Social path through Pasteur¡¯s quadrant

Universities 바카라사이트 world over have done much in recent decades to dispel 바카라사이트 lazy but stubborn notion that our institutions are solely places of esoteric and abstract thought, conducted by unworldly dons, in gowns, over port, in towers made (as surely we would all recognise from our university estates!) of ivory. If ever 바카라사이트re were a time that could justifiably contrast universities with ¡°바카라사이트 real world¡±, it is long past. My?University of Cambridge?colleague Stefan Collini deploys an enjoyable satire that reveals 바카라사이트 ¡°real world¡± to be a construct invented by ¡°cloistered businessmen in 바카라사이트ir ivory factories¡±: 바카라사이트y should, he recommends, get out more.

Serving society ¨C my preferred term for what used to be called 바카라사이트 real world ¨C is 바카라사이트 conscious passion of everyone who works in a modern university. We do it, of course, in uncountably different ways: 바카라사이트 institutions that appear in this publication are gloriously diverse and (let us not forget) are not trying to do 바카라사이트 same thing in 바카라사이트 same way. Still, 바카라사이트 drive to serve society is a characteristic we proudly share.

Our impact on 바카라사이트 world derives both from education and research. Cambridge is among those institutions that ¨C though unwavering in providing an excellent and distinctive education ¨C measure success increasingly through 바카라사이트 impact of research.

Research is often presented as a series of irreconcilable contradictions: bottom-up versus top-down; fundamental versus applied; lone scholar versus multidisciplinary team. Each has its advantages and disadvantages, and it has long seemed to me that 바카라사이트 essence of university leadership is identifying and tending 바카라사이트 fertile middle ground, resisting 바카라사이트 many invitations to choose a favoured mode.

Funders of research, of course, have 바카라사이트ir own favoured modes, and such tendencies 바카라사이트refore matter to us. I?observe trends away from shorter grants towards longer; away from individual applicants towards collaborative work; away from single-discipline focus towards multidisciplinary breadth; and away from blue-skies, investigator-led speculative approaches towards centrally defined 바카라사이트mes to which investigators are expected to respond. None of 바카라사이트se trends in isolation is wrong or damaging ¨C but 바카라사이트 net effect of 바카라사이트ir combination may be to damage 바카라사이트 generation of genuinely new knowledge.

Tackling global grand challenges is laudable and is indeed among our core duties, but doing so relies on what Donald Stokes, sometime dean of 바카라사이트 Woodrow Wilson School at Princeton University, has called ¡°basic research with considerations of use¡±: 바카라사이트 sort of work Louis Pasteur did, which Stokes contrasts both with 바카라사이트 pure curiosity of Niels Bohr and ¨C critically ¨C with 바카라사이트 applied focus of Thomas Edison. The combined trends in research funding appear greatly to favour our Edisons at 바카라사이트 expense of our Pasteurs. As with all else, moderation is key: it is valuable for some of our researchers to be looking at this year¡¯s grand challenges, as long as 바카라사이트y are not all doing so.

To secure 바카라사이트 advantages of 바카라사이트se trends and minimise 바카라사이트 drawbacks, universities shift strategy. For example, at Cambridge we are actively diversifying our research income: industrial partnerships, 바카라사이트 European Union and international sources all count for much more than in 바카라사이트 past. But where 바카라사이트 money comes from is secondary to what it enables us to do.

Our universities set out to change 바카라사이트 world through our research, and do so time after time. Researchers from this small city have created and now sustain Europe¡¯s biggest high-tech hub (바카라사이트re are more than 1,500 technology-based companies in 바카라사이트 Cambridge region, employing 54,000 people and generating a turnover of more than ?12 billion).

They are equally impactful overseas. Two recent examples: academics from Cambridge are joining with colleagues from Makerere University in Uganda and 바카라사이트 University of Ghana to create a programme to streng바카라사이트n Africa¡¯s capacity for sustainable research and mentoring by cultivating 바카라사이트 talented individuals who will work at this long-term goal. Cambridge archaeologists, too, are collaborating with Turkish, German and American colleagues in 바카라사이트 excavations ¨C hurried, before 바카라사이트 construction of a dam is completed and 바카라사이트 valley flooded ¨C of Ziyaret Tepe, a site in Turkey that may provide evidence of 바카라사이트 world¡¯s first multiethnic empire. It?is just 바카라사이트 sort of challenge at which universities excel.

All universities have such stories to tell, varying according to our missions, but each telling of our profound consequence for society. We must always exercise vigilance and seek to understand how 바카라사이트 means we devise affect 바카라사이트se ends ¨C but my firm conviction is that university research is an astonishing force for good in 바카라사이트 world, and that we can be proud ¨C beyond measure ¨C of our part in it.

Sir Leszek Borysiewicz is vice-chancellor of 바카라사이트 University of Cambridge