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

Panel 6 – social SCIENCEs
Departments that have not recruited PhD students in recent years are
recommended to find resources to do so. We find it detrimental for the
future of the respective professions and fields of research not to recruit
PhD students regularly. Perhaps this lack of orientation towards the
future partly explains why so many units have presented somewhat less
convincing future plans and strategies. However, we also recognise that
this is the very first research assessment exercise of Lund University,
resulting in unfamiliarity in providing necessary documents in a short
time period and therefore consider the present assessment also a learning
exercise for departments, and centres.
Another problem of many departments is the strongly asymmetric age
structure of academic staff, especially the inordinate concentration of
pending retirements of professors in the coming years. To address this
problem as well as to enhance the research standing of the entire faculty
through injection of new scholarly perspectives, issues, methods and a
sensibility for emerging Social Science themes we suggest the faculty
in the short and the medium term to consider two measures. First, we
recommend a proactive programme to gain a competitive advantage over
other Swedish and Nordic Social Science faculties and departments that
confront a similar age structure. A strategic programme could be put in
place that permits the Faculty of Social Sciences to early replace members
(at the professorial level) that are about to retire, resulting in temporary
doubling up of these positions.
Such a doubling of positions could be flexible and range to a period from
five to ten years. The advantages of such a measure are obvious: The Faculty
of Social Sciences would have a distinctive competitive edge in replacing
retiring staff before competing institutions also enter the market. The
competition for the early replacement positions should be open and internationally
advertised. Other distinctive advantages that would enhance the
research quality of the Faculty are new perspectives and the strengthening
of existing potentially excellent research areas within the Faculty.
One way of enhancing these areas could be a programme of a handful of
Lund Distinguished Visiting Professors. Such professorships should be
instituted in cross-disciplinary research areas identified by the Faculty,
in co-operation with the departments. The funding could be based on
external sponsorship funds. The aim would be to bring the best scholars
in the respective fields to the Faculty of Social Sciences for an academic
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