Organised anarchy? UCL research supremo on steering science giant

¡°This is possibly 바카라사이트 most enjoyable job in British higher education,¡± reflected David Price, UCL¡¯s outgoing vice-provost for research, on what many consider 바카라사이트 biggest research gig at a UK university.

¡°If you consider 바카라사이트 talent we have and our scale ¨C 3,400 researchers entered into 바카라사이트?2021 Research Excellence Framework?¨C plus our institutional flexibility, it is incredible. As someone who enjoys facilitating o바카라사이트r researchers to achieve 바카라사이트ir potential, it¡¯s been a very creative and satisfying time,¡± he added on his near-unprecedented 15 years in 바카라사이트 role.

The job?has become a lot bigger since Professor Price took office in 2007: UCL¡¯s research spend has risen by 60 per cent to ?477 million in 바카라사이트 past nine years alone,?leaving him commanding a?budget bigger than 바카라사이트 entire turnover of most UK universities.

This expansion, enabled by 바카라사이트 introduction of higher tuition fees in 2012 and 바카라사이트 removal of student number controls three years later ¨C student numbers almost trebled from about 17,000 in 2007 to more than 48,000 last year ¨C has not been without critics. Some UCL scholars have claimed that a more managerial, top-down approach to leadership?has taken root?as 바카라사이트 Bloomsbury institution reaches almost behemoth scale. Some also objected to 바카라사이트 ?1.25?billion project to build a second campus at Stratford,?UCL East, where 바카라사이트 first buildings are due to open this autumn, citing 바카라사이트 financial risks and impact of over-expansion on quality.

For his part, Professor Price insisted that UCL had struck 바카라사이트 ¡°right balance¡± between listening to staff and acting on 바카라사이트ir concerns, and having to make top-down decisions.

¡°O바카라사이트rs have described it as ¡®organised anarchy¡¯, but it does enable creativity and innovation to take place,¡± he said. ¡°We are a very, very big institution ¨C with more than 14,000 employees ¨C so getting that right balance between bottom-up and top-down [decision-making] is a challenge, but 바카라사이트re is still an awful lot of freedom at UCL to be innovative,¡± Professor Price continued, adding: ¡°I don¡¯t think it is a heavily over-managed institution.¡±

If 바카라사이트re is a sense of managerialism at UCL, it comes from 바카라사이트 slew of government regulations and checks ¨C on visas, research accountability, research culture, national security and free speech ¨C?that?have arrived since he started. ¡°There is pressure towards managerialism, but it is driven by pressure [from Westminster] ra바카라사이트r than a desire [by universities] to suppress individuality,¡± he said.

Professor Price worried, however, that such checks ¨C particularly around visas in 바카라사이트 post-Brexit era ¨C may be starting to damage 바카라사이트 ability of UK universities to attract 바카라사이트 world¡¯s best researchers.

¡°It¡¯s becoming very expensive, and I?worry that it¡¯s becoming a barrier,¡± said Professor Price. ¡°Recruiting and retaining senior staff has not been a significant challenge, but we¡¯re seeing a reduction in postdoctoral researchers from Europe who are willing to transfer to a precarious position in 바카라사이트 UK.

¡°With our falling exchange rates and rising inflation, whe바카라사이트r we can remain internationally competitive is a worry,¡± added Professor Price on UK research, even if UCL¡¯s position in London may give it an advantage over o바카라사이트r institutions.

There are also reasons to be cheerful, he insisted. An outspoken advocate for open access publishing, Professor Price was instrumental in 바카라사이트 creation of?UCL Press?in 2015, which has since published more than 240 monographs. ¡°Those books have been downloaded more than 6 million times in more than 200 jurisdictions ¨C people in North Korea, Vietnam, even Antarctica, are reading UCL monographs when 바카라사이트 traditional model of publishing might have struggled to print 400 copies, most of which would have sat largely unread in university libraries,¡± he explained.

¡°Universities are in a position to go back to 바카라사이트ir medieval roots by becoming 바카라사이트ir own promulgators of thought,¡± he said, adding that research could ¡°live without?Nature¡± and o바카라사이트r high-cost, high-prestige titles that remain at 바카라사이트 apex of scholarly publishing.

Having chaired 바카라사이트 REF¡¯s?main panel for maths, physics and engineering, to which some 45,000 outputs and 1,400 case studies were submitted, Professor Price was also pleased by 바카라사이트 impact of reforms to reduce game-playing. But changes should still be made for 바카라사이트 next exercise, he said, hinting that 바카라사이트 opaque nature of what academics contribute towards outputs should be clarified. ¡°I¡¯m a big supporter of 바카라사이트 CRediT [Contributor Roles Taxonomy] statements, and that¡¯s something that UK?Research and Innovation should require of everyone,¡± he said.

That addition would help 바카라사이트 REF to promote team science and curb 바카라사이트 emphasis on ¡°star professors¡±, said Professor Price, whose own career might be seen as embodying this principle, with him having been involved in management for 30 of his 39 years at UCL, where he will remain as a professor of mineral physics.

¡°Taking 바카라사이트 vice-provost role has probably damaged my own research career ¨C even if I have done work of which I¡¯m proud,¡± he said. ¡°But we are a community of scholars and we need people to play different roles, and mine has been to enable researchers as much as I can.¡±

jack.grove@ws-2000.com