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

Part 2 – Conclusions of the review
application of research to practical problems in developing countries.
This is most readily done through close collaboration with their
universities and other agencies. We recognise however that the
increasing use of targeted funding at the expense of unrestricted
funds, and the need to prioritise grant winning to meet universities’
salary bills, has diminished their flexibility to address such issues.
We have referred to negative impact of this system in section F2d
and do so again in section H6 in relation to the University’s overall
strategic flexibility.
F6. The size and nature of university units
88. In an era when many of the questions being asked of and by the
research community increasingly transgress disciplinary boundaries,
when many of the advances in research occur at disciplinary interfaces,
and when the rate of advance of knowledge is arguably greater
than ever, academic units that span a wide disciplinary range offer
great flexibility by permitting the research effort to be perennially
re-configured to address these challenges without the need for the
creation of new departments. Such large units can also offer the
opportunity for small, successful research efforts to grow rapidly;
an opportunity that is often denied them if they are isolated small
departments. Lund University has adapted to these imperatives in
the last decade by combining pre-existing units in larger groupings.
89. This is not however a general prescription. Where a department is
successfully mining a rich vein of research opportunities that keep
it at the international cutting edge, such changes can be damaging
distractions.
90. We have not therefore systematically sought to identify possible
reconfigurations of departmental boundaries. We have however
suggested, in the Panel reports in Annex 1, where we believe that
departmental re-structuring can open up new opportunities in
research. We have also suggested a number of areas where greater
integration of infrastructural support can bring benefit. For
example, Panel 11 (Medicine/Health Sciences) has suggested that
greater integration of infrastructure in multiple research areas could
be highly beneficial, and that there may be opportunities to build-
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