Agency in scientific discourse

2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (62) (1) ◽  
pp. 71-86
Author(s):  
Tobias WEBER ◽  
Mia KLEE
Keyword(s):  
Critical Point ◽  
Language Use ◽  
Research Process ◽  
Scientific Discourse ◽  
Early Career ◽  
Early Career Researchers ◽  
Research Endeavour

In recent times, the trend of aiming for objectivity and reproducibility in science has arrived in linguistic discourse. A critical point in this debate is the agency in speakers’ language use and, simultaneously, in the researchers’ description and interpretation. The aim of objectivity demotes, by default, the role of the subjects, often by imposing structures to limit agency. We can see various scenarios where researchers can purposefully bend rules, thus exerting their agentive stance in the research endeavour. This paper aims to address issues pertaining to agency as opposed to the goal of reproducibility, where the researchers’ and consultants’ agency on different aspects of the research process shape its outcomes. Training early career researchers and students in using

scholarly journals Sexual violence during research: How the unpredictability of fieldwork and the right to risk collide with academic bureaucracy and expectations

2020 ◽  
Vol 40 (2) ◽  
pp. 173-193 ◽  
Author(s):  
Luisa T Schneider
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Violence ◽  
Sierra Leone ◽  
Academic Writing ◽  
Early Career ◽  
Early Career Researchers ◽  
Competitive Disadvantage ◽  
The Right ◽  
The University ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Research Endeavour

In a contradictory fashion, researchers, their departments and universities simultaneously recognize the unpredictability of fieldwork experiences and outcomes and help establish a bureaucratic system of planning every component of their research. Ethnographic unpredictability and its consequences are a fact of fieldwork and it is essential that researchers and institutions are prepared to view these as part of interpretable data, to learn from them and not mask them. This article examines ethnographic unpredictability through the lens of sexual violence which I experienced during my doctoral fieldwork in Sierra Leone. I show how I redirected my research and renegotiated my position as an academic. I discuss the culture of risk and analyse the influence of neoliberalism on the university. I describe how ‘market logic’ conceptualizes unpredictability as competitive disadvantage. I show the impact that the imaginary ‘perfect academic’ has on early career researchers and the complicity of mainstream academic (re-)presentation in nourishing the image of the ‘in-control academic’ through muting personal field experiences and vulnerabilities and silencing unpredictable occurrences in academic writing. I conclude with recommendations on how personal situatedness, vulnerabilities, and transformations can be approached as factors in every research endeavour which must not pose threats to an institution’s competitive advantage.

scholarly journals Higher education research in African contexts: reflections from fieldwork in Flagship Universitiesin South Africa, Mozambique and Ethiopia

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Addisalem Tebikew Yallew ◽  
Paul Othusitse Dipitso
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Education Research ◽  
Research Process ◽  
Early Career ◽  
Eastern Africa ◽  
Higher Education Research ◽  
Ethical Considerations ◽  
Early Career Researchers ◽  
Fieldwork Experience ◽  
Access To The Field

This article is written with the recognition that, as higher education studies evolve as a multidisciplinary area of inquiry, there is a need to reflect on the theoretical and practical concerns emerging from conducting higher education research. This is especially the case for early-career researchers who enter this relatively new field of study. This article attempts to explore the fieldwork component of the research process considering our experiences as early-career researchers conducting PhD studies in four universities in southern and eastern Africa. The article focuses on issues related to ethics, gaining and negotiating access to the field, and dealing with positionality during fieldwork. While reflecting on these experiences, we also attempted to explore if there are any fieldwork dynamics, which are peculiar to the African higher education context that may be considered during data collection. Reflecting on our experiences, we have argued that, in some institutions, necessary procedures for researching higher education need to be in place, while with the ones that have institutionalised mechanisms the procedures adopted need to be aligned with contextual realities and should focus on ethical considerations rather than protecting the reputation of universities. Our fieldwork experience has also made us realise that the advice given to early-career researchers both in the literature, seminars and courses they attend may not adequately prepare them for the unpredictable fieldwork dynamics. In that regard, we have suggested that there is a need to prepare emerging researchers to be open-minded, flexible, reflexive, innovative and adaptable when going out to the field.

scholarly journals Data Collection Challenges and Recommendations for Early Career Researchers

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marylen Rimando ◽  
Andrea Brace ◽  
Apophia Namageyo-Funa ◽  
Tiffany Parr ◽  
Diadrey-Anne Sealy ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Data Collection ◽  
Doctoral Students ◽  
Social Research ◽  
Research Process ◽  
Lessons Learned ◽  
Early Career ◽  
Early Career Researchers ◽  
Research Mentoring ◽  
Data Collection Process ◽  
The Social

Data collection is critical to the social research process. When implemented correctly, data collection enhances the quality of a social research study. However, doctoral students and early career researchers may encounter challenges with data collection. This article reports on the data collection challenges in dissertation research encountered by doctoral students enrolled in a public health program at a southeastern United States urban university. Each doctoral student shared at least one challenge and how it affected the data collection process. Additionally, the doctoral students shared how the identified challenges were addressed or suggested recommendations. Understanding these experiences of doctoral students is helpful for doctoral students and early career researchers conducting social research. The lessons learned may guide faculty in research mentoring and structuring research seminars for doctoral students.

scholarly journals First person – Luv Kishore Srivastava

2021 ◽  
Vol 134 (10) ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Spatial Distribution ◽  
Early Career ◽  
Lamin A ◽  
First Person ◽  
Nuclear Deformation ◽  
Early Career Researchers ◽  
Mcgill University ◽  
Global And Local ◽  
Selection Of

ABSTRACT First Person is a series of interviews with the first authors of a selection of papers published in Journal of Cell Science, helping early-career researchers promote themselves alongside their papers. Luv Kishore Srivastava is first author on ‘Spatial distribution of lamin A/C determines nuclear stiffness and stress-mediated deformation’, published in JCS. Luv Kishore is a PhD student in the lab of Allen Ehrlicher at McGill University, Montreal, Canada, investigating the role of lamin A/C in global and local nuclear deformation.

scholarly journals First person – Victor Palacios

2021 ◽  
Vol 134 (7) ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Chromosome Segregation ◽  
Germ Cells ◽  
Medical Center ◽  
Early Career ◽  
First Person ◽  
University Of Texas ◽  
Early Career Researchers ◽  
The University ◽  
Selection Of

ABSTRACT First Person is a series of interviews with the first authors of a selection of papers published in Journal of Cell Science, helping early-career researchers promote themselves alongside their papers. Victor Palacios is first author on ‘Importin-9 regulates chromosome segregation and packaging in Drosophila germ cells’, published in JCS. Victor conducted his PhD research in the lab of Michael Buszczak at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, TX, where he investigated the essential role of Importin-9 in Drosophila fertility.

scholarly journals Conceptualising quality in co-produced research

2020 ◽  
pp. 146879412091909
Author(s):  
Marilyn Howard ◽  
Helen Thomas-Hughes
Keyword(s):  
Knowledge Production ◽  
Research Process ◽  
Research Community ◽  
Early Career ◽  
Theory And Practice ◽  
Research Quality ◽  
Policy Studies ◽  
Early Career Researchers ◽  
Process Outcomes ◽  
Key Dimensions

Co-produced research is said to create new knowledge through including the perspectives of those traditionally excluded from knowledge production, which in turn is expected to enhance research quality and impact. This article critically examines academic and UK voluntary sector literature concerning participatory and co-produced approaches to explore how quality is currently understood in co-produced research. Drawing on early career researchers’ experiences of a programme of co-produced research, the authors illustrate how theory and practice of co-production can differ, and the implications for conceptualising ‘research quality’ within co-produced research. Drawing on debates within qualitative research, community work and policy studies, the article outlines a potential framework for raising questions of ‘quality’, co-produced by research partners as part of the research process. Key dimensions of this framework are process, outcomes and autonomy.

scholarly journals First person – Elia Escasany

2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (9) ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Lipid Metabolism ◽  
Growth Factor ◽  
Renal Fibrosis ◽  
Transforming Growth Factor ◽  
Early Career ◽  
Disease Models ◽  
First Person ◽  
Early Career Researchers ◽  
Selection Of

ABSTRACT First Person is a series of interviews with the first authors of a selection of papers published in Disease Models & Mechanisms, helping early-career researchers promote themselves alongside their papers. Elia Escasany is first author on ‘ Transforming growth factor β3 deficiency promotes defective lipid metabolism and fibrosis in murine kidney’, published in DMM. Elia is a PhD student in the lab of Gema Medina-Gómez at Universidad Rey Juan Carlos, Madrid, Spain, investigating the role of TGFβ in renal fibrosis.

scholarly journals First person – Ekaterina Migunova

2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (8) ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Drosophila Melanogaster ◽  
Cardiac Hypertrophy ◽  
Early Career ◽  
Disease Models ◽  
First Person ◽  
Early Career Researchers ◽  
Selection Of

ABSTRACT First Person is a series of interviews with the first authors of a selection of papers published in Disease Models & Mechanisms, helping early-career researchers promote themselves alongside their papers. Ekaterina Migunova is first author on ‘ ELAC2/RNaseZ-linked cardiac hypertrophy in Drosophila melanogaster’, published in DMM. Ekaterina is a PhD student in the lab of Edward Dubrovsky at Fordham University, Bronx, NY, USA, investigating the role of ELAC2 mutations in cardiomyopathy.

scholarly journals First person – Abdulsalam Isiaku

2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (7) ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Infectious Diseases ◽  
Graduate Student ◽  
Gene Editing ◽  
Early Career ◽  
Disease Models ◽  
First Person ◽  
Early Career Researchers ◽  
Selection Of

ABSTRACT First Person is a series of interviews with the first authors of a selection of papers published in Disease Models & Mechanisms, helping early-career researchers promote themselves alongside their papers. Abdulsalam Isiaku is first author on ‘ Transient, flexible gene editing in zebrafish neutrophils and macrophages for determination of cell-autonomous functions’, published in DMM. Abdulsalam is a PhD candidate/graduate student in the lab of Prof. Graham Lieschke at Monash University, Clayton, Australia, investigating the role of phagocytes in inflammatory and infectious diseases.

scholarly journals First person – Takeshi Harada

2020 ◽  
Vol 133 (21) ◽  
pp. jcs256024
Keyword(s):  
Graduate School ◽  
Assistant Professor ◽  
Early Career ◽  
First Person ◽  
Contact Sites ◽  
Early Career Researchers ◽  
School Of Medicine ◽  
Mitochondrial Functions ◽  
Selection Of

ABSTRACTFirst Person is a series of interviews with the first authors of a selection of papers published in Journal of Cell Science, helping early-career researchers promote themselves alongside their papers. Takeshi Harada is first author on ‘Palmitoylated CKAP4 regulates mitochondrial functions through an interaction with VDAC2 at ER–mitochondria contact sites’, published in JCS. Takeshi is an assistant professor in the lab of Akira Kikuchi at the Graduate School of Medicine, Osaka University, Japan, investigating the role of CKAP4 at ER–mitochondria contact sites.

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