Descrizione del progetto
Studiare le dinamiche organizzative dei consorzi scientifici internazionali
I consorzi scientifici internazionali sono sempre più centrali negli sforzi per affrontare sfide globali quali la risposta alle grandi emergenze sanitarie, lo sviluppo di nuove fonti di energia pulita e la salvaguardia dell’ambiente. Mentre tali consorzi assumono un’importanza crescente, la nostra comprensione delle dinamiche organizzative che li caratterizzano è rimasta indietro. I consorzi scientifici internazionali sono organizzazioni complesse in cui il lavoro è geograficamente disperso e coinvolge diversi gruppi di parti interessate provenienti dal mondo accademico, dai governi e dall’industria. Vi è dunque urgente bisogno di una nuova teoria organizzativa che ne faccia progredire la nostra comprensione. Il progetto INSCONS, finanziato dall’UE, rappresenta un tentativo ambizioso di affrontare questo bisogno studiando le strutture organizzative e le storie di tre grandi consorzi del settore della ricerca sulla fusione nucleare, della biomedicina e delle geoscienze.
Obiettivo
INSCONS is a groundbreaking, large-scale examination of the organisational dynamics of international scientific consortia (ISCs) and the interactions of these consortia with broader scientific communities, national bureaucracies, and industry. ISCs are very complex organisations with work being carried out at geographically dispersed sites, and involving international stakeholder groups from across the realms of science, policy, and industry. As these ISCs are becoming more important in efforts to address global challenges in areas such as health, the environment, and clean energy, our understanding of the distinctive organizational dynamics governing these consortia has lagged behind. Accordingly, there is a pressing need for novel organisational theory and frameworks that will advance our understanding of ISCs. INSCONS is an ambitious effort to address this need, using a comparative, interdisciplinary approach. Three case studies of large, international ISCs in nuclear fusion research, biomedicine, and the geosciences are at the core of INSCONS. The INSCONS project will examine four aspects of these ISCs. It will 1) Map the internal organisational dynamics of ISCs using interviews, bibliometric network analyses, and ethnographic field studies on everyday work in ISCs. 2) It will study ISCs’ interactions with the broader scientific community by conducting a survey among researchers in the scholarly fields ISCs operate in, and by analysing these fields’ co-authorship networks. 3) It will examine the (inter)national political processes and bureaucratic wrangling shaping ISCs. 4) It will examine relationships of dependency and influence between ISCs and industry through case studies as well as analyses of patenting and publication activities. Taken together, the project outputs of INSCONS will bring into clear focus the sociology and politics, as well as the operational complexities that govern this important, new organisational form in contemporary science.
Campo scientifico
Parole chiave
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Meccanismo di finanziamento
ERC-COG - Consolidator GrantIstituzione ospitante
WC1E 6BT London
Regno Unito