Barriers to Research Collaboration across Disciplines: Scientific Paradigms and Institutional Practices

10.1068/a4175 ◽  
2009 ◽  
Vol 41 (5) ◽  
pp. 1171-1184 ◽  
Author(s):  
Philip Lowe ◽  
Jeremy Phillipson
Keyword(s):  
Research Collaboration ◽  
Mutual Understanding ◽  
Institutional Practices ◽  
Scientific Paradigms ◽  
Institutional Structures ◽  
The Government ◽  
Sustainability Problems ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Research Councils ◽  
Institutional Relationships

In a recent paper in this journal it was suggested that the conventional knowledge practices of disciplines are the fundamental obstacle to mutual understanding between academic experts. Such a position, we argue, underplays the institutional relationships that recreate expert and disciplinary divides. To demonstrate our case we discuss how in the UK the evolving relationship between the government and research councils has crucially altered the context for efforts to stimulate interdisciplinary research. Our analysis highlights the scope for changes in institutional structures and practices that would facilitate broader and more encompassing research into complex sustainability problems.

AHRB on its Own

2008 ◽  
Author(s):  
James Herbert
Keyword(s):  
Performing Arts ◽  
Legal Status ◽  
Chief Executive ◽  
Fiscal Year ◽  
Company Limited ◽  
Lease Contract ◽  
The Government ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Research Councils ◽  
A Company

This chapter discusses the separation and independence of the AHRB from the HEFCE. In 2001, through the aid of Bahram Bekhradnia, the AHRB gained autonomy from the HEFCE. At the beginning of the fiscal year in April 2001, the ARHB became a company limited by guarantee. In September of the same year, the organisation gained legal status as a charity, hence affording it certain tax advantages. The newly independent company and charity took on new trustees, however it retained its broad responsibilities. It also took on the responsibility for producing its own audited Statutory Accounts. At the same time, the organisation's staff formally transferred to the employment of the ARHB and in the following year additional staff were recruited. In the month of October, the organisation signed a ten-year lease contract on its new office in Whitefriars Building in Bristol. In addition, the organisation was also attaining full realization of its programmes and objectives. It formed three award schemes including the Research Leave scheme. It also created the Fellowships in the Creative and Performing Arts. In addition, the organisation also formed new funding schemes and in 2002, upon the approval of the government, the Research Council funded projects throughout the UK. In sum, as Chief Executive David Eastwood puts it, the ARHB was achieving independence and operating in ways which still mirrored those of the research councils.

scholarly journals An academic foundation programme in trauma and orthopaedic surgery

2009 ◽  
Vol 91 (3) ◽  
pp. 92-94
Author(s):  
CM Smith ◽  
L Cooper ◽  
T Dutton ◽  
ML Costa
Keyword(s):  
Clinical Research ◽  
Research Collaboration ◽  
Academic Staff ◽  
White Paper ◽  
Academic Training ◽  
Foundation Programme ◽  
The Government ◽  
Set Up ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Job Content

There have been substantial recent changes to the structure of clinical academic training. In its 2004 white paper, Science and innovation: working towards a ten-year investment framework, the government issued a call for improvements in clinical research in the NHS, to ensure that scientific advances would translate to genuine improvements in patients' care. In response to this, the UK Clinical Research Collaboration was set up to enhance the partnership between government, industry and medical sectors. They identified three current major problems in clinical academic training: lack of a clear entry route and career structure; lack of flexibility in job content and location; and a shortage of suitably structured posts on training completion. In 2004, 10% of academic posts were unfilled and there were 23% fewer junior academic staff than three years previously.

Legislatures, Executives, and Political Control of Government

2020 ◽  
pp. 695-720
Author(s):  
Gillian E. Metzger
Keyword(s):  
Separation Of Powers ◽  
Executive Branch ◽  
Political Control ◽  
Majority Party ◽  
Institutional Structures ◽  
The Us ◽  
The Government ◽  
Presidential Regimes ◽  
The Uk ◽  
And Control

This chapter examines how political control over government is exercised today in the UK, the US, and France, focusing on control of the executive branch by the legislature and control of the administrative executive by the political executive. These three jurisdictions were chosen because they are paradigmatic examples of different political regimes: parliamentarism, separation of powers presidentialism, and semi-presidentialism. In theory, these different institutional structures should affect how political control is understood and wielded. In the traditional Westminster parliamentary model, for example, the government is formed from the leadership of the majority party in Parliament and it is the government that controls policy-making. By contrast, the traditional account of a separation of powers regime posits a separate legislature and executive as institutional rivals. Semi-presidential regimes combine a popularly elected presidential-type executive with a legislatively-dependent cabinet executive.

Board to Council

2008 ◽  
Author(s):  
James Herbert
Keyword(s):  
Research Council ◽  
The Core ◽  
Arts And Humanities ◽  
Strategic Initiatives ◽  
The Arts ◽  
Public Body ◽  
The Creation ◽  
The Government ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Research Councils

The AHRB was given the core responsibility to produce 12,000 active arts and humanities researches over the UK. As of 1998, the Board had made over 4000 awards involving over 5000 researches. Across the UK, in the institutions of the government and the academy, several have been engaged with the AHRB and were actively committed to the fulfilment of the AHRB as a true Research Council. In 2005, the Arts and Humanities Research Council achieved its desired transformation after having built an impressive array of assets. This chapter discusses the transformation of the Arts and Humanities Research Board to a Research Council. In the process of the transformation of the Board, several changes were made. Among of these are the transition of the charitable status of the board and the transition of the AHRB's assets and obligations in to the new Non-Deparmental Public Body (NDPB). It also meant that the now AHRC must provide multi-year funding and the creation of strategic initiatives that would support intellectual urgency. The integration of the AHRC within the Research Councils also meant the restoration of arts and humanities to the circle of serious sciences and knowledge.

Development and drought drive a holistic national stakeholder approach to water efficiency in the UK

2007 ◽  
Vol 7 (5-6) ◽  
pp. 211-217
Author(s):  
P. Turton ◽  
R. Westcott
Keyword(s):  
Water Saving ◽  
Water Industry ◽  
Water Efficiency ◽  
England And Wales ◽  
Stakeholder Approach ◽  
Institutional Structures ◽  
International Audience ◽  
The Government ◽  
The Uk

The prospect of the population increasing by 10% by 2021 in the relatively dry southeast of England and the current drought have galvanised the government into establishing a Water Saving Group (WSG). The WSG is structured to build on and exploit a strong foundation of knowledge and experience of water efficiency developed over the last fifteen years. The paper expands on how the WSG is driving water efficiency and the part each stakeholder is taking in promoting water efficiency. The paper examines the importance of collaborations between the numerous organisations with a stake in the water industry of England and Wales and how different water efficiency challenges have been or might be resolved. To describe how the complex institutional structures in the UK interact to an international audience and highlight progress has lead the authors to consider actions by Leaders, Activists and Society.

scholarly journals Science Advice in the UK

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anna Hopkins ◽  
Sarah Foxen ◽  
Kathryn Oliver ◽  
Gavin Costigan
Keyword(s):  
Science And Engineering ◽  
Advisory Committees ◽  
Research And Innovation ◽  
Science Advisory ◽  
Science Advice ◽  
The Government ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Research Councils ◽  
Structure And Functions

This report examines the science advisory system in the UK, how it has changed and how it may develop further in the future. It looks at structure and functions within the UK Government (including the Government Chief Scientific Advisor, the Government Office for Science, government departments, scientific advisory committees - including SAGE - and the Science and Engineering Profession). It also describes science advice in the UK Parliament. The report looks at the role of public research funders, particularly UK Research and Innovation and its research councils, and it discusses how universities are responding to incentives to improve the supply of evidence and expertise. There are brief sections discussing the role of other actors (such as national academies, charities and industry) and discussion of some cross-cutting themes.

scholarly journals Public governance, agility and pandemics: a case study of the UK response to COVID-19

2021 ◽  
pp. 002085232098340
Author(s):  
Paul Joyce
Keyword(s):  
Leadership Role ◽  
Public Confidence ◽  
Strategic Decisions ◽  
Public Governance ◽  
Local Initiative ◽  
Government Response ◽  
Local Resources ◽  
The Government ◽  
The One ◽  
The Uk

The UK government’s leaders initially believed that it was among the best-prepared governments for a pandemic. By June 2020, the outcome of the collision between the government’s initial confidence, on the one hand, and the aggressiveness and virulence of COVID-19, on the other, was evident. The UK had one of the worst COVID-19 mortality rates in the world. This article explores the UK government’s response to COVID-19 from a public administration and governance perspective. Using factual information and statistical data, it considers the government’s preparedness and strategic decisions, the delivery of the government response, and public confidence in the government. Points for practitioners Possible lessons for testing through application include: Use the precautionary principle to set planning assumptions in government strategies to create the possibility of government agility during a pandemic. Use central government’s leadership role to facilitate and enable local initiative and operational responses, as well as to take advantage of local resources and assets. Choose smart government responses that address tensions between the goal of saving lives and other government goals, and beware choices that are unsatisfactory compromises.

scholarly journals Rhetorical uses of precise numbers and semi-magical round numbers in political discourse about COVID-19: Examples from the government of the United Kingdom

2021 ◽  
pp. 095792652110131
Author(s):  
Michael Billig
Keyword(s):  
19Th Century ◽  
British Government ◽  
Political Incentives ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
Round Numbers ◽  
Magical Power ◽  
Uk Government ◽  
The Government ◽  
The Uk ◽  
The 19Th Century

This paper examines how the British government has used statistics about COVID-19 for political ends. A distinction is made between precise and round numbers. Historically, using round numbers to estimate the spread of disease gave way in the 19th century to the sort precise, but not necessarily accurate, statistics that are now being used to record COVID-19. However, round numbers have continued to exert rhetorical, ‘semi-magical’ power by simultaneously conveying both quantity and quality. This is demonstrated in examples from the British government’s claims about COVID-19. The paper illustrates how senior members of the UK government use ‘good’ round numbers to frame their COVID-19 goals and to announce apparent achievements. These round numbers can provide political incentives to manipulate the production of precise number; again examples from the UK government are given.

The RUMA Alliance targets: an overview

Livestock ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 26 (4) ◽  
pp. 176-179
Author(s):  
Chris Lloyd
Keyword(s):  
Task Force ◽  
Animal Health ◽  
Antibiotic Use ◽  
Codes Of Practice ◽  
The Government ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Ongoing Support ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Insight Into ◽  
Roll Out

The Responsible Use of Medicines in Agriculture Alliance (RUMA) was established to promote the highest standards of food safety, animal health and animal welfare in the British livestock industry. It has a current focus to deliver on the Government objective of identifying sector-specific targets for the reduction, refinement or replacement of antibiotics in animal agriculture. The creation and roll out of sector specific targets in 2017 through the RUMA Targets Task Force, has helped focus activity across the UK livestock sectors to achieve a 50% reduction in antibiotic use since 2014. This has been realised principally through voluntary multi-sector collaboration, cross sector initiatives, codes of practice, industry body support and farm assurance schemes. This article provides an overview of RUMA's work to date providing insight into the methods used to create the targets, why they are so important, the impact they are having and how ongoing support and robust data are vital components in achieving the latest set of targets.

scholarly journals Monitoring advances including consent: learning from COVID-19 trials and other trials running in UKCRC registered clinical trials units during the pandemic

Trials ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sharon B. Love ◽  
Emma Armstrong ◽  
Carrie Bayliss ◽  
Melanie Boulter ◽  
Lisa Fox ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Clinical Trials ◽  
Remote Monitoring ◽  
Research Collaboration ◽  
Monitoring Task ◽  
Critical Data ◽  
Site Monitoring ◽  
Clinical Trials Unit ◽  
Third Person ◽  
Trial Monitoring ◽  
The Uk

AbstractThe COVID-19 pandemic has affected how clinical trials are managed, both within existing portfolios and for the rapidly developed COVID-19 trials. Sponsors or delegated organisations responsible for monitoring trials have needed to consider and implement alternative ways of working due to the national infection risk necessitating restricted movement of staff and public, reduced clinical staff resource as research staff moved to clinical areas, and amended working arrangements for sponsor and sponsor delegates as staff moved to working from home.Organisations have often worked in isolation to fast track mitigations required for the conduct of clinical trials during the pandemic; this paper describes many of the learnings from a group of monitoring leads based in United Kingdom Clinical Research Collaboration (UKCRC) Clinical Trials Unit (CTUs) within the UK.The UKCRC Monitoring Task and Finish Group, comprising monitoring leads from 9 CTUs, met repeatedly to identify how COVID-19 had affected clinical trial monitoring. Informed consent is included as a specific issue within this paper, as review of completed consent documentation is often required within trial monitoring plans (TMPs). Monitoring is defined as involving on-site monitoring, central monitoring or/and remote monitoring.Monitoring, required to protect the safety of the patients and the integrity of the trial and ensure the protocol is followed, is often best done by a combination of central, remote and on-site monitoring. However, if on-site monitoring is not possible, workable solutions can be found using only central or central and remote monitoring. eConsent, consent by a third person, or via remote means is plausible. Minimising datasets to the critical data reduces workload for sites and CTU staff. Home working caused by COVID-19 has made electronic trial master files (TMFs) more inviting. Allowing sites to book and attend protocol training at a time convenient to them has been successful and worth pursuing for trials with many sites in the future.The arrival of COVID-19 in the UK has forced consideration of and changes to how clinical trials are conducted in relation to monitoring. Some developed practices will be useful in other pandemics and others should be incorporated into regular use.

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