Funding Instruments and the Quest for Reflexivity: Finnish Strategic Research as a Case Example

• In Event: Reflecting on Reflexivity in Practice: Responsible Innovation, Engagement, and Governance - III

Abstract

During recent years the societal relevance of research has been increasingly addressed in science and technology policy. In addition to the broadening of impact assessment within funding organizations, new funding instruments have emerged. They often emphasize the inclusion of different approaches as a means for achieving reflexivity and finding solutions to grand challenges. In Finland, the Academy of Finland newly created a Strategic Research Council (SRC) in 2014 that funds projects with the aforementioned emphasis areas in a top-down manner. The SRC programme entails new requirements and methods, such as, societal peer review and societal interaction plan that assist in engineering a particular type of shared space for participants of diverse backgrounds.

In this paper we will study the ways in which the quest for reflexivity is practiced within the SRC programme. Furthermore, we provide empirical examples of the attempts to integrate academic and extra-academic perspectives and approaches, value positions, organizational conventions, interests and roles in the SRC projects. We do this by drawing on interviews (N=15) with the SRC researchers from different academic contexts. By utilizing the concept of articulation work by Anselm Strauss (1985) we look into the invisible work that researchers practice in order to manage their participation.

We suggest that focusing on the invisible work of participating actors assists in understanding and addressing the tensions that may arise in new collaborations. Moreover, we argue that the quest for reflexive integration of approaches may concretize in various, sometimes unpredictable ways.

Authors

• Susanna Vase, University of Helsinki

• Mikko Rask, University of Helsinki