Main trends of research in the social and human ... - unesdoc - Unesco

The organization andjnancing of research 73 I
consortium of universities.37 Focusing on industrial sociology, it is divided
into various sections, each of which is directed by a university professor. It is
linked with other institutes working in the same field through its membership
of the Arbeitsgemeinschaft Sozialwissenschaftlicher Institute (Working Group
of Social Science Institutes) and the Deutsche Gesellschaft fur Soziologie.
Another example is the Institut fur Weltwirtschaft at Kiel, linked by statute
to the Christian Albrechts University. The director must be a titular professor
in the Faculty of Legal and Political Sciences, but the institute itself is supported
by its own promotional association.
18. The smaller countries of north-west Europe reflect the dispersion of
effort idde and outside the universities which characterizes the larger coun-
tries.36 In most of them, however, one or two complex large-scale institutes
have been set up as national centres. These institutions undertake a wide range
of interdisciplinary research (fundamental, problem-oriented and applied).
They carry out graduate training in special areas. They may be associated with
a particular university or with several - abroad as well as at home. An example
is the Nederlands Instituut voor Praeventieve Geneeskunde (Netherlands
Institute of Preventive Medicine) at Leiden. Established by government, most
of its senior staff hold part-time chairs throughout the universities of the Nether-
lands. Another Dutch example is the Economisch Instituut at Rotterdam which
has created a Graduate School of Business Administration linked through a
joint appointment with the Tavistock Institute in London and also with the
Business School and Institute of Social Research at the University of Michigan.
19. In Norway a country with a strong tradition in econometrics (Frisch,
Haavelmo), the decisive thrust toward the development of an active research
environment in social psychology, sociology and political science was made at
the margins of the university, through the organization of the privately financed
Institutt for Samfunnsforskning (Institute for Social Research) in Oslo. This
institute has offered graduate training opportunities for scores of young social
scientists. It has proliferated a number of centres for applied research: the
government-financed Institute for Applied Social Research and the publicly
supported International Peace Research Institute. With the need for a ‘safety
valve’ for the overloaded University, the Institutt for Samfunnsforskning is
increasing its role in graduate training; it receives support from the Norges
Almenvitensltapelige Forskningsrid (Norwegian Research Council for Science
and Humanities) for this purpose. Industrial interests have sponsored the Ar-
beidsforskningsinstituttene (Work Research Institutes). Sweden has the Stiftel-
sen Foretagsadministrativ Forskning (Institute for Administrative Research),
Denmark the Dansk Socialforskningsinstituttet (Danish Institute of Social Re-
search). All these have done innovative work of international importance.
Thought is being given to linkage throughout Scandinavia.
20. In Britain social science research centres, as distinct from teaching depart-
ments, tend to be concerned with problem areas and are sometimes but not
always inter-disciplinary. They cluster in the larger universities where they can
draw on established teaching departments. Examples are the Institute of Applied
Economics and the Applied Psychology Unit at Cambridge; the Institute of