7th UiT Environmental Humanities network meeting: Measurement is the mother of all exclusion - How "excellence" can marginalize multidisciplinarity and engaged research

Meeting Agenda

This talk by Prof Kate Maxwell (UiT) and Prof David Charles (Northumbria University Newcastle) will explore some of the ways in which multidisciplinary research is stifled - often before it can even begin - by monodisciplinary thinking and systems, both within institutions and at policy/funding levels, including adherence to metrics, survival strategies, and "excellence". In the subsequent discussion, participants will be invited to reflect on the possible role of the environmental humanities in overcoming these hurdles, including using the case study of the UiT miljøhumaniora network to explore more radically open ways we can move forward.

Relevant readings for those wishing to engage with the topic prior to the meeting include: 

• Maxwell, K. and Benneworth, P. (2018). The construction of new scientific norms for solving Grand Challenges. Palgrave Communications 4. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41599-018-0105-9?channel_id=1432-food-energy-water-nexus 

• Salomaa, M., Cinar, R., & Charles, D. (2021). Rankings and regional development: The cause or the symptom of universities’ insufficient regional contributions? Higher Education Governance & Policy, 2(1), 31-44. https://dergipark.org.tr/en/download/article-file/1758151 

And for the very keen: 

• Wood, F. (2021). The cult of the quantifiable: the fetishism of numbers in higher education. Prometheus, 37(1), 8–26. https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.13169/prometheus.37.1.0008
• Nature editorial, 2018. Science Needs to Redefine Excellence. Nature, 21 Feb 2018. https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-018-02183-y
• Moore, S., C. Neylon, M.P. Eve, D.P. O’Donnell, and D. Pattinson. 2017. ”Excellence R Us”: University Research and the Fetishisation of Excellence. Palgrave Communications 3. https://www.nature.com/articles/palcomms2016105  
• Rafols, I., L. Leydesdorff, A. O’Hare, P. Nightingale, and A. Stirling. 2012. How Journal Rankings can Suppress Interdisciplinary Research: A Comparison between Innovation Studies and Business & Management. Research Policy 41 (7), 1262–1282. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.respol.2012.03.015
• Åsberg, C.. (2021). Ecologies and Technologies of Feminist Posthumanities. Women's Studies, 50(8), 857–862. https://doi.org/10.1080/00497878.2021.1981328

To register for this event and receive the zoom link for digital participation please email Filip Maric directly via filip.maric@uit.no

If you cannot attend the meeting but would like to stay informed about all things UiT Miljøhumaniora / Environmental Humanities, please send a brief email to Filip Maric and I will add you to the mailing list. 

OBS! We are using a registration form to estimate the kind of room we might need to book for the meeting. A Zoom link for those wishing to attend online will be sent around on request and closer to the time.