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

Panel 1 – law
detailed evaluations, there are considerable differences in scientific output
between the teaching teams, as well as within the teams between the
different subjects. Within the panel, the major discussion concerned the
choice between good and very good. The Panel estimated the general
level of research to be slightly above the average of Nordic law faculties,
which supports the higher grade.
2. Research Infrastructure
2.1. Faculty
The most serious structural problem the Faculty faces is its small size
and the certain granularity ensuing from this. The staff of most of the
individual disciplines consist of only a few researchers – typically one
professor, and one or two associate professors. The problems arising from
the smallness of the Faculty could perhaps partly be remedied by intensified
collaboration between different disciplines within the Faculty and
increased cooperation with nearby universities (for instance, in the form
of the so-called Öresund University). The Faculty has good experiences of
interdisciplinary projects in the past: most notably, the NORMA project
(Normative Development within the Social Dimension from a European
Integration Perspective) which still exists as a research milieu. In order
for such interdisciplinary projects to be possible, the Faculty should have
at its disposal non-earmarked research funds which could be allocated to
cross-disciplinary endeavours, in accordance with the preferences indicated
in the Strategic Plan.
The organisational overlap between the Faculty of Law and the Department
of Law deserves attention. The benefits of two overlapping organizational
units, comprising the same staff and activities, remain unclear.
The teaching teams, operating as basic units in the planning and execution
of teaching, make up for the lack of smaller administrative units.
The teaching teams seem to function in a non-bureaucratic and efficient
way, lending also support to research activities. However, the problem
may be that the teaching teams have not been designed specifically for
research purposes.
The Department of Sociology of Law is located in the Faculty of Social
Sciences and not in the Law Faculty. The Panel recommends that the
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