Research Collaboration Among University Scientists

Despite the growing importance of collaboration in research there have been very few investigations of the practice of research collaboration itself. The study we report investigated this practice by analysing 444 collaborative projects undertaken by staff in the Science Faculty of a New Zealand university. While the results support the sociology of science model of vertical collaboration up and down the academic hierarchy, we also show that significant collaboration now takes place across levels in the hierarchy, that is among peers, in what we call horizontal collaboration. This shift from vertical to horizontal collaboration has not been readily apparent in bibliographic studies of co-authored papers in top journals. One of the questions this study raises is the often assumed positive association between collaboration, research output and research quality, and the implications such assumptions have on the institutionalisation of research within the university. We end by suggesting that the shift that is occurring in the location of research from conventional departments to research centres within the university may signal an attempt to resurrect the practice of vertical collaboration.     

How might we better design support for postdocs?

Abstract

Internationally, career prospects for postdocs, whether salaried on a Principal Investigator’s (PI) grant or a fellowship, are precarious. Yet, many aspire to permanent research-teaching positions, and to achieve this goal they often strive to gain PI funding to demonstrate their research potential. Like many developers in research-intensive universities, we are responsible for supporting postdocs. Yet, it was unclear what actual support they needed. Further, studies show postdocs seldom access formal institutional support. Thus, we undertook a needs assessment. We describe here our substantive learning about supporting aspiring and new PIs, and then reflect more generally on the value of needs assessments in academic development practice.     

‘Oh you must be very clever!’ High‐achieving women,professional power and the ongoing negotiation of workplace identity

This paper uses a gender perspective to problematise the connection between high educational achievement and a fulfilling professional career. Drawing data from an Australian study of women working as professional engineers in a range of locations, the paper investigates the ways in which the identities produced in the women’s educational experiences require further negotiation in dealing with the realities of their divergent workplaces. Through a deconstruction of the power relationships that form a key feature of the women’s reported workplace experience, the women are shown to engage in a range of tactics in the effort to achieve a degree of workplace acceptance and some professional recognition. The paper concludes by urging renewed attention to changing engineering education and workplace culture if the profession is to attract and retain able women.     

Working the Borderlands: working-class students constructing hybrid identities and asserting their place in higher education

Abstract

Through the case-study experiences of 24 White and Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) working-class students from three very different universities, we aim to illuminate the often hidden struggle for recognition and respect for classed, ‘raced’ and gendered ways of being in the university. We discuss how the students perceive their identities in relation to their universities and their peers, and whether they feel the need to adapt and change their classed/’racialised’ identities in order to survive and progress or whether they resist any pressures and expectations to do so. We explore the tension between ‘assimilation and belonging’ and ‘betrayal and exclusion’ for White and BAME working-class students and consider the intersectional implications. We draw on the concept of hybridity to show the fluidity and fusions of transitioning and developing identities. The article also seeks to contribute further to the illumination of habitus as generative, through a process of hybridity.     

Higher education choices of secondary school graduates with a Science,Technology, Engineering or Mathematics (STEM) background

Recently, there has been an increase in the Higher Education (HE) options (in terms of both courses and institutions) available to students in the UK. Given that the choice of institution and field of study are crucial for students’ future careers, we investigated how attributes of the institutions and courses determine students’ choices, and how they interact with student characteristics. Data on graduates with a STEM background, who started a course in 2010/11 in an English HE institution, was analysed using a conditional logit model. The research demonstrated that an institution’s prestige, degree subject area and distance from home play an important role in students’ choices. Furthermore, distance from home to the HE institution is a potential barrier to fair access, as socio-economically deprived students may have less choice if they are not able to travel as far.     

Supervision as a reciprocal learning process

Within educational psychology, as in other professions, there is a pervasive view of supervision as a one‐way learning process, with knowledge and skills being passed from supervisor to supervisee in a linear fashion. It is proposed that we need to shift our perspective in order to acknowledge the rich learning opportunities for both participants involved. This view is illustrated by an analysis of the author's own learning gains while supervising an Educational Psychologist in Training. It is suggested that viewing supervision as a reciprocal learning process has potential benefits for supervisors, supervisees and the profession as a whole.