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

Panel 6 – social SCIENCEs
PANEL 6 – SOCIAL SCIENCES
CONTENTS
1. Introduction............................................................................................158
2. School of Social Work and Social Welfare................................................162
3. Department of Sociology of Law.............................................................166
4. Department of Sociology and Social Anthropology..................................169
5. Centre for Gender Studies.......................................................................172
6. Department of Political Science...............................................................175
7. Department of Social and Economic Geography......................................177
8. Service Management (Organisation,
Sociology, Social Geography) – Campus Helsingborg...............................181
9. Lund University Centre for Sustainability Studies......................................182
10. Centre for East and Southeast Asian Studies........................................... 184
11. Centre for European Studies (CFE)...........................................................185
12. Brief Remarks on Human Rights..............................................................186
13. Criminology and Network for Studies of Criminology, Deviance
and Social Problems................................................................................187
1. Introduction
Panel 6 for the Lund University Research Quality Evaluation recognizes
the importance of the principle of a research evaluation exercise. Many of
its members have participated in comparable exercises elsewhere and they
believe that such evaluation of research quality offers important guidelines
for future university developments. The panel is also aware that the
increasing importance of such assessments in Sweden and elsewhere in
the world is largely the result of political and social pressures, a growing
emphasis on productivity, efficiency, and economic/financial constraints/
possibilities. Given this situation, it is, however, important to regard the
mission of Social Sciences in their entire context, and this applies with
special force to the Social Sciences since their social utility is often systematically
underestimated. In addition to research, education of future
generations of scholars and professionals as well as the participation of
intellectuals in the public debate and in developing cultural and social
conditions of citizens, are crucial tasks.
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