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

Panel 12 – science bio/geo
4.5 Gender and equal opportunity issues
In INES, there is a familiar, slightly depressing, story of the highest
proportion of females being in non-permanent posts. INES state as a
SWOT opportunity to: ‘Create permanent positions in (narrow) fields
where we have strong female candidates with large potential’. This would
be helpful, but is a ‘quick fix’ in a way. There is a need at Department/
University level to provide as supportive environment as possible to
convert 73% female doctoral students to research fellows to permanent
posts. (Would it be possible for the University of Lund to provide flagship
initiatives within Sweden on this?)
Noted in the self-assessment document, there is a ‘good mix of different
nationalities’ within the department. This appears to be true from the
INES web pages.
5. Biological Museums
5.1 Introduction
We are assessing the botanical and zoological museums on the basis of
their research performance. The museums have other functions. For
example, they house large numbers of specimens, many of them type
specimens, and thereby provide a necessary service for researchers.
The Museums describe in their joint research profile the effort that has
gone into developing their searchable databases. We acknowledge that
has happened, but the databases are not themselves significant research
enterprises in that they are not path breaking and likely to be copied by
others. They have, however, allowed the collections to be accessed by the
worldwide web’s Global Biodiversity Information Facility (gbif).
Another component of the Museums’ research profile is the work performed
on the systematics and taxonomy of two taxa: lichens and dipterans.
This is classificatory work, which needs to be done, but the extent to
which it should be considered primary research is difficult to assess. Our
examination of the publications records of the two museums shows that
while output has increased over the time period, the work is not published
in high impact journals or ones that are widely cited. It can be argued
that taxonomic treatises are scholarly works that will not be referred to
frequently but are invaluable in the much longer-term.
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