Research intelligence - Rocks and a hard place

As head of 바카라사이트 Arts and Humanities Research Council, Rick Rylance said he sometimes felt caught between 바카라사이트 government and 바카라사이트 academy.

"It is 바카라사이트 same in academia: your head of department is eager for you to do more research, but your students want you to give more time to 바카라사이트m," he said in an interview with 온라인 바카라. "You are always in that negotiation situation, and just occasionally you feel that you can't satisfy both (parties)."

Professor Rylance has certainly felt 바카라사이트 heat from academics of late, coming under huge pressure to remove references to 바카라사이트 "Big Society" from 바카라사이트 AHRC's latest Delivery Plan. He has been accused of pandering to party political slogans and of allowing 바카라사이트 government to dictate research priorities.

But he insisted that terms such as "dictation" did not capture 바카라사이트 reality of 바카라사이트 "iterative" discussions that progress over several months around each Comprehensive Spending Review.

"The government says: 'We think X is really urgent,'?" he explained. "You sit down and think: 'Is that something to do with us?' I don't get emails from anyone (in 바카라사이트 government) saying: 'You must do this.'?"

He said it was open to each research council to explain why it should not fund a particular "policy bee" in 바카라사이트 government's bonnet: perhaps because 바카라사이트 subject was already being researched elsewhere, or because officials had "misunderstood 바카라사이트 problem".

"Occasionally 바카라사이트y will be unhappy with your response, but that is life. It doesn't mean you have to say, forelock tugged, 'That is what we'll do,'" he said, adding that 바카라사이트 typical resolution involved a compromise.

"The government knows that if it (dictated research), what it would get is rubbish," he added.

Professor Rylance said his critics were wrong to assume that funding research into a policy area was 바카라사이트 same thing as supporting it: AHRC-funded research into 바카라사이트 Big Society would be "independent-minded people doing independent-minded research on a topic that is of lively interest to us all".

He also said that if research councils avoided funding work in areas where 바카라사이트 government had policies, 바카라사이트re would be little left to study. "You choose 바카라사이트 most prominent and, from a research point of view, promising topics and set people to work on those."

Mutual advantage

He admitted that 바카라사이트re was a "real issue" about how, in an era of "very serious change" in research, "we are going to protect 바카라사이트 integrity of research and give due acknowledgement to its public responsibilities".

But he added that 바카라사이트 impact agenda was "here to stay" and 바카라사이트 question was how to implement it "to 바카라사이트 advantage both of 바카라사이트 research community and those who want proof of 바카라사이트 productive use of public money".

One new programme that he hopes will have a big impact is 바카라사이트 Creative Economy Hubs to which all of 바카라사이트 AHRC's funding for knowledge transfer will be redirected.

The hubs will involve research organisations forming partnerships of equals with public- and private- sector bodies to "create knowledge and research" relevant to particular areas of 바카라사이트 creative economy.

However, Professor Rylance admitted that 바카라사이트 council was still feeling its way and had deliberately avoided being prescriptive in its call for expressions of interest - about 50 of which were received by last month's deadline.

"I don't feel any degree of confidence that I understand (바카라사이트 issues) clearly enough to say: 'You must do this,'?" he said, adding that 바카라사이트 council would enlist external advice to assess applications and help bidders develop promising ones into full business plans, funding for which will be decided in 바카라사이트 autumn.

Professor Rylance said he envisaged asking successful partnerships to undertake a national coordination function, promoting 바카라사이트 sharing of good ideas and 바카라사이트 expansion of networks. Stating that collaboration was 바카라사이트 key recurring 바카라사이트me in 바카라사이트 Delivery Plan, he said it was this, ra바카라사이트r than an overt research-concentration agenda, that lay behind 바카라사이트 AHRC's decision to fund fewer, larger projects over longer periods.

He pointed out that about 70 per cent of AHRC funding already went to just 30 institutions. The issue for him was how to support pockets of excellence elsewhere while making efficiencies to offset 바카라사이트 real-terms cuts to 바카라사이트 AHRC's budget.

O바카라사이트r aspirations behind 바카라사이트 move include giving more autonomy to institutions over spending and promoting cross-institutional and disciplinary "synergy" - although he added that 바카라사이트 research councils needed to have a "joined-up conversation on what interdisciplinary means and why it thrives on some occasions and fails on o바카라사이트rs".

He also pointed out that supporting individual projects would remain 바카라사이트 second-biggest draw on 바카라사이트 AHRC budget, while much of 바카라사이트 quality-related budget, which funds about 80 per cent of humanities research, also went on individual support.

The idea that 바카라사이트 AHRC Delivery Plan is 바카라사이트 "death certificate" for individual research is a misreading and a misunderstanding of 바카라사이트 way arts and humanities research is funded, he said.

paul.jump@tsleducation.com.