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

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this represents the quality of the department as a whole or of the existing
research groups or individuals.
Grade: Real Estate Science was started mainly for teaching. While the
Division claims that they conduct emerging research in the area of real
estate economics we cannot verify this claim and place them into the
insufficient category. On the other hand, the other two divisions have
produced research of clearly satisfactory quality; thus, we find it justified
to use the grade very good for the overall evaluation of the research
activities of the Department.
4.4 Collaboration
Even though there seems to be still a low degree of integration between
the previous departments, the research groups indicate frequent collaboration
within and outside LU. The multidisciplinary composition of the
staff facilitates collaboration with different types of research institutions.
Grade: We grade collaboration as very good.
4.5 Research activity and teaching
The department claims that research is highly relevant for, and integrated
with, their teaching. Sometimes new courses are developed from ongoing
research activities. A number of examples are provided to support that
claim so we find the connection between research and teaching to be
good.
4.6 Evaluation of future plans
In addition to the existing strong research areas, the department
mentions two new ones to be developed in the near future, sustainable
transport and green chemistry. The first one will be supported by a new
Centre for sustainable transport and seems to be a good idea with the potential
to put together not only the competencies in energy and transport
systems but also the activities on traffic safety and traffic environment for
elderly and disabled people. We do caution, however, that transport sustainability
is an extremely topical issue which is being integrated into the
research and teaching of many related disciples and departments, with
many such institutes being established around the world. The department
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