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

cannot yet be evaluated and there is no information about the criteria for
focusing particularly on these items.
4. Collaboration
The supplementary submissions which were requested from different
research areas revealed that the researchers at the Department in many
research areas are fairly well connected within Lund University and to the
outside world at both local, national and international levels. Interaction
between the research areas within the department is demonstrated in
joint publications, but there is a need for its further strengthening, as emphasized
in the department’s self-evaluation. Very clearly the orientation
to increasing interdisciplinary collaboration is visible in the initiative of
CASE, which attracts researchers not only from the department of health
sciences but also, e.g. from engineering and behavioral and social sciences
creating in this way new research cultures. Collaboration with other
departments of the medical faculty could be stronger, and in particular
more in depth co-operation with clinical sciences should be promoted.
Widespread collaboration at national and international level is demonstrated
by joint publications and also active involvement in networking and
international organizations (also in leading positions) in many research
areas (e.g. research on elderly and ageing and health and care of women
and children). There is close collaboration at the level of Region Skåne in
implementing interventions and otherwise developing services not only
within social and health care but also in a broader societal context related,
e.g., to living conditions of older adults. Collaboration at national level is
also well developed in several research areas. This arena might be further
developed by creating, for example, larger consortia and alliances between
departments and units working in the same research fields.
The number of international collaborating institutes with joint publications
is large; about 100 during the assessment period. This extensive
collaboration was confirmed by the additional submissions from different
research areas. The number of foreign scholars and doctoral students visiting
the department has, on the other hand, been fairly low in relation to
the number of collaborating institutes. The department does not recruit
many staff from outside Sweden. The Panel felt that this situation would
deserve more attention in the future.
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