How Does Mobility Change Researchers, Research Groups And Scientific Communities?

Session Submission Type: Open Panel

Abstract

Spatial mobility – the movement of researchers between organisations and countries – has become a ubiquitous phenomenon and a major concern of science policy. It is assumed to foster learning and the recombination of ideas and thus to accelerate scientific progress. At the same time, it puts a strain on researchers, may lead to clashes of different research cultures, and forces research groups to cope with the loss of competencies when members leave. Many science systems create “forced mobility” by the succession of fixed-term positions. International mobility may turn into migration, which raises fears of a loss of expertise and of a national community’s elite, a fear which is shared by developing and developed countries.
Communication between scholars has been transformed by the digital age. While some heralded these advances as the ultimate destruction of geographic barriers to science, scientific mobility remains central to the education, communication, and advancement of the scientific workforce. Collaborations continue to be both initiated and sustained through in-person interaction and a large share of high performing scientists are internationally mobile. However, mobile scholars face mounting barriers as isolationist policies become a reality in resource-intensive countries. Furthermore, scientific mobility itself tends to be privileged and reinforces the Matthew Effect in science: mobility is most available to those who already have established professional networks, bountiful resources, and domestic freedoms.
hared by developing and developed countries.

Sub Unit

• Papers for Open Panels / How does mobility change researchers, research groups and scientific communities?

Chair

• Cassidy Sugimoto, Indiana University Bloomington

Individual Presentations

• Scientific Mobility and Research Careers - Richard Woolley, Ingenio (CSIC-UPV) Universitat Politècnica de València; Carolina Cañibano, Ingenio (CSIC-UPV) Universitat Politècnica de València

• How do career scripts shape the mobility of early career researchers? - Grit Laudel, TU Berlin

• The Changing Face of Academia: Analysing the Interplay Between Career Structures and Geographical Mobility - Marie Sautier, University of Lausanne

• Trans-National Mobility and Research Careers in the Human and Social Sciences: assessing individual self-discovery processes - Carolina Canibano, INGENIO (CSIC-UPV); Richard Woolley, Ingenio (CSIC-UPV) Universitat Politècnica de València; Carmen Corona, INGENIO (CSIC-UPV)

Session Organizer

• Grit Laudel, TU Berlin