What ‘Counts’ In (Forest) Science? Examining Conferences As Spaces of Academic Valuation Practice

• In Event: Critical and Reflexive Perspectives on Conferencing as Scientific Practice - I

Abstract

Despite their significance for individual and collective research trajectories, conferences still represent an underexplored terrain of science studies. I address this gap by examining them as spaces in which academic valuation is practised and performed.

Therefore, I build on two strands of scholarship: From science studies, I take that researchers’ position in a scientific field substantially depends on peer recognition and the ascription of scientific authority by members of the respective community. Valuation studies, on the other hand, offer insights how worth and value are ascribed in academic settings. I link these research areas to investigate valuation processes in the context of scientific conferences which have so far hardly received attention.

To examine such processes empirically, I focus on academic events in the interdisciplinary field of forest science. The knowledge it delivers informs policymaking in various sectors and scientific forestry worldwide. A substantial part of it, however, is generated by (predominantly male) scholars based in the Global North. This manifests also in the conference space where women and scholars from Southern world regions are under-represented particularly in roles with decision-making and gate-keeping power.

In this paper, I explore how selection and valuation practices contribute to maintaining such asymmetries. Drawing on ethnographic methods, I show how value is ascribed to certain groups of scholars and types of forest research on stage and backstage of conference events. Presenting insights from an exploratory study, my paper also includes methodological considerations how value construction in ‘live’ interaction of academics can be grasped.

Author

• Susanne Koch, Centre for Science and Technology Studies, Leiden University