ReseaRch Quality assuRance foR the futuRe a ... - Lund University

Panel 4 – Languages / Philosophy
existence of an articulated and coherent recruitment and retention policy
for high quality young and mid-career researchers. There is no evidence
that such a policy has been developed.
The initial attitude on the part of the Languages to the evaluation exercise
was not very favorable. The self-evaluation stated that the upcoming
exercise was superfluous and detrimental to the efficient use of time.
However, during the site visit, the evaluators perceived the attitude as
much more positive and learned i.a. about the important planned crossdisciplinary
functions of the “Research Colleges” (forskningskollegier)
that had not been clearly described in the self-evaluation.
There were no clear indications in the self-evaluation that the suggestions
from the 2004 evaluation of Humanities and Theology would have been
discussed in detail, but the site visit disproved this impression. The 2004
evaluation exercise had indeed been a major impetus for the reorganization
of the former independent language departments as SOL. Anyhow,
there is a certain lack of strategic vision evident in the current documentation,
and a tendency to over-reliance on infrastructure such as the
Humanities Laboratory (important in itself) as a substitute for strategic
thinking. Overall, vitality and organizational capacity are good.
1.4 Collaboration
The establishment of SOL is a major, highly commendable, enterprise,
explicitly oriented to increasing interdisciplinary collaboration. This
initiative has ramifications well beyond the borders between the traditional
language disciplines, extending into many types of research in
culture, cognition and communication. It presupposes a methodological
reorientation which needs at least a decade for reaching a state of mature
fruition. It is extremely important to provide sufficient funding as SOL
still is in its founding phase.
It is equally important that the fostering of collaboration within SOL
should not be at the expense of developing inter-institutional links between
SOL and other research entities at Lund University. There should
be a high level of responsiveness to internationally vibrant and growing
areas of interdisciplinary collaboration, such as language, culture and
cognition, and language-based area studies, with effective mechanisms
for encouraging their development in Lund.
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