The Centre successful according to new University evaluation

The overall outcome of the evaluation report, which aims to identify strong research activities and research initiatives within the University with potential to develop into future strong areas of research, is flattering for the Centre.

“It is fair to conclude that the Centre is very successful when it comes to external funding. The Centre’s profile is very strong on gender and science and the research is original as well as of high academic standard. The researchers are involved in a multitude of international networks and cooperation. The Centre appears to be well organized with a good support structure for research. They have a high proportion of men compared to similar centres. They work in a proactive manner with regard to external funding, yet they provide ample room for nurturing innovative ideas, combined with a sound sense of economic realities. This is evident in the collective attitude detected in relation to initiation of new research projects as well as in a productive management strategy allowing a good deal of freedom.” (KoF11, page 205)

In particular the two research groups HumAnimal and Body/Embodiment are seen as very promising, both described as holding internationally high standard with the potential to become ‘top-quality’. However, since there already exists a huge international corpus of feminist research on the body, the HumAnimal group is seen as the more original of the two.

Problem of continuity

One of the challenges for the Centre, as described in the report, is how to secure continuity. The funding model is seen as an advantage to the Centre in terms of promoting new ideas and hiring new people all the time. However, this also seems to contribute to a certain instability and the loss of talent. For example, the Centre has only three senior lecturers as permanent academic staff. In addition, a possible decrease in external funding may lead to the loss of our many talented young researchers who will leave the unit for more permanent assignments.

As a consequence of this continuity problem, the evaluation report identifies two actions for successful development. One of them is the need for more permanent research personnel and the other is the desirability of having a PhD programme. The latter would among other things mean the opportunity to appoint promising recruits for a longer period of time and contribute, together with doctoral supervision and teaching, to more academic continuity.

The KoF11 Evaluation

The KoF11 evaluation was initiated by the Vice-Chancellor, Professor Anders Hallberg, to help the university management in its continuous strategic decision-making process. The evaluation comprised two different parts. Firstly, a peer-review process, conducted by distinguished scholars of the international research community who were invited for a one-week site visit. Secondly, as a separate exercise, bibliometric studies of publications from Uppsala University in the period 2007–2010. The same type of evaluation was made in 2006-2007.

Read the whole KoF11 evaluation

Read more about the research at the Centre (Länk borttagen)