenny Bird discusses five reasons that make it difficult for individual academics to engage in the policymaking process and suggests that dedicated policy units present an important mechanism for supporting both learning about and increasing the impact of academic research on policy.

Psychologist Mike Tomasello details how, while higher primates may be quite like humans in many respects, the ability to work together on projects is not one of them.

In the previous post Mathew Flinders identified the ways in which collaborative research touches the emotions of academics and places different kinds […]

The simple fact is that deep, embedded, collaborative research whereby researchers work hand-in-hand with community participants in order to reveal […]

The terms “collaboration,” “coordination” and “cooperation,” write Xavier Castañer and Nuno Oliveira in a recent paper published by the Journal of Management, underpin both the organizations they describe and the study of those organizations, and yet the terms themselves are inconsistently defined and therefore their use can be imprecise or even downright confusing.

As part of their impact agenda, universities increasingly promote and train academics to carry out research collaborations across disciplines and with non-academic partners. While this can be impactful, Helen B. Woods argues that attempts to direct research in this way can produce inauthentic collaboration, and suggests an ideas-led approach.

Anna-Sigrid Keck and colleagues designed a structured doctoral program focused on transdisciplinary research and compared students’ publication patterns to students in traditional programmes. While rates of productivity were broadly similar, citation rates were found to be higher for transdisciplinary students, as were indicators of collaboration such as co-authorship.

The appeal of collaborating with a government agency, or an organization funded by one, seems obvious. In practice, however, it’s not always easy to make collaborative research work well. Susan Dodsworth and Nic Cheeseman outline some simple lessons for those looking to collaborate while avoiding the common pitfalls.

Co-Pierre Georg and Michael E. Rose report on their recent study confirming that seeking out feedback and constructive criticism improves academic research and increases its impact, especially when that feedback is offered by well-connected colleagues.

[We’re pleased to welcome Gang Li of Deakin University. Gang recently published an article in Journal of Hospitality & Tourism […]