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

Panel 3 – arts
2.3 Research Quality
The reputation of the department is very good, which can be observed
firstly from the list of the awarded individuals. Secondly, the researchers
of the department have very actively joined the international conferences
as invited lecturers and plenary or keynote speakers. One striking
observation is that so many members of the staff have been participated
in these seminars. It also should be mentioned that several researchers
have got assignments to be evaluators and editors in national and international
contexts. This indicates that the staff is competent and also highly
respected in the community of researchers.
During the evaluation period the staff has published a number of publications.
The productivity of the department is, however, sufficient in
relation to the number of researchers. The low quantity is at least partly
explained by the fact that the researchers publishes quite a lot in refereed
journals and write book chapters. Many of these publications are published
abroad or are otherwise international.
The department has mentioned three main research projects, which all
have been successful. They all have been continued quite a long time and
especially the Road to Midgard and The Uppåkra project have got plenty
of results too. The department informs also two promising research areas,
which are very different compared to the present main research projects.
Both of them, The Archaeology of Time Travel and Social Dimensions of
Technological Change are even more interdisciplinary than the previous
ones, but at the same time they seem to be quite “fashionable” and also
not so unique, “different” or as focused than the first mentioned ones.
The quality of research at the department is very good.
2.4 Collaboration
The department has worked a lot to integrate the disciplines, and have
got visible results. The joint seminars and work shops have been held and
even though each field has its own area of study there are several crosscutting
areas of research within the department. The interdisciplinary
character of the department can be utilized with help of these.
The collaboration within the department is functioning, as with some
other departments within the University. The themes of the main
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