RESEARCH EVALUATION 2013 – 2017
Department of Sociology and Social Work
RESEARCH EVALUATION 2013-2017
October 2020 i
RESEARCH EVALUATION 2013 – 2017
CONTENT
CONTENT ...... II
PREFACE ...... VIII
1. INTRODUCTION ...... 1
1.1 Background of the Research Evaluation ...... 1
1.2 Presentation of the Evaluation Panel ...... 1 Anne Halvorsen ...... 2 Karen Healy ...... 2 Thomas Johansson ...... 3
1.3 Guidelines for the Evaluation Panel ...... 4 Written material ...... 4
1.4 Panel – online meetings ...... 5
2. DEPARTMENT OF SOCIOLOGY AND SOCIAL WORK ...... 6
2.1 Introduction ...... 6
2.2 Students and teaching ...... 8
2.3 Economic context and external funding ...... 9
2.4 Staff development ...... 11 Staff diversity ...... 13
2.5 Research group development ...... 14
2.6 PhD Training ...... 15 Development and model of financing ...... 16
2.7 Research Infrastructure ...... 17
2.8 Publication ...... 18
2.9 Department strategy 2016-2021 ...... 21
2.10 Key Challenges for the Future...... 22 Panel Evaluation ...... 23
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Appendix 2.1. Journal impact factors for journals by staff from Department of Sociology and Social Work 2013 – 2017...... 30
3. SOCMAP ...... 37
3.1 Executive summary and future plans ...... 37
3.2 Research profile and strategy ...... 37 Agenda and research topics ...... 38 Strategy for methods and theory development ...... 39 Strategy for internal and external collaboration ...... 39
3.3 Research group organisation, composition and financing ...... 40
3.4 Research group activities and output ...... 41 Publications ...... 41 Research training ...... 43 External Funding ...... 44 Third Mission Activities ...... 46
3.5 RESEARCH AND TEACHING COHERENCE ...... 47
3.6 SOCIETAL IMPACT ...... 48 Panel evaluation SocMap ...... 49 Appendix 3.1: Impact Case – COHSMO ...... 51
4. CASTOR ...... 56
4.1 Executive summary and future plans ...... 56
4.2 Research profile and strategy ...... 57
4.3 Organisation, composition and financing ...... 59
4.4 Research group activities and output ...... 61
4.5 Research and teaching coherence ...... 64
4.6 Societal Impact ...... 65 Third mission activities and societal impact...... 65 Panel evaluation CASTOR ...... 68
5. SAGA ...... 70
5.1 Executive summary and future plans ...... 70
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5.2 Research profile and strategy of the research group ...... 70
5.3 Organisation, composition and financing ...... 72
5.4 Research group activities and output ...... 73 Research Training (PhD) ...... 75 External Funding ...... 76 Third mission activities and collaboration outside research ...... 78
5.5 Research and teaching coherence ...... 78
5.6 Societal Impact ...... 79 Panel evaluation SAGA ...... 81
6. COMA ...... 83
6.1 Summary and future plans ...... 83 Plans for the future ...... 83
6.2 Research profile and strategy ...... 84 Ongoing research activities (brief description) ...... 85 International networks ...... 85 Strategy ...... 86
6.3 Organisation, composition and financing ...... 88 Research Training (PhD) ...... 88 Continued consolidation...... 89
6.4 Activities, output and academic impact ...... 90 Talent Management/Research Training ...... 90 Teaching (research-based) ...... 90 Impact, higher influence and dissemination ...... 90 External Funding ...... 91 Publications ...... 91 Third mission activities ...... 92
6.5 Societal impact ...... 93 Panel evaluation COMA ...... 94
7. PRACTICE RESEARCH AND SERVICE USER PERSPECTIVES (P&B) ...... 96
7.1 Executive summary and future plans ...... 96
7.2. Research profile and strategy of the research group ...... 97 Profile ...... 97 Goals within the next four years ...... 98
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Strategic research and independent research initiatives ...... 99
7.3 The research group’s organisation, composition, history and financing ..... 100
7.4 Research group activities and output ...... 103 Publications ...... 103 Research Training (PhD) ...... 105 External Funding ...... 107 Third mission activities ...... 107
7.5 Research and teaching coherence ...... 108
7.6 Societal Impact ...... 109 Introduction to social impact in a case example ...... 109 Panel evaluation: Practice Research and Service User Perspectives (P&B) ...... 112
8. CISKO ...... 114
8.1 Executive summary and future plans ...... 114
8.2 Research profile and strategy of the research group ...... 114 Strategy for the coming years ...... 115
8.3 The research group’s organisation, composition and financing ...... 116
8.4 Research group activities and output ...... 117 Publications ...... 117 Research Training (PhD) ...... 118 External Funding ...... 119 Third Mission Activities ...... 120
8.5 Research and teaching coherence ...... 120
8.6 Societal Impact ...... 121 Panel evaluation CISKO ...... 123 Appendix 8.1. Social impact. Example: Young people’s experience of mental health and vulnerability ...... 125
9. SOCIAL PROBLEMS AND THE GOVERNANCE OF SOCIAL WORK ...... 127
9.1 Executive summary and future plans ...... 127
9.2 Research profile and strategy of the research group ...... 128
9.3 The research group’s organisation, composition and financing ...... 128
9.4 Research group activities and output ...... 130
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The combination of the different research activities ...... 134 Research Training (PhD) ...... 134 Publishing ...... 135 External funding ...... 136 National and international networks ...... 137
9.5 Research and teaching coherence ...... 138
9.6 Societal Impact ...... 138 Panel Evaluation Social Problems and the Governance of Social Work (SPGsw) .. 139
10. SAB ...... 141
10.1 Executive summary and future plans ...... 141
10.2 Research profile and strategy of the research group ...... 142
10.3 The research group’s organisation, composition and financing ...... 143 Research collaborations, national and international presence ...... 145
10.4 Research group activities and output ...... 146 Publications ...... 146 Research Training (PhD) ...... 147 External Funding ...... 148 Third Mission Activities and collaboration outside research ...... 149
10.5 Research and teaching coherence ...... 150
10.6 Societal Impact ...... 151 Panel evaluation SAB ...... 152 Appendix 10.1. Impact cases ...... 155
11. MIS O ...... 157
11.1 Executive summary and future plans ...... 157
11.2 Research profile and strategy of the research group ...... 157
11.3 The research group’s organisation, composition and financing ...... 158
11.4 Research group activities and output ...... 160 Publications ...... 161 Research Training (ph.d.) ...... 163 External Funding ...... 163 Third Mission Activities and collaboration outside research ...... 164
11.5 Research and teaching coherence ...... 165
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11.6 Societal Impact ...... 165 Panel evaluation MIS O ...... 166
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PREFACE
This is the first research evaluation of The Department of Sociology and Social Work at Aalborg University. It was conducted from 2018 to 2020 and it evaluates our research activities in the period 2013-2017.
It is important that academic entities such as our department can undergo an evaluation and – even more importantly – a critical dialogue about its approach, organisation and performance. The international evaluation panel has been very focused on this task and has done a great job assessing our activities through the lenses of both international sociology and social work research. Our thanks to the panel consisting of Anne Halvorsen: Dean at University of Agder, Norway. Karen Healey: Professor at the School of Nursing, Midwifery and Social Work, at the University of Queensland, Australia and Thomas Johansson: Professor of pedagogy at the faculty of education, University of Gothenburg, Sweden (Chair of panel).
The work with the evaluation was faced with serious barriers. Firstly, the evaluation had to be paused for a year from the autumn 2018 to 2019 due to lack of administrative capacity. In the spring of 2020, just as the most critical phase of the evaluation was about to start, the Coronavirus pandemic came. This limited us to hold online meetings instead of physical meetings, but luckily, no one involved in the process did let the limitations set a negative pretext to the work. Even so, I think it is worth noting, that a solely web- and video-based evaluation has its limitations.
The chapters of this evaluation report contain the self-evaluations of all the research groups (one chapter per research group) as well as an evaluation of the department as a whole. After each chapter, the panel’s evaluation and recommendations are presented. A research evaluation is definitively a collective effort. Research group leaders as well as members of the research groups have been highly involved in the process. So have different administrative employees.
I want to thank Anders Peder Lysholm Hansen for participating in starting up the evaluation process in 2018. I would also like to thank special consultant Bo Møller Lange for coordinating the final phase of the evaluation. Without Bo’s ability to find time in his busy schedule, it would not have been possible to finalise the research evaluation.
Finally, we owe our gratitude to the two student workers, Thi Merite Le and Marika Prüsse- Nielsen, for their assistance with the data preparation and the creation of diagrams and tables, etc. Also, thanks to Poul Melchiorsen from the AAU VBN team for delivering the necessary data on research performance.
Trond Beldo Klausen, Head of Department, October 2020.
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1. INTRODUCTION
1.1 BACKGROUND OF THE RESEARCH EVALUATION
According to the strategy for The Faculty of Social Sciences at Aalborg University 2016-2021, all departments at the faculty are supposed to evaluate their research and research groups within the strategy period. The Department of Sociology and Social Work was selected to be one of the two first departments to conduct the evaluation.
The department has two large research environments, Sociology and Social Work. Sociology in Aalborg is one of two large sociology research environments in Denmark that offer a traditional BSc and MSc in sociology. The other is situated at University of Copenhagen. Regarding social work, the department represents the largest research environment within social work at any Danish university, and is among the largest internationally. The department offers a Danish bachelor and MSc in Social Work in addition to several smaller and more international programmes. The bachelor in Social Work is the only one offered at a Danish university. All other bachelor programmes in social work in Denmark are run by the University Colleges.
The main purpose of the evaluation is to take stock in order to develop research and research- based education in the future. The focus is on performance (publication, external funding, PhD training and societal impact). However, an important aspect of the evaluation is to evaluate the groups according to their own strategy and not only compare groups or measure their performance against external benchmarks. The evaluation will contribute to a reflexive process at group and department level in order to develop the research strategically.
A Steering Committee for the evaluation was appointed in March 2018, representing the department’s management, the Deanery and the research groups. Due to economic cutbacks and diminished administrative capacity, the department has not been able to complete the process until now – two years later.
Despite a protracted process, the department decided to stick to the initial evaluation period, 2013-2017, for several reasons. First, adding an extra year to the evaluation would imply far more and time-consuming data management. Second, the research group composition at the department changed substantially during 2018. Third, several research groups had already written a substantial part of their self-evaluation before the evaluation process was paused.
In terms of being up to date, such a time lag is not ideal. However, this evaluation, which is the first at the department, represents a very relevant baseline for developing the department’s research and research groups.
1.2 PRESENTATION OF THE EVALUATION PANEL
In connection with the evaluation, we did set up an international panel consisting of international researchers covering a broad range of areas within sociology and social work research. The panel consisted of:
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ANNE HALVORSEN is Dean at University of Agder, Norway. She has a BA in Public Administration from Agder University College and a MA in Sociology from University of Bergen. Her PhD in Sociology is also from University of Bergen. She has since the beginning of the 1990’s had several positions at Agder Research and University of Agder: Associate professor, senior researcher, head of department and managing director.
Halvorsen’s research interests and teaching expertise include theory of knowledge and knowledge creation, the relationship between theory and practice in social work and professional practice, organisational theory and learning in organisations, evaluation theory, social and welfare policy.
Halvorsen worked as a researcher in Agder Research Foundation from 1987 till 2002 (ARF), including as head of Department of welfare, evaluation and management from 1996 till 1999. During this period she was project- and team leader for a number of evaluations and applied research projects: Surveys on living conditions and life quality, on users' needs, on customer behaviour and satisfaction in child care, and several, mainly qualitative evaluations of regional development projects, both on local and national level, of public agencies and welfare services and of non-governmental organisations (NGO). From 2002-2007 Halvorsen was engaged as project leader first for a three-year development project on evaluation and practice development in child protection services at Agder University College, and from 2006 as project leader on a new project on Innovation and development in social work. In 2007 Halvorsen was recruited as managing director in Agder Research. Halvorsen has been a lecturer at University of Agder since 1996. As managing director, head of department and dean, Halvorsen has focused more on research management than own research during the later years.
KAREN HEALY is professor at the School of Nursing, Midwifery and Social Work, at the University of Queensland, Australia. Program Director Social Work, Human Services and Counselling. She is a Bachelor of Social Work 1st Class Honors from The University of Queensland and also Doctor of Philosophy, The University of Queensland.Professor Karen Healy's research focuses on promoting a healthy start to life for vulnerable children, young people and families. In 2016, she was appointed a member of the Order of Australia (AM) for her contribution to social work particularly in child protection, higher education and research. In September 2018, she was awarded the position of Principal Fellow of the Higher Education Academy.
Her research expertise includes: • International and national approaches to social policy and social work practice with vulnerable children, young people and families throughout the life course; • The participation of vulnerable children, young people and families in decision-making, especially within child welfare, family support and out-of-home care services; • Professional education and organization support systems for promoting job satisfaction, workforce retention and best practice among health and welfare professionals.
Professor Karen Healy holds senior advisory positions in industry and in her professional community. She is the immediate past National President of the Australian Association of Social Workers (the national accrediting body for professional social work in Australia), a position to which she was elected 2011-2017. She is National Director for The Benevolent
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Society, Australia's oldest not-for-profit community service organisation. Professor Healy is past National President for the Australian Association of Social Work and Welfare Education (a position she held for the maximum two terms). Professor Healy has strong links with health and community services organisations and has conducted several studies in collaboration with Micah Projects concerning best practice in family support work. She has appeared as an expert witness before a variety of commissions of inquiry into child-welfare service systems and workforce conditions in the community services sector, and she was recently involved in an evaluation of the child-protection operating model in Victoria – an innovative model of workforce support for frontline child-protection workers. Professor Healy has published five books on aspects of social work theory and practice, which have been translated into several languages including Chinese, Spanish, Korean, Danish and Japanese. She has published numerous international journal articles on social policy and social work practice especially in relation to vulnerable children, young people and families, and on education and organisational support systems to promote best practice among health and welfare professionals.
THOMAS JOHANSSON is professor of pedagogy at the faculty of education, University of Gothenburg, Sweden. His PhD thesis is about youth and media culture (1992). Johansson also has a background as clinical psychologist and psychotherapist. He was promoted to docent (associate professor) in 1997. Johansson was promoted to professor in social psychology in Skövde, in 2001.
Examples of qualified work and assignments: • Editor of Sociologisk Forskning (1996-1997). • Member of the gender committee at the Swedish scientific council (2001-2005) • Opponent and committee member at 100 occasions, in Norway, Sweden, Iceland, Denmark and Great Britain. • Expert assignments – lecturer and professorships (80 occasions) • Reviewer for: Theory, Culture & Society, Sociologisk forskning, European Cultural studies, Scandinavian Studies in Social Welfare och Ethnography, Sosiologi, Men and Masculinities, Acta Sociologica, Fatherhood, IJSW, Signs, Tidskrift för genusforskning, Gender, Work & Organisation, Journal of Family Communication, Nordisk barnehageforskning, Social Research and Methodology, Ethnic and Racial Studies, Norma, Nordic Studies in Education, Ethnograpy and Education, Educare, Learning, Culture and Interaction, Norma, Distinktion, Journal of Youth Studies, Body & Society, etc. • Committee member of the Norwegian research council (2004-2008) • Committee member of the Swedish research council (2017-2018) • Head of the research school at the department of Education, Communication and Learning (2010-2014).
Johansson has published extensively in journals such as Men and Masculinities, Young, Acta Sociologica, Journal of Men’s Studies, Ethnicities, Popular Music & Society, International Journal of the Sociology of the Family, Journal of Family Communication, Critical Social Work, International Review of Sociology, Journal of Gender Studies, The Urban Review, Power and Education, Pedagogy, Culture & Society, Leisure Studies, Sport in Society, Journal of Homosexuality, Qualitative Social Work, Sport, Education & Society, Body & Society, etc.
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1.3 GUIDELINES FOR THE EVALUATION PANEL
Based on the written material provided by the Department of Sociology and Social Work and Microsoft Teams online meetings with the Evaluation panel, that took place 15-17 April 2020, the Panel was asked to provide its evaluation of the research profile of each research group and the department as a whole.
Comments and recommendations from the Evaluation Panel will serve as input for the development of the department’s future strategies, priorities and activities. At the department level, the key focus of the evaluation includes: • Research strategy (including its coherence with identified strengths and weaknesses) • The strengths and weaknesses of existing research areas, including research priorities, as well as possibilities for future research development, including cross-disciplinary research potential • Organisational setup for promoting research quality and productivity, societal impacts, international visibility and cross-disciplinary collaboration
At the research group level, the key focus of the evaluation includes: • Research output and publication strategy, including international research visibility • PhD recruitment, supervision and environment • External funding portfolio • Academic and societal impacts of research
As part of the evaluation process, each research group should prepare at least one societal impact case, which should be included in the group chapters.
WRITTEN MATERIAL Prior to the Microsoft Teams meetings with the Evaluation Panel, the following written documents were provided to the panel: - Evaluation questions that the panel is asked to evaluate and provide recommendations for the department and research groups (Guidelines) - Suggested division of labor between the members of the external evaluation panel - Programme for the visit - Department of Sociology and Social Work – Research Evaluation 2013-2017, Preliminary Report - University and Faculty – Structure and Governance, The Faculty of Social Sciences - Knowledge for the world - Aalborg University Strategy 2016-2021 - Strategy 2016-2021 - Faculty of Social Sciences, Aalborg University - Strategy 2013-2021 – Department of Sociology and Social Work - Department for Business and Management Research Evaluation 2012-2017 (Previous evaluation conducted by another department under the faculty of social sciences)
Prior to the Microsoft Teams Online meetings and during the meetings the panel had an opportunity to request any supplementary material.
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1.4 PANEL – ONLINE MEETINGS
The Evaluation Panel conducted meetings with each of the nine research groups to discuss the self-evaluation reports.
After the meetings, the Panel members finalised their written evaluations and recommendations. Professor Thomas Johansson was appointed chair for the finalisation of the recommendations. He was supported by special consultant Bo Møller Lange from the department’s secretariat. The final version of the Panel’s evaluations and recommendations was received by the end of May and is included at the end of each of the following chapters.
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2. DEPARTMENT OF SOCIOLOGY AND SOCIAL WORK
2.1 INTRODUCTION
The Department of Sociology and Social Work conducts research and teaching within a broad range of topics within Sociology and Social Work. The department runs two large BAs: Sociology and Social Work, and three MAs: Sociology, Social Work and Criminology. The latter is the only one of its kind in Denmark.
The department also has two international MAs in Social Work (Advances/NOSWELL) and a Master’s in Vulnerable Children and Young People (MBU), which is a part-time programme for individuals employed in social work among vulnerable young people. During the period of evaluation, the department has also had a part-time Master’s in Knowledge-based Social Work (MVSA), which is not currently taking new students, and an MSc in City, Housing and Settlement Patterns, which after the evaluation period has been moved to another department.
The researchers delivering research-based teaching to the different study programmes have been organized in eleven research groups during the period of evaluation. Three are mainly sociological research groups, five are groups within the field of social work, and three are interdisciplinary. Both research groups in social work and the interdisciplinary groups have a substantial portion of sociologists as core members. The research groups are briefly described below. Acronyms may refer to their Danish names.
SocMap: Demography, Social Geography and Health. SocMap focuses on the way location and local communities are affected by and influence inequality related to health, education, income, etc. Demography, mapping methods and machine learning are central tools and perspectives in the research.
CASTOR: Social Differentiation, Communities, and Social control. CASTOR conducts sociological and criminological research on changes in social differentiations, communities and social control. The researchers draw on a broad set of quantitative and qualitative methods. CASTOR contributes to empirical as well as conceptual understandings of the processes of social differentiation in contemporary society.
SAGA: Sociological Analysis – General and Applied Research. SAGA analyses phenomena at the micro-level, focusing on people’s everyday life, interactions, social norms, emotions and formation of identity and meaning. The group mainly takes a qualitative approach in a phenomenological, hermeneutic, interactionist, critical theoretical or social-constructionist perspective.
COMA: Centre for Organisation, Management and Administration. COMA is an interdisciplinary research centre focusing on basic and applied research, including theoretically based and detailed studies of reform and change attempts, initiated in and across the public sector and in the interaction between the public and private sector.
Practice Research and Service User Perspectives: Focuses on how descriptions, development and research occur in differentiated types of collaboration among service users, practice and
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research whereby specific collaborative initiated research projects in themselves contribute to a heightened understanding of the issues and possibilities in practice research and in service user perspectives.
CISKO: Focuses on social work and organisational settings for social work with vulnerable children, young people and their families and knowledge about their experiences and life conditions.
Social problems and the governance of social work: Focuses on the interplay between the user’s lifeworld and public definitions of social problems, professional discourses and actions, and forms of governance and regulations. The group has worked with definition processes and conflicts about the background for social problems, and how social technologies such as risk assessments and diagnoses form part of governance of and within social work.
SAB: Social Work at the Frontline of Employment Policy. SAB focuses on social work practice in the employment area. It investigates what happens in the contact between professionals and unemployed citizens with complex problems, including how these citizens are involved, and how they experience their situation. Professional practice at job centres and the political development in the employment area are key elements in SAB's research.
MIS O: Target groups and measures within the field of social pedagogy. MIS O conducts research concerning target groups in the areas of social pedagogy, socially vulnerable children and young people, people with mental and physical disabilities, and groups of people living in vulnerable circumstances, such as homeless and other groups of poor and vulnerable people.
LEO: Conducts research within the labour market and working life with focus on the interplay between individuals, organisations and the labour market. LEO has been active in all years under evaluation but did not complete a self-evaluation as all members have retired. Therefore, LEO’s contribution is only visible as a part of the description at the department- level.
Psychology and Society: Focuses on the interplay between individual and society. The individual’s existential perspective and human relations are regarded as important for the understanding of social phenomena and problems. The research group has been active in all years under evaluation, but due to retirement by core members, no self-evaluation has been made. Therefore, the group’s contribution is only visible as a part of the description at the department-level.
In the following sections, we present the department as the common framework for the research groups. In section 2.2, the number of students and study programmes are presented. Section 2.3 provides information about the economic context, including the level and sources of external funding.
Section 2.4 describes the staff development in the period, including information about different positions and gender-composition. Section 2.5 presents the development of the research groups and briefly describes the development after the evaluation period. This is deemed necessary in order to understand the context for the discussions between the international evaluation panel and the different research groups and to be able to use the research
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evaluation as a relevant baseline for the development of the department’s research in the future.
Section 2.6 outlines the department’s PhD-training, and section 2.7 presents the research infrastructure at the department. In section 2.8, figures on publications at department level are presented. Sections 2.9 and 2.10 summarise the department’s strategy for the last part of the evaluation period and discuss important challenges for the future.
2.2 STUDENTS AND TEACHING
After more than a decade of growth in student intake, peaking in 2013 with 845 new students, the intake stabilised between 650 and 700 in the last four years of the evaluation period after implementation of numerous clauses in the master and bachelor programmes, either by the university or by the Ministry of Higher Education.
Despite these restrictions, teaching and supervision still play a decisive role in the development of the department, as around two thirds of the department’s income is generated by student activities, granted by the Danish authorities to the universities based on exams completed.
The department has approximately 1600 students enrolled at any time. The study programmes are administered by the School of Sociology and Social Work. The School offers a bachelor and a Master’s programme in Social Work, which in the period 2014-2017 enrolled about 50 per cent of the department’s students (figure 2.A). The bachelor and Master’s programme in Sociology enrolled around 35 per cent of the students, including the MSc in City, Housing and Settlement Patterns. Today the latter is organised by the long-term collaborator Danish Building Research Institute.
Students from 2013-2017 are collapsed with ‘Sociology’ as they were associated with the same study board in the period of evaluation.
Figure 2.A. Student enrolment 2013-2017 600
500
400
300
200
100
0 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 Sociology Social Work Criminology MBU/MVSA/NOS/ADV
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The MSc in Criminology, established in 2013, has had between 6 and 10 per cent of the students during the evaluation period. The remaining 5-9 per cent are enrolled in two small international Master’s: NOSWEL (Nordic Master’s Programme in Social Work and Welfare) and ADVANCES (Advanced Development in Social Work) and two part-time diplomas: MBU (Master’s in Vulnerable Children and Young People) and MVSA (Master’s in Knowledge-based Social Work).
The vast majority of the programmes are taught in Danish. All students in those programmes are Danes, except a very small group from the other Nordic countries. NOSWEL and ADVANCES recruit only international students, primarily from outside the EU as student allowance for these programmes is targeted at non-EU citizens. In NOSWEL and ADVANCES, the students stay one term in Aalborg before moving on to the other collaborating universities in Norway, Sweden, Portugal, Poland, France and the UK.
In addition to teaching the department’s own programmes, some department’s staff teach in other study programmes at Aalborg University, such as Public Governance, Political Sciences and Public Health.
At some departments, there is a tight relation between educational programmes and research groups, but the teaching at the Department of Sociology and Social Work is organised more like a matrix structure, where individual researchers from different research groups teach the same courses. This structure contributes to cooperation and encourages integration across research groups, but it requires good communication and coordination to work properly. The study programmes are presented in table 2.i.
2.3 ECONOMIC CONTEXT AND EXTERNAL FUNDING
In the first year of the evaluation period, 2013, Aalborg University faced a severe budget deficit. As a result, all units including the Department of Sociology and Social Work made budget cuts, resulting in fewer new positions than the rapid growth in student enrolment normally would allow for.
Due to the economic challenges in 2013, the Faculty of Social Sciences decided to increase the teaching load for tenured staff by approximately 10 per cent, from 450 to 492 hours per semester. From 2013, all professors and associate professors teach 60 per cent of their working hours. Prep time for the different teaching tasks (lectures, seminars, workshops, supervision) was reduced substantially in most programmes, so everybody had to teach more to live up to the new, increased teaching loads.
In 2015, the budget-model at Aalborg University was adjusted at university and faculty level, and frozen at 2014-level for the rest of the period. Figure 2.B shows a stable income at department level at just above 110 million DKK per year (approx. 15 million Euros). Less fluctuating income was supposed to increase security at department level. However, the challenge is that while income (except external funding) is stable, costs for wages, buildings etc. are increasing.
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Figure 2.B. Income sources 2013-2017
120.000.000
100.000.000
80.000.000 Other
60.000.000 External funding
40.000.000 Internal research funding 20.000.000
0 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017
After 2018, Aalborg University has kept a budget-model with stable income at department- level. However, to increase incentives to apply for external funding, a larger part of the student taximeter than before is allocated to pay for buildings, administration and the university’s infrastructure. For a department like ours, whose main income comes from students and teaching, the new economic model is even more challenging than the former.
Table 2.i. Study programmes at the Department of Sociology and Social Work.
Bachelor’s Master’s programmes: Part-time programmes: programmes: BA in Social Work (3,5 MSc in Social Work (2 years) years) International Master’s MBU (Master’s in Vulnerable ADVANCES (Advanced Children and Young People) Development in Social Work) (2 years, one semester in Aalborg) – In English. International Master’s MVSA (Master’s in Knowledge- NOSWEL (Nordic Master’s based Social Work). Programme in Social Work and Welfare) (2 years, one semester in Aalborg) – In English. BSc in Sociology (3 MSc in Sociology (2 years) years) MSc in Criminology (2 years) MSc in City, Housing and Settlement Patterns (2 years)
Regarding external funding, figure 2.C shows clear variation year by year in newly obtained grants and their sources from approx. 18 million DKK (2.4 million euros) in 2013 to 26 million DKK (3.5 million euros) in 2017, and in between a drop to 6 million DKK in 2014. Over the five years, on average approx. 15 million DKK (2.0 million euros) have been obtained in funding, representing 13 per cent of the department’s total income. Private grants and other
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government funds play an important role. Other government funds include funding from Regions in Denmark, municipalities, ministries and other public bodies.
Figure 2.C. New grants and sources 2013-2017 30.000.000 DKK
25.000.000 DKK Nordic funds 20.000.000 DKK Internal funding
15.000.000 DKK EU funds Other government funds 10.000.000 DKK Private funds 5.000.000 DKK Danish research councils
- DKK 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017
Among the private funds, The Obel Family Fund has funded large and small research projects for many years at the department (and the university as a whole). Likewise, The Velux Foundation, The Rockwool Foundation and TrygFonden have supported new research project at the department.
Intake from The Danish Research Councils has been quite stable at 1-2 projects per year. The projects are of different size and volume, from individual postdoctoral grants to research projects carried out by multiple researchers.
Naturally, the extent to which the various research groups apply for funding varies. Success rates vary among the different sources, and when large and multi-year research projects are granted, applications for new grants may be set on hold for a period. Finding a long-term balance at department and research-group level between internal and external research funding is a key strategic issue for the coming years.
2.4 STAFF DEVELOPMENT
The rapid growth in student enrolment prior to the evaluation period resulted in an increase in academic staff too. However, a quite substantial part of the extra teaching was executed by external lecturers, teaching assistants and tenured staff from other departments at Aalborg University; especially law, learning and philosophy, and political science. Today, the Department of Sociology and Social Work is still the department at the Faculty of Social Sciences spending the largest part of the teaching budget on hiring teachers from other departments (approx. 3 million DKK every year, equalling five full-time associate professors).
In 2013, the number of academic staff at the department was 88 (heads), and in 2014 it exceeded 100 for the first time. The number has been at the same level for the remainder of
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the evaluation period, reflecting the stabilisation in enrolment of students and income (figure 2.D).
The slight increase in staff in the period, especially between 2013 and 2014, is primarily due to increased external funding targeted at PhD students and postdocs (cf. figure 2.E). Recruitment to those positions is an important part of the department’s strategy for staff recruitment and development. Especially within the field of social work there has historically been a limited number of formally trained researchers (doctoral degree) with experience from social practice. Thus, the department’s strategy has been to create junior positions at PhD and postdoc level to secure long-term tenured staff.
When the university’s resources are limited, a larger share of money for junior positions comes from external funding. This calls for a close dialogue between leaders of research groups and research projects and the department’s management to ensure that the short-term needs of the different projects and the long-term needs for tenured staff are taken into consideration when the projects hire young researchers.
As shown in figure 2.D, the number of administrative staff has been fairly stable as well, going from 19 in 2013 to 22 in 2017. Roughly 70 per cent of the administrative staff has worked with study administration, supporting students and teachers. The rest of the secretariat consists of a small funding unit, secretaries managing externally funded projects, budgets and economic reporting, HR, and day-to-day operation of the department. The growth in external funding and the need to keep growing in this area calls for an expansion of the administrative service regarding research in the future. For the time being, the capacity to support applications for funding and project management is quite good, but there is currently no permanent staff to support information, communication, seminars etc.
Figure 2.D. Staff development 2013-2017
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Figure 2.E. Staff development, categories 2013-2017 35 Professor 30
25 Associate professor 20 Assistant 15 professor/postdoc 10 Teacher (theory/methodology) 5 PhD fellow/student 0 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017
STAFF DIVERSITY When it comes to nationality, the Department of Sociology and Social Work is not a very diverse department. As mentioned in the ‘students and teaching’-section, nearly all students in the ordinary study programmes are Danish. Only the two international Masters’ with a total enrolment of around 20 students per semester have international students, and the teaching language is English. This is also reflected in the staff composition. Around 95 per cent of the staff at any time is Danish, and the majority of the last five per cent is of Norwegian origin. During the period 2013-2017, one German, three Swedes, one Englishman and one American have been employed at the department. However, 2/3 of the international staff have been in part-time positions up to 20 per cent. These numbers probably make the department one of the least international departments at Aalborg University measured by staff nationality.
Regarding gender diversity, the situation is very different. As shown in figure 2.F, at least 50 per cent in all staff categories at the department are female. Among the administrative staff, the share has been over 90 per cent throughout the period. At PhD-level it has been around 85 per cent, and over 70 per cent of the assistant professors and postdocs are female. Among the associate professors, 50-60 per cent are female, and the professors broke the 50 per cent barrier in 2017, after being at around 40 per cent early in the period. This means that the Department of Sociology and Social Work does not have a particularly ‘leaky pipeline’ unlike many other departments and universities. Figure 2.F shows a higher share of females among PhD students (approx. the same level as among regular students) than among the professors. However, the gender composition is probably the most balanced at Aalborg University.
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Figure 2.F. Proportion of female in staff categories 100% 90% Professor 80% 70% Associate professor 60% 50% Assistant 40% professor/postdoc 30% Teacher 20% (theory/methodology) 10% PhD fellow/student 0% 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017
2.5 RESEARCH GROUP DEVELOPMENT
In a longer perspective than covered by this research evaluation, the research group structure at the Department of Sociology and Social Work has been fairly stable. Several large, externally funded research projects have been embedded in the existing research groups without being a decisive stepping stone for new group formations. However, two major changes occurred just before and during the period of evaluation. First, in 2009/2010 the large sociological CASTOR group split into three groups, SAGA, SocMap, and CASTOR, which is still the largest. Second, the even larger Research in Social Work (FoSo) with more than 30 members prior to the evaluation period has gradually developed from one research group before 2013 via a period of subgroups within FoSo to an umbrella for five independent research groups in 2017.
Both in the sociological research environment and in the field of social work, the development has resulted in a larger number of relatively small and homogeneous research groups. The differentiation within social work has continued, and in 2018, two new research groups emerged out of the ‘Social problems and the governance of social work’-group (CIW: Center for Inclusion and Welfare and SCOPAS: Shaping Concepts, Practice and Advances in Social Work). MIS O closed in 2019.
The development of research groups within the field of social work has created some methodological challenges for the current research evaluation. Our solution is to backtrack the research group structure from 2017 to 2013. Without doing so, we would not be able to measure a development within the research groups. Even if this choice cannot fully describe the transformation during the period, we decided that it would create less confusion, not least for the readers of the evaluation report, including the international evaluation panel.
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Table 2.ii. Timeline for research group development 2012-2019
2012 2013 2014 2017 2019 FoSo FoSo with FoSo with MIS O SAB subgroups subgroups CASTOR CASTOR CASTOR SAB CISKO SAGA SAGA SAGA CISKO CIW SocMap SocMap SocMap Social Problems SCOPAS and the Governance of Social Work COMA COMA COMA Practice Social Problems Research and and the Service User Governance of Perspectives Social Work LEO LEO LEO CASTOR Practice Research and Service User Perspectives Psychology & SAGA CASTOR Society SocMap SAGA COMA SocMap LEO COMA Psychology & Society
2.6 PHD TRAINING
The Department of Sociology and Social Work is part of AAU’s Doctoral School of Social Sciences (DSSS). DSSS was established in 2008 after the amendment of The Danish University Act in 2007, which introduced doctoral schools and PhD study boards as statutory institutions at Danish universities with formal responsibility for PhD education. Today, DSSS has a total population of approx. 100 PhD students distributed on seven PhD Programmes, one of which is Sociology and Social Work. The doctoral programmes vary in volume of enrolled PhD students and in the number of affiliated research groups. Each programme is managed by a head of programme and a secretary. The PhD programme in Sociology and Social Work has a profile that is tightly linked to the department’s core fields of research, namely sociology, social work and organisation. The PhD students have their primary connection to their main supervisor’s research group, but many participate in activities organised by other research groups. The research groups and supervisors are important actors in training PhD students. Each research group has a responsibility to give the PhD students opportunities to present their papers and have them discussed on several occasions during their enrolment as PhD students. The head of PhD programme is responsible for academic activities related to the programme, e.g., PhD courses, internal meetings and sparring with PhD students and supervisors. The majority of the offered PhD courses are organised by the DSSS in cooperation with the PhD programmes. The courses constitute an important dimension in the internationalisation of the PhD training as
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international keynotes are invited to give lectures and comment on the PhD students’ papers. The PhD students also participate in national and international PhD courses.
DEVELOPMENT AND MODEL OF FINANCING The PhD stipends are based on different models of financing, which influence the terms on which the PhD students are recruited. Either a PhD stipend is fully internally financed or it is partially or fully externally financed (public or private). Internally financed stipends are historically the ordinary form of PhD projects, and the position is financed by the department.
This also means that the PhD students can be employed by an external employer or at Aalborg University. If a PhD student is employed at AAU, the head of department is responsible for the PhD student’s overall terms of employment in relation to finances, competency development, working environment and career planning.
Figure 2.G (which includes all seven doctoral programmes) shows that the externally financed PhD projects and the co-financed projects make up the majority of the projects in the beginning of the period, while a larger part of the projects is internally financed in 2016 and 2017. Comparing the seven doctoral programmes shows that the programme in Sociology and Social Work has one of the highest rates of externally financed stipends.
Figure 2.G. PhD financing 2013 - 2017. DSSS. 30
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The overall trend in the period is a decline in total enrolment of PhD students at the department from around 40 in 2013, 2014 and 2015 to 24 in 2017. The main reason is an unusually high level of new enrolments in 2012 and 2013. As the figure shows, new enrolments decreased during the period, and were in 2017 half of what is was in 2013. Graduation increased during the period. Discontinuation is fairly low, with an average of two per year. Even in 2017, where total enrolment is lowest in the period, there are still more than one PhD student per four tenured staff at the department. It is, however, a challenge to secure a sufficient number of young researchers when PhD training is increasingly dependent on external funding in the future.
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Figure 2.H. PhD Sociology and Social Work 2013-2017 50 39 40 38 40 32 30 24 20 11 9 8 10 6 4 6 4 5 4 6 1 3 3 11 0 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017
Total enrolment during the year New enrolment Graduated Discontinued without degree
2.7 RESEARCH INFRASTRUCTURE
The central research support section is part of AAU shared services and includes Grants & Contracts and Fundraising and Project Management (F&P). F&P provides advice and support to Aalborg University and knowledge about funding and managing grants. They help researchers identify the right funding and assist them in crafting their applications and managing their awards. Department of Sociology and Social Work has had a local support since 2008 (not all departments at AAU have had local support).
In 2019, a research support strategy was developed which requires all departments to have local support corresponding to at least 0,5 fte (full time equivalent). The aim is to ensure a university-wide coherent support structure and make clear to researchers where they can get help with budgeting, screening of funding sources, application requirements, general counselling etc. In addition, the new collaboration model aims to establish a closer link between local research support staff, heads of departments, vice deans for research and F&P to ensure better use of the research support resources at AAU.
The local research supporters and the F&P coordinate support of researchers at AAU. The F&P Office focuses on prioritised funding sources and provides specialised support, whereas the local research supporters assist with applications and are specialised in fundraising at their department. The local support and F&P also provide information about relevant calls, events, and news about national and European Union (EU) funding.
The department has had local funding support for several years, which to a large extent resembles the new strategy described above. As research increasingly relies on external sources, the department’s capacity has been challenged, but the main structure and the division of labour between different offices are well established.
When it comes to project management, the department has not had the same resources available in the evaluation period. The secretariat has taken care of the economy, but management has mainly been left to the researchers. There has not been any permanent staff with responsibility for internal or external communication either. A couple of the large and
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more complex project have temporarily bought communication officers, but in the vast majority of externally funded projects, the researchers have handled communication.
In 2019, the department merged its secretariat with the secretariat at the former Department of Political Sciences, which has increased the capacity for funding support, project management and communication. When properly coordinated, these resources will augment the potential of the department’s research infrastructure to meet the demands of a more competitive research environment.
2.8 PUBLICATION
Since 2010, the Danish Bibliometric Research Indicator (BFI) has allocated points to publications in scientific journals and publishers based on their reputation within different fields. Each university appoints members to a wide range of field-specific reference groups, who decide which journals and publishers should be included in the BFI and on what level. The reference groups meet annually to take up new journals and publishers and perhaps re- classify the ones already on the lists.
Twenty per cent of the journals on the BFI-lists are on level 2, and 80 per cent are on level 1. Individual papers in level 2-journals receive three points, and level 1 gives one point at Aalborg University. All researchers can suggest new journals and publishers to be listed, and over the years, the lists have expanded substantially. Today there is also a level 3, which contains up to 2.5 per cent of the top-journals within a field. However, not all fields have chosen to do this, among those are reference group 21 where most journals within sociology and social work are listed.
The BFI is one element in research funding for Danish universities. A substantial part of the funding (varying over time) is allocated based on BFI. This has created a strong incentive to publish papers with journals and publishers on the list, preferably at the higher level, which gives more point and thus more basic funding for research. The BFI system has been criticised for not reflecting different publishing traditions. Anthologies and monographs receive relatively lower rewards even when published with publishers on the BFI positive list. Textbooks often do not receive BFI points at all.
Figure 2.I shows the total number of BFI-points at the Department of Sociology and Social Work in the evaluation period. 576 points were registered, ranging from 95 in 2015 to 167 in 2017. The figure indicates an increase in BFI points. However, one should be careful to use the numbers to predict trends, as the life-cycles of large research projects affect how many papers and other publications researchers produce in a year. The numbers will probably continue to fluctuate from one year to another. The most productive year is 2017, and it seems to be an outlier with 60 per cent more publications than the average in the period 2013-2016. However, as a department with all staff highly involved in teaching tasks, and increasingly so because of the increased teaching obligations from 2013, it is remarkable that it has been possible to increase both external funding and publications in the same period – especially considering the rather limited availability of research-supporting administrative staff at department level.
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Figure 2.I. BFI points 2013-2017 180 160 140 120 100 80 60 40 20 0 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017
BFI points 2013-2017
Figure 2.J shows the development in BFI points per tenured staff member (professor, associate professor, assistant professor and postdoc). There has been an increase in staff between 2013 and 2017, but the increase in productivity has been higher, so the figure illustrating BFI points per head is fairly similar to the figure showing the development in total number of BFI points at the department.
Figure 2.J. BFI/staff 2013-2017 3
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Note: Staff are without PhD students and research assistants.
Figure 2.K, displaying the development in publications at BFI level 1 and 2, shows a substantial growth in BFI 2 over the years, however not monotonous. In 2013, around 1/3 of the points came from level 1 publications, and in 2014 and 2016, level 1 and 2 were almost equal, but most points still came from level 1-publications. In 2017, however, 58 per cent of the points were allocated from level 2-journals and publishers, indicating a development towards publications in higher-ranking journals and with higher-ranking publishers.
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Figure 2.K. BFI level 1 and 2. 2013-2017 120
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BFI level 1 BFI level 2
There is a fairly strong correlation between BFI level and publication language, as most Danish journals and publishers are at level 1. Figure 2.L displays the development in publication language 2013-2017. Apart from a tiny fraction of publications in ‘other’ languages (French, Portuguese, German, Norwegian etc.), papers by staff at Department for Sociology and Social Work are written in Danish or English. The figure shows that while Danish dominates in the beginning of the period, especially in the years with a relatively low share of level 2-publications, there are equal shares of English and Danish both in 2016 and 2017.
Figure 2.L. Publications by language 2013- 2017 300
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150 Danish Other 100 Total 50
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Even though the BFI implies strong incentives to publish in listed journals, researchers at the Department of Sociology and Social Work still produce publications outside the BFI-system. A substantial part of the research at the department is directed at practice or conducted in cooperation with practice. This requires other formats for dissemination than international academic journals. The majority of these publications are in Danish, and their more popular form make them more applicable in terms of changing practice in different fields.
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The Bibliometric Research Indicator is important for allocation of resources to Danish Universities based on academic impact. However, it is not necessarily a strong correlation between the Danish BFI and other ways to calculate journal impact. Moreover, there are different ways to calculate journal impact factors. In appendix 2.1, a list of publications from the department’s academic staff 2013-2017 is presented. Of the 163 journals, 38 are not on the BFI list. These journals are mainly directed at practice, newspapers and magazines. Of the 125 journals within the BFI system, 40 are on level 2, 85 on level 1. The level 2-journals have – on average – the highest impact factor, but there is a substantial number of level 1-journals with a fairly high impact factor.
Another way to measure academic impact is through H-indices. There are several different sources, but as a Social Science Department we have chosen to base our H-index on Google Scholar, as bibliometric analyses at, e.g., Scopus and Web of Science are biased towards engineering and medicine journals. Figure 2.M shows the H-indices for the 43 staff members with a profile on Google Scholar. There are three researchers with an h-index above 20 and further eight above 10.
Figure 2.M. H-index. Individual profiles 30
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2.9 DEPARTMENT STRATEGY 2016-2021
The department’s research strategy for the period 2016-2021 focuses on four themes: ‐ Increased external funding ‐ More publications in higher-ranking journals and publishers ‐ Consolidating and expanding international research networks ‐ Career development of younger researchers
The department’s strategy aims to create a framework and a good environment for developing high-quality research and research-based education. Within the strategical framework, we have developed procedures for securing quality in external funding applications. The department supports researchers’ participation in international conferences to get feedback on papers for international publications. We have applied for funding for two part-time international professors for three consecutive years in order to create more permanent international contacts for especially our younger staff. Several of our young researchers have
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participated in the Faculty of Social Sciences’ talent programme and Aalborg University’s central talent programme.
2.10 KEY CHALLENGES FOR THE FUTURE
The department’s research group structure has gone through quite unusual transformations during the evaluation period. As many of the groups are relatively small, it is important to sustain a good environment for cooperation, both to be able to apply for greater grants and to develop the different study programmes.
It is a challenge to spread the applications for external funding on more researchers than today. Relatively few researchers receive large grants and repeat their success. To ensure further growth, it is important that a larger share of the staff, especially younger researchers, apply and succeed with their applications. This requires that the department can develop the administrative setup for external funding applications in a very competitive environment.
A key factor for having good CVs is freeing up time to write good applications and teaching that is more efficient. The department has started a systematic process in cooperation with the study boards to identify potentials for saving time on teaching without lowering the quality. Cooperation between study boards has a great potential, especially regarding methodology courses and the possibilities in new technologies and digitalisation. The department has already reached its goal to save 10 per cent of teaching hours and is determined to save another 10 per cent in order to free up time for research.
Societal impact will be a key challenge for the future. The department has a strong position and a good possibility to make research that is more impactful. This will be an important contribution to solving societal challenges and creating better opportunities for receiving external funding. Greater focus on societal impact might create better job possibilities for our graduates as well, as they may be better suited to match the demands in the competitive labour market for social scientists in the future.
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PANEL EVALUATION
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, virtual meetings on Microsoft Teams replaced the on- campus visit of the evaluation panel. This has largely worked out well. The overall conclusion of the panel is that the quality of the research at the Department of Sociology and Social Work at Aalborg University covers central research fields and areas within the two disciplines. The quality of the research is in general high, and in some cases, research groups are performing at a high international level.
The panel will present some considerations and thoughts regarding the organisational structure of the department in general, and on the formation, organisation and development of different research groups in particular. There is an ongoing transformation, re-grouping and renewing of the research groups. This is largely an organic and dynamic process. Research groups are, for example, to a great extent dependent on external funding, and therefore their success varies over time. The success rate pretty much defines the possibility to recruit new staff and PhD students. Furthermore, the success rate and other “survival” strategies have a decisive effect on the life expectancy of a research group. The research groups seem to prioritise differently regarding the three core areas research, teaching and third-mission activities. Some research groups are clearly heavy on teaching and third-mission activities, whereas others prioritise research. The evaluation committee considers the organic and dynamic development of different research groups very promising, but there seems to be a need for a firm grip on where the department as a whole is heading. We will discuss this issue in more detail under Organisation.
In the following sections, we will discuss and evaluate different aspects of the department, describe strengths and weaknesses, and suggest some ways to develop research activities at the department as a whole and in the research groups.
Research output and potential From 2013 to 2017, there is a steady and considerable increase in the department’s overall BFI points. In addition, there is an increase in level 2 publications. Looking at the whole period, 20% of the publications are at level 2 and 80% at level 1. In 2017, 58% of the publications are at level 2, however. There is an overall increasing tendency to publish in English, although there are many arguments for continuing to publish in Danish. 43 staff members are listed in Google Scholar’s citation index, and citations vary from few to many. A few staff members are frequently cited – 12 staff members have a citation index of ten and above – and contribute considerably to raising the overall output (in terms of citations and probably BFI points). The department is gradually promoting internationally well-known publishing strategies, and an increasing share of the publications are in English, in level 1 and 2 journals. Still, the BFI system also promotes and rewards publications in international book series and in monographs. This path leads to fewer publications in Danish. Consequently, there is a need to think through and find new dissemination strategies.
The evaluation committee agrees with and supports the ambition to publish in higher-ranked journals and publishers. We also suggest that the department develop strategies for dissemination in Danish, not least to uphold a sustainable relation to key stakeholders in Danish society. In addition, there is a need to reflect upon the uneven distribution of citations among the researchers at the department. If all staff members were listed in Google Scholar, it would have given a more correct picture of the state of the art. This could
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be used to reflect upon what areas and what kind of research define excellence at the department.
International research collaboration All of the large research groups have well-established international research collaborations, including research group members participating in international networks, hosting international conferences, inviting international research leaders and hosting international visitors. The partnerships are valuable for informing the research work of the theme groups and providing opportunities for researchers to participate in internationally funded research projects. Many research groups support PhD candidates to study abroad.
The research collaborations are concentrated in the Northern hemisphere. Most research group members participate in Nordic and European research networks, and there are strong collaborations with leading researchers in the UK and the USA. These collaborations provide substantial opportunities for collaboration in research funding, publications and development of research concepts.
There appears to be very little engagement with researchers in Asia and in the Oceania regions. The department might consider whether engagement with Asia with its rapid expansion of higher education teaching and research would be of mutual benefit to the department and to cognate institutions in Asia. Possible benefits of such collaboration include development of intercultural understanding of research group themes, more study- abroad opportunities for students at Aalborg University, and recruitment of PhD candidates from the Asia Pacific region, which has a strong demand for PhD graduates in social sciences and social work.
Coherence between research and teaching The department offers Bachelors and Master’s degree programs in Sociology and Social Work and a Master’s degree program in Criminology. In addition, as noted in the self- evaluation, the remaining 5-9 per cent of students are enrolled in two small international Master’s: NOSWEL (Nordic Master’s Programme in Social Work and Welfare) and ADVANCES (Advanced Development in Social Work) and two part-time diplomas: MBU (Master’s in Vulnerable Children and Young People) and MVSA (Master’s in Knowledge- based Social Work).
The self-evaluation explained that teaching at the Department of Sociology and Social Work is organised in a matrix structure where individual researchers from different research groups teach the same courses. While researchers may contribute to teaching across the programs, most researchers specialise teaching into specific programs. Indeed, the research groups seemed aligned to specific areas of teaching, and most groups described strong coherence between their teaching practice and their research theme groups. In certain research themes, some members teach across the programs, but all research themes seem to align with one and, in some instances, two education programs.
Turning first to the sociology programs, we note that members of the following research groups primarily contribute to the BA and MA in sociology: CASTOR, SocMap, SAGA and COMA. Second, several research groups are primarily associated with the Bachelor and Master of Social Work Programmes and the international programmes Master in Advanced Development in Social Work and Nordic Master in Social Work and Welfare. The research groups primarily associated with these programs are: P&B, CISKO, and SAB. These
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research groups identify as teaching in the key areas of service user involvement and experience, theory and practice with vulnerable people, and research methods with vulnerable people. Although no longer operational by the 2020 review, MIS-O members also identified as primarily teaching in these programs, particularly subjects in the Bachelor and Master of Social Work and Master in Vulnerable Children and Young People.
Third, the department offers a Master of Criminology. CASTOR and SAGA identified this as their primary area of teaching. In the self-evaluation, the CASTOR members identified as holding major responsibility for the development and subsequent running of the MS program in Criminology that opened in 2013. In addition, SAGA has been particularly active in the development and management of educational activities, including the (continuous) development of Sociology and Criminology. Members of SocMAP and P&B identify as contributing to the Master of Criminology.
Overall, there appear to be coherent links between research groups and the key education programs. This alignment supports evidence-led teaching and creates opportunities for teaching scholarships. We encourage research theme groups to consider how they might also contribute to the scholarship of teaching and learning through the research groups.
Organisation The research infrastructure at Aalborg University has improved considerably in recent years. Since 2019, all departments have local support corresponding to at least half a man-year. The Department of Sociology and Social Work has had local funding support for several years, however (since 2010). During the evaluation period, the department has not allocated specific resources to project management. The secretariat has managed project economy, and researchers have been responsible for management, communication and dissemination. Since 2019, more resources have been allocated to funding support, project management and communication, and there are two local supporters doing fundraising. Besides this local help, a central office at the university offers some support (mostly EU-funding and large- scale projects).
At department level, the focus is mainly on infrastructure, i.e., organisational and administrative means of facilitating and supporting the research groups. Questions on content and the intellectual profile of research are mainly handled, developed and constructed by the research groups. In this sense, the organisation is organic and dynamic. All staff members are requested to participate in at least one research group, but organisation and orientation of the research groups are left to the members. The groups also select their own leaders. Overall, the members of the research groups seem to be happy with this form of organisation. The evaluation panel has some suggestions regarding the organisation of the department’s research structure. On the one hand, the panel is impressed by the creativity and energy in the different research groups. On the other hand, it could be worth reflecting on what possible synergy effects could be achieved by creating meeting spaces between the different research groups. Several of the research groups have common intellectual roots in sociology and social work. Meeting spaces – where people from different research groups meet and discuss larger applications (EU, Nordforsk) – could facilitate new forms of cooperation. This would require some form of institutional leadership. When asked about the department’s profile, the head of department primarily discussed teaching responsibilities and different areas of teaching. The evaluation panel would also suggest that discussions on the relation between teaching and research are handled on a
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departmental level. This would facilitate a discussion about the department’s profile and contribute to lifting forward dynamic and strong research areas.
Staff composition, research recruitment and retention The panel identifies three main challenges: the ratio between senior and junior staff, recruitment of PhDs and postdocs, and retention of younger academics.
The total number of academic staff rose from 88 to 103 during the evaluation period. In 2017, there were 11 professors, which is the same as in 2013, while the number of associate professors had risen from 26 to 33, and assistant professors and postdocs from 8 to 17. Altogether, the number of staff in these categories has risen from 45 to 61 (36%), and the rise in assistant professors and postdoc constitutes two thirds of it. The percentage of professors fell from 24 to 18 in this period. In some RGs, there is only one or no professors.
However, if both professors and associate professors are counted as senior staff, the ratio between junior and senior staff stays relatively stable. From the interviews, we learned that all RGs are very dedicated to the education of PhDs, and they seem dedicated to supporting colleagues working toward professorships. The number of professors may therefore be somewhat less worrying, especially if associate professors have similar responsibilities as professors. Still, the department should consider developing a “professor program” in order to support employees and boost professor promotions.
There are several reasons for concern about recruitment. There is no direct government funding of PhDs and postdocs, and very little internal funding of recruitment positions. External funding seems to be the only option. This means that responsibility for the education of future researchers and academics is left to funding agencies and organisations, public and private, and to the staff who will have to negotiate between the needs and interests of academia and the priorities of funders. This is a problem for not only ISS, or say AAU alone, and it will not be solved soon. For ISS it means that there is even more reason to boost activities to attract external funding.
Another related worry is the indications that younger academics seek employment outside universities to a larger degree than before. Even if the main reason may very well lie in the cutbacks Danish universities have experienced in recent years, the department will perhaps need to take actions in order to retain people. The panel registers that all RGs seem eager to include and involve PhDs and junior staff. We suggest a discussion across RGs and with department leaders to exchange experiences and figure out best practices, perhaps also a program on department level on how to motivate and prepare younger people for an academic career, maybe in the form of a talent program. In some interviews, heavy teaching duties were mentioned as a possible reason for people leaving universities, but further inquiries are needed to qualify this inference. It should also be mentioned that the staff is strikingly Danish/Nordic. This is a bit puzzling considering the large number of applications other Nordic universities receive from academics in other countries. PhDs and postdocs are mainly Danish too. There is obviously a potential for diversifying. The gender balance seems fine in total, but with more males among seniors than among juniors.
During the evaluation period, the number of admin staff was stable around 20 and totals 23 in 2019. Most admin staff work with study and teaching support, two positions are dedicated to research support. Considering that academic staff is expected to actively apply for
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external funding of research – including of PhD positions – this seems insufficient, especially if ambitions about increased external funding are to be fulfilled.
Research financing and resource allocation Teaching loads take 60 percent of the working hours of professors, associate professors etc.; the rest is ‘research time’. This includes a lot of tasks, though, such as supervision, committee duties, dissemination and ‘outreach’, a lot of other academic ‘chores’ and involvement in organisational development that may leave little time for own research. Therefore, and because AAU does not fund recruitment of PhDs and postdocs (at least not in a satisfactory number), finding and securing external funding is crucial.
All RGs seem very well aware that external funding is necessary, not least to be able to recruit PhDs and postdocs. Some RGs seem to rely more on external funding and having closer relations to funding agencies than others, some even to only one or a few external funders. Having close relations to funders is of course favourable, and one strategy forward is surely to build networks and engage in dialogues with funders, but there is also a risk of becoming too dependent on one or a few funders. Even if researchers maintain autonomy and integrity, and this is a highly held value at AAU as in academia in general, close relations between researchers and perhaps in particular private funders may nevertheless have an influence on the research agenda. This is really a research policy issue, and on all levels, but given the present funding policy, the researchers at ISS will have to prepare themselves for increased efforts towards and involvement with external funders. They need to have a good overview over who potential funders are and what their interests, strategies and priorities are. Some RGs seem more aware than others of the need to develop strategies for approaching external funders. And some groups will have more capacity in this respect because they are bigger and/or more experienced. Some of the RGs are very small and will have difficulties managing dialogues and networking with the necessary number of funders while at the same time conducting research funded by one/some of them – in particular if this research involves some kind of collaboration
However, given the large number of groups, the variety in size and capacity, the many parallel (sometimes overlapping) interests of the groups, and the fact that external funding is a department priority too, this is something that probably should be organised and managed on department level. It includes keeping track of announcements, guidelines and deadline, priorities and (changes in) strategies, but also giving support to RGs in building networks, keeping a continuous dialogue etc. Today, two senior advisers are dedicated to research support. Given the need for and ambitions regarding external funding, this is more than likely to be insufficient in (near) future. Another solution, or probably one that should be considered in addition to increased administrative support, is to organise larger and fewer research groups. Larger groups will be able to handle more tasks, and they would benefit from taking care of, for instance, dialogue and relations to external partners themselves.
Conclusion and recommendations Based on the information – both written and achieved through meetings at Microsoft Teams – provided by the Department of Sociology and Social Work at Aalborg University, the evaluation panel has discussed and processed all available data. First, the panel is impressed by the engagement, expertise and productivity of the staff at the department. Through interviews with nine research groups, we have gained a nuanced, rich and
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sometimes complex picture of everyday life at the Department of Sociology and Social Work. We commend the research groups for their high level of intellectual rigour and commitment to high quality research. We were also impressed by the sound theoretical and methodological foundations of the diverse research activities at the department. All groups shared a commitment to making practical and positive differences in the lives of vulnerable people. We commend the research groups for their strong engagement with government, municipalities, service agencies and service user groups. Furthermore, we commend them for their strong national and international collaborations.
The work process with the evaluation has, on the one hand, generated new questions and thoughts on the challenges and possibilities of organizing research and teaching in the academy. On the other hand, we have – as academics – gained new knowledge on how academic milieus function, grow and develop. In this last section, we will try to summarise and bring out some key possibilities and challenges for the department as a whole.
During the evaluation period, there is a successive and considerable increase in the overall BFI points, a tendency to publish more in English and to aim at level 2 journals. Clearly, the department is increasingly promoting international publication strategies, which will probably lead to a decreasing tendency to publish in Danish. Overall, the panel considers the research output and the publication strategies as successful. At the same time, it is important to maintain a sustainable relation to stakeholders, professionals and society at large. Consequently, there is a need to develop sustainable dissemination strategies, parallel with publishing in high quality international scientific journals. Another observation worth reflecting on is the great variation between staff with a high and a low citation index. Possibly, this indicates a need to support and strengthen the research output among certain fractions of the staff. The panel suggests that the department initiate a deeper analysis of these conditions. The panel is impressed by the creativity, energy and engagement in the nine research groups. At the same time, it could be worth reflecting on what possible synergy effects could be achieved and reached by creating meeting spaces between the different research groups. Several of the research groups have common intellectual roots in sociology and social work. Meeting spaces – where people from different research groups meet and discuss larger applications (EU, Nordforsk) – could facilitate new forms of cooperation. This would require some form of institutional leadership. We recommend that the department consider differentiating between research groups and other research concentrations. The review team observed that the term “research group” was used to refer to the nine research teams we reviewed. Despite the common title, there was considerable diversity in their structure, size and activities. Because of these differences, the groups had different capacities to achieve common expectations, such as supporting research productivity and opportunities for postgraduate support and education. This seemed to place an unreasonable burden on some of the groups, especially the smaller groups. We recommend that the department consider differentiating among research collectives according to expectations of size, structure and activities. “Research group” might be preserved for groups with certain characteristics such as a substantial concentration of researchers at different levels of research development, including at least two senior researchers, two mid-career and two early career. Other groups, such as those developing, might be referred to as “research innovation hubs”. A small group
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around a very specific issue might be called a research theme. The resources provided and expectations could then be calibrated in accordance with the type of research group, human capital capacity and likely trajectory. We recommend the consolidation of research groups. We consider that there were considerable synergies among the research groups, including shared interests in social inclusion in the context of globalisation, technological and social change; analysis of governance, organisation of social service activities; promoting service user voices; and constructive critical analysis of and evidence-informed approaches to social services work. Across these themes, researchers appear to share interests in the influence of emerging technologies, critical social science theories, and mixed methods research including collaborative research. In addition to the advantages of building on synergies, the department does not have the resources and capacity to sustain eight research groups, and there would be benefits to encouraging consolidation of research groups and thereby resources within those groups, i.e., human resources, including that each research group comprises people at different points in their research career; financial resources needed to support research activities; and allocation of PhD scholarships and postdoctoral scholarships. The research groups might be structured around the themes we have suggested above or in accordance with the staff members’ analysis of shared interests. Our main recommendation is that consolidation of research groups will benefit the members and the department. We recommend that the research theme groups develop a strategy for the scholarship of teaching. We identified a clear alignment between research theme groups and the key educational programs in Sociology, Social Work and Criminology. We suggest that the research theme groups are well placed to support scholarship on research-led teaching innovations in these key areas of learning and teaching. Developing the department’s profile in educational excellence is important to continuing to attract high performing students to the programs and to creating a pipeline for higher degree research. To continue to grow external research funding and international recognition of the department, we recommend that the School as a whole engages in a strategic planning exercise to identify areas of significant and emerging research interests and funding opportunities. Drawing on this, we encourage the development of short- and longer-term strategies for achieving external research funding across a range of funding sources. We recommend that the department consider seeking research partnership opportunities in the Asia Pacific region with its currently rapid expansion of social work and social science education and research. Strategic collaborations in this region are likely to be of mutual benefit in terms of research, teaching and higher degree research student opportunities. The falling level of PhD recruitments and the difficulties recruiting young talents is clearly a challenge. The panel suggests a discussion across RGs and with department leaders to exchange experiences and figure out best practices on how to motivate and prepare younger people for an academic career, maybe in the form of a talent program. In addition, the staff is strikingly Danish/Nordic. There is a need to develop recruitment strategies and to discuss how to attract international researchers to the department. The gender balance seems fine in total, but with more males among seniors than among juniors. The panel also finds that there is a need for a “professor program” to support employees and boost professor promotions.
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Given the large number of groups, the variety in size and capacity, the many parallel and sometimes overlapping interests of the groups, research funding strategies should be a concern for the department. This function could include keeping track of announcements, guidelines and deadlines, priorities and changes in strategies, and giving support to RGs in building networks, keeping a continuous dialogue, etc. Today one 100% position senior adviser is dedicated to research support. Given the need for and ambitions regarding external funding, this is more than likely to be insufficient in the near future.
APPENDIX 2.1. JOURNAL IMPACT FACTORS FOR JOURNALS BY STAFF FROM DEPARTMENT OF SOCIOLOGY AND SOCIAL WORK 2013 – 2017. The list is sorted by BFI level (Level 2 on top)
SNIP measures a source’s contextual citation impact by weighting citations based on the total number of citations in a subject field.
Journal title ISSN SNIP BFI No. of level publ. European Societies 1461-6696 1,262 2 4
European Journal of Social Work 1369-1457 0,738 2 4
Acta Sociologica 0001-6993 1,434 2 3
Journal of Youth Studies 1367-6261 1,407 2 3
Distinktion 1600-910X 1,295 2 3
Safety Science 0925-7535 2,004 2 2
B M C Public Health 1471-2458 1,268 2 2
Research on Social Work Practice 1049-7315 1,094 2 2
International Journal of Social Welfare 1369-6866 1,038 2 2
Scandinavian Journal of Educational 0031-3831 0,875 2 2 Research Norma: Nordisk tidsskrift for 1890-2138 0,84 2 2 maskulinitetsstudier European Journal of Social Security 1388-2627 - 2 2
Gender & Society 0891-2432 3,45 2 1
Qualitative Research 1468-7941 2,337 2 1
Mobilities 1745-0101 2,213 2 1
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Sociology 0038-0385 2,207 2 1
Public Administration Review 0033-3352 2,136 2 1
Information, Communication & Society 1369-118X 1,989 2 1
Studies in Higher Education 0307-5079 1,913 2 1
Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector 0899-7640 1,862 2 1 Quarterly Social Science & Medicine 0277-9536 1,741 2 1
Theory, Culture & Society 0263-2764 1,73 2 1
Sociology of Health and Illness 0141-9889 1,54 2 1
Minerva 0026-4695 1,539 2 1
Journal of the Royal Anthropological 1359-0987 1,529 2 1 Institute Environment and Planning A 0308-518X 1,39 2 1
Journal of Education and Work 1363-9080 1,358 2 1
Ethnos 0014-1844 1,345 2 1
European Journal of Women's Studies 1350-5068 1,322 2 1
European Journal of Public Health 1101-1262 1,295 2 1
Ethnicities 1468-7968 1,111 2 1
Qualitative Inquiry 1077-8004 1,068 2 1
Journal of School Health 0022-4391 1,018 2 1
Time & Society 0961-463X 0,916 2 1
Discourse & Communication 1750-4813 0,837 2 1
NORA - Nordic Journal of Feminist and 0803-8740 0,642 2 1 Gender Research Journal of Civil Society 1744-8689 0,531 2 1
Thesis Eleven 0725-5136 0,411 2 1
Nordic Studies in Education 1891-5914 0,383 2 1
Symbolic Interaction 0195-6086 - 2 1
Dansk Sociologi 0905-5908 - 1 28
Omsorg 0800-7489 - 1 14
Social Kritik:Tidsskrift for social 0904-3535 - 1 13 analyse & debat Nordic Social Work Research 2156-857X 0,745 1 10
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Tidsskrift for Arbejdsliv 1399-1442 - 1 10
Uden for Nummer 1600-888X - 1 10
Qualitative Social Work 1473-3250 0,987 1 8
International Journal of Integrated Care 1568-4156 1,069 1 5
Kvinder, Køn & Forskning 0907-6182 - 1 4
Tidsskrift for Forskning i Sygdom og 1604-3405 - 1 4 Samfund Transfer: European review of Labour and 1024-2589 0,734 1 3 Research Tidsskriftet Antropologi 0906-3021 0,297 1 3
Journal of Scandinavian Studies in 1404-3858 0,22 1 3 Criminology and Crime Prevention Nordic Journal of Working Life Studies 2245-0157 - 1 3
Advances in Applied Sociology 2165-4328 - 1 3
Punishment & Society 1462-4745 1,977 1 2
Journal of Teaching in Social Work 0884-1233 0,857 1 2
Scandinavian Journal of Public Health 1403-4948 0,857 1 2
Feminist Criminology 1557-0851 0,799 1 2
Young 1103-3088 0,675 1 2
Nordisk Alkohol- & Narkotikatidskrift 1455-0725 0,509 1 2
Social Work & Society 1613-8953 0,18 1 2
Agora 0800-7136 - 1 2
Cepra-Striben 1903-8143 - 1 2
New Zealand Journal of Employment 1179-2965 - 1 2 Relations (Online) Praktiske Grunde: Nordisk tidsskrift for 1902-2271 - 1 2 kultur- og samfundsvidenskab Kognition & Paedagogik 0906-6225 - 1 2
Samfundslederskab i Skandinavien 0900-8322 - 1 2
Sosiologi i Dag 0332-6330 - 1 2
Geoforum Perspektiv 1601-8796 - 1 2
Journal of Quantitative Criminology 0748-4518 2,543 1 1
Journal of Research in Crime and 0022-4278 1,967 1 1 Delinquency Justice Quarterly 0741-8825 1,935 1 1
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Journal of Experimental Criminology 1573-3750 1,814 1 1
Journal of Criminal Justice 0047-2352 1,505 1 1
Children's Geographies 1473-3285 1,487 1 1
Patterns of Prejudice 0031-322X 1,46 1 1
Journal of Nursing Management 0966-0429 1,435 1 1
Journal of Social Work 1468-0173 1,233 1 1
Qualitative Health Research 1049-7323 1,217 1 1
American Behavioral Scientist 0002-7642 1,178 1 1
Social Indicators Research 0303-8300 1,155 1 1
P L o S One 1932-6203 1,111 1 1
European Journal of Pediatrics 0340-6199 1,051 1 1
Research in Social Stratification and 0276-5624 1,041 1 1 Mobility VOLUNTAS: International Journal of 0957-8765 1,026 1 1 Voluntary and Nonprofit Organizations European Journal on Criminal Policy and 0928-1371 0,973 1 1 Research Contemporary Issues in Early Childhood 1463-9491 0,956 1 1
BMC Psychology 2050-7283 0,925 1 1
Primary Care Diabetes 1751-9918 0,897 1 1
Contemporary Sociology 0094-3061 0,855 1 1
Journal of Immigrant and Minority Health 1557-1912 0,819 1 1
The Journal of Poverty and Social 1759-8273 0,73 1 1 Justice International Journal of Health Planning 0749-6753 0,692 1 1 and Management Scandinavian Journal of Disability 1501-7419 0,664 1 1 Research Food, Culture & Society: An 1552-8014 0,658 1 1 International Journal of Multidisciplinary Research Nordic Psychology (Online) 1904-0016 0,6 1 1
Police Practice and Research: An 1561-4263 0,597 1 1 International Journal Asian Social Work and Policy Review 1753-1403 0,595 1 1
Mortality 1357-6275 0,578 1 1
Journal of Social Service Research 0148-8376 0,552 1 1
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Human Fertility 1464-7273 0,55 1 1
Issues in Mental Health Nursing 0161-2840 0,535 1 1
Journal of Foodservice Business 1537-8020 0,392 1 1 Research Qualitative Sociology Review 1733-8077 0,388 1 1
Journal of Gambling Issues 1910-7595 0,361 1 1
Revue Internationale de Philosophie 0048-8143 0,337 1 1
Innovation Journal 1715-3816 0,286 1 1
Tidsskrift for Samfunnsforskning 0040-716X 0,096 1 1
Ugeskrift for Laeger 0041-5782 0,02 1 1
Dansk Paedagogisk Tidsskrift 0904-2393 - 1 1
Dansk Universitetspaedagogisk 1901-5089 - 1 1 Tidsskrift Unge Paedagoger 0106-5386 - 1 1
Klinisk Sygepleje 0902-2767 - 1 1
Gerontologi 1604-8644 - 1 1
Tidsskrift for Norsk Psykologforening 0332-6470 - 1 1
Specialpaedagogik 0107-0649 - 1 1
Journal of Social Work Values & Ethics 1553-6947 - 1 1
Forskning i Pædagogers Profession og 2446-2810 - 1 1 Uddannelse Metode & Forskningsdesign 2045-3083 - 1 1
Nordiske Udkast 1396-3953 - 1 1
Paideia: tidsskrift for professionel 1904-9633 - 1 1 pædagogisk praksis Kommunal ekonomi och politik 1402-8700 - 1 1
Scandinavian Journal of Forensic 1503-9552 - 1 1 Science Tidsskrift for Ungdomsforskning 1502-7759 - 1 1
Politiken 0907-1814 - - 11
Vera : tidsskrift for pædagoger 1397-4157 - - 10
Social Politik 0905-8176 - - 6
VejlederForum Magasinet 1603-9211 - - 5
Information 1602-2572 - - 3
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Tidsskrift for Dansk Sundhedsvaesen 2245-7100 - - 2 (Online) Journal of Management and Leadership 2391-6087 - - 2
Jyllands-Posten 0109-1182 - - 2
Fronesis 1404-2614 - - 2
Nordisk Politiforskning 1894-8693 - - 2
Criminal Justice Review 0734-0168 0,685 - 1
Drugs and Alcohol Today 1745-9265 0,394 - 1
Salute e Societa 1723-9427 0,113 - 1
Sundhedsplejersken 0906-9577 - - 1
UGlen 1397-291X - - 1
BestPractice 1902-7583 - - 1
Revista Eco - Pos 2175-8689 - - 1
Månedsskrift for Almen Praksis 0373-2746 - - 1
Kristeligt Dagblad 0904-6054 - - 1
Journal of Happiness and Well-Being 2147-561X - - 1
Humanities 2076-0787 - - 1
Open Journal of Preventive Medicine 2162-2477 - - 1
China Journal of Social Work 1752-5098 - - 1
Nordisk Välfärdsforskning 2464-4161 - - 1
Fontene Forskning 1890-9868 - - 1
Magasinet ressource"" 1602-4346 - - 1
Erhvervspsykologi 1602-9968 - - 1
Practicus 0109-2235 - - 1
Kommunen 0903-0077 - - 1
Nordic Journal of Health Economics 1892-9729 - - 1
Nordjyske Stiftstidende 1399-865X - - 1
Kvan - et tidsskrift for læreruddannelsen 0107-4016 - - 1 og folkeskolen Kulturo 1395-4830 - - 1
Socialraadgiveren 0108-6103 - - 1
Kritisk Forum for Praktisk Teologi 0106-6749 - - 1
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Weekendavisen 0106-4142 - - 1
Materialisten. Tidsskrift for forskning, 0801-3055 - - 1 fagkritikk og teoretisk debatt NeuroEducação Magazine 2359-4462 - - 1
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3. SOCMAP
3.1 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY AND FUTURE PLANS
Since its foundation in 2010, the research group, SocMap – Demography, Social Geography and Health (hereafter only SocMap), has changed from an embryonic research milieu to a robust research group with a considerable portfolio of externally funded research projects. One of them, the Horizon 2020 project COHSMO – Inequality, urbanisation and territorial cohesion (www.cohsmo.aau.dk), is categorised as excellent research.
This accelerated process has been facilitated by, among other things, external collaboration with international and national colleagues and research groups outside Aalborg University. Publishing and dissemination activities have been increasing and are characterised by journal articles as well as book chapters and anthologies. These activities are conducted individually and in collaboration, in English as well as in Danish.
Internally, SocMap has developed an organisation marked by intense collaboration on research applications, writing projects and articles, as well as on teaching activities. The group has regular lunch meetings every Thursday and once a month longer meetings with presentations from internal or external members. Once a year the group arrange a one-day seminar with presentations from internal or external members.
Thematically, the group focuses on the way location and local communities – be it in urban or rural social surroundings – matters and how locations are affected by and influence inequality related to health, education, income, etc. Demography, mapping methods and machine learning are central tools and perspectives. Lately, issues concerning migration and climate change have come increasingly into focus as local engagement and communities are central to social cohesion and climate adaptions, which must adjust to local physical and social variations. Members of the group has just received at research grant (project II) from the Independent Research Fund Denmark that is focused on we answering whether “ghettos” are a problem for integration of migrants in Denmark?
Flows, consequences and the impact of policies (GHET-IN). Members of the group have very recently submitted an application for the Innovation Fund Denmark with the title Micro-area model of Environmental and Social Resilience. Among the UN sustainable development goals, SocMap activities and themes specifically address goal 11 concerning sustainable cities and communities, goal 10 concerning reduced inequalities, goal 4 concerning quality education, goal 13 concerning climate action, and goal 17 concerning partnerships across public, private and community sectors.
3.2 RESEARCH PROFILE AND STRATEGY
SocMap conducts empirical research with the aim of challenging and rearticulating prevailing theories, primarily in the fields of urban sociology/social geography/social stratification using qualitative, quantitative and mixed methods combined with maps. SocMap can be described as a growing research environment that actively addresses national and international socio- spatial issues where categories such as space, place, city, home and mobility play decisive roles. We analyse questions related to local communities/local affiliation, demographic change
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(including migration) and socioeconomic inequality (including health and education). The research unit also focuses on how specific locations or institutions can mediate, i.e., compensate or worsen various types of socially contingent problems. Within this overall research agenda, each group member works according to personal areas of expertise and interests.
SocMap combines elements of individual disciplines with linked approaches such as social geography, socio-demography, urban sociology, sociology of migration, geo-demography, health sociology, educational sociology, mobility studies and health demography. In terms of methodology, the research group combines different research approaches including qualitative fieldwork, mapping methods (GIS), machine learning methods and econometric analysis using surveys and registry data at individual level. A crucial strength of SocMap is the highly differentiated methods and particularly the lessons learnt from combining these in empirical studies.
SocMap was established in 2010 and is therefore a relatively young research group. Its research agenda and strategy are largely formed by its current members – founders and newcomers – based on a shared interest in the socio-spatial aspects of Sociology and challenges in contemporary society. Initially, the research group had various external funding from the Independent Research Fund Denmark, and the research conducted using these funds has paved the way for numerous activities in the history of SocMap, in terms of themes explored, theories developed, methods applied, work published and applications granted for new research projects, e.g., COHSMO, a Horizon2020 project running 2017-2021. As part of the strategy, the research group continues to apply for funding in areas relevant to socio- spatial issues.
AGENDA AND RESEARCH TOPICS The group has a common aim to analyse territorial or spatial issues. More specifically, we analyse issues concerning (local) communities, demographic change and socioeconomic inequality. Each group member works with his/her specific areas of expertise and topical interests in an overarching framework relating to socio-spatial changes and territorial relationships. SocMap also focuses on how location can mediate, i.e., compensate or worsen various types of socially contingent problems. Add to this studies of mobility with a focus on how social strategies and practices can work as modifiers of the time burden of collective mobility, studies of place and how different places are produced by the social practices taking place there, as well as of automated redistricting and the utilisation of big data to investigate social phenomena, in particular how different types of data (e.g., register data, satellite imagery, non-structured data) can refine our measures and understandings of social inequality, educational inequality and segregation in a geographical framework.
Finally, studies of family formations over the life course and especially how they relate to themes such as local community work, capacity development, community resilience, belonging and the strategic mobilisation of territorial capacity, urban policy strategies, as well as on strategies for social integration in and through local communities and places can be added to the list of activities in SocMap.
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STRATEGY FOR METHODS AND THEORY DEVELOPMENT As stated above, researchers at SocMap use a variety of approaches ranging from qualitative, quantitative and mixed methods to rearticulate prevailing theories. The researchers’ methodological competences and their diverse research backgrounds are a core strength and support the overall strategy. SocMap has members with expertise in qualitative methods, e.g., fieldwork, interviewing, and ethnographic methods, as well as advanced quantitative econometric analysis, machine learning methods and GIS techniques. The development of a micro-area-mapping model (E-BARD) that works with flexible boundaries and units that are defined by variables (instead of pre-given administrative units) developed by Lund (2019) constitute one of the cornerstones of the current methodological perspective.
As multiple methodological competences are available in the research group, we have unique opportunities to conduct mixed methods research. In one project (see section on external funding), the research group intends to further exploit the advantages of the unique Danish register data especially in combination with surveys and qualitative interviews. The mixed method approach is a crucial strength of SocMap thus comprises the highly differentiated methods applied in the different projects conducted and initiated by the group.
Furthermore, the research group is actively exploring the use of mapping, machine learning and image recognition in combination with Nordic register data in an effort to develop methodologies that transcend the quantitative/ qualitative divide and to include data material from many different sources and of many different types. This agenda is being pursued in collaboration with Linköping University (see section on external funding).
STRATEGY FOR INTERNAL AND EXTERNAL COLLABORATION SocMap, as an organisational entity, is a vital platform where our academic, theoretical, empirical and methodological expertise is shared, maintained and developed through joint analyses and writing projects, research applications, presentation of articles, discussions, participation in conferences and international networks. Therefore, regular meetings, joint research applications and co-authoring are important for SocMap.
The research group puts an effort into cooperating with other research environments in Denmark and abroad. Members of SocMap regularly attend conferences (national and international), meetings and other cooperative ventures. Additionally, SocMap hosts researchers from abroad who visit and discuss their work, just as its members have engaged in international research stays. Consequently, the research group has a wide-ranging, active network, which continuously strengthens and develops the group academically. Concretely, this strong network has resulted in SocMap joining in a number of different cooperation projects with national and international partners (e.g., Danish Building Research Institute (SBi), Center for Regional Disparity, Centre for Comparative Welfare Studies (CCWS) and Centre for Mobilities and Urban Studies (C-MUS) at Aalborg University, Space, Place, Mobility and Urban Studies (MOSPUS) at Roskilde University, VIVE – The Danish Center for Social Science Research, the Danish Center for Rural Research at University of Southern Denmark, Danish School of Education DPU and Ministry of Education).
International partners include, e.g., Urban and Regional Studies Institute at the Faculty of Spatial Sciences, University of Groningen, Institute for Analytical Sociology at Linköping University, Department of Sociology at Harvard University, Department of Sociology and Human Geography, University of Oslo, Department of Sociology at University of Vienna,
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Department of Geography, Harokopio University Athens, Department of Architecture and Urban Studies, Polytechnic Institute Milan, Social Research Center, Vuytautas Magnus University Kaunas, Department of Local Development and Policy, University of Warsaw, Department of Geography and Environment, University of Bristol, Centre for Mobilities Research (CEMORE) at Lancaster University, Nordic Network of Community Work and Society for the Study of Social Problems, Luxembourg Institute of Socio-Economic Research (LISER), Department of Economics, York University (Canada), The Ragnar Frisch Centre for Economic Research (Oslo).
3.3 RESEARCH GROUP ORGANISATION, COMPOSITION AND FINANCING
SocMap is led by Professor Anja Jørgensen and current comprises Associate Professor Mia Arp Fallov, Associate Professor Anette Quinto Romani, Associate Professor Lene Tølbøll, Associate Professor Hanne Louise Jensen, Assistant Professor Anna Diop-Christensen, Assistant Professor Rolf Lyneborg Lund, Professor Emerita Lisbeth B. Knudsen, and some loosely affiliated employees, Professor Emeritus Ole Riis, and Postdoc Rasmus Hoffmann Birk. The group was established in 2010 by Anja Jørgensen and Lisbeth B. Knudsen. A changing constellation of PhD students at SocMap is the main explanation for the variations in staff over the years (see Figure 3.A). The group consists, at the end of the reporting period, of relatively many associate professors and there is a focus on attracting junior researchers in the coming years.
Figure 3.A. Staff development 2013-2017 12
10
8
6
4 number of staff
2
0 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017
Research Staff as of 31 December 2017
Associate Professor: Anja Jørgensen Hanne Louise Jensen Lene Tølbøll Mia Arp Fallov Annette Quinto Romani Claus D. Hansen
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PhD Student: Rolf Lyneborg Lund
Professor Emeritus/Emerita: Lisbeth B. Knudsen Ole Riis
Associated members: Rasmus Hoffmann Birk (Social Problems and the Governance of Social Work as main affiliation)
The research group is also a natural link to other levels of the university organisation such as department councils, department management, academic councils, faculty management, etc.
3.4 RESEARCH GROUP ACTIVITIES AND OUTPUT
The research group, as an organisational entity, is the most central entity of the academic work. This is where expertise is created and maintained. The research group is also a forum for mentoring, feedback and socialisation in terms of training young and/or new colleagues as part of teaching positions and other aspects of academic life at the university. Therefore, it is important for the research group have regular meetings – formal and informal alike – and to initiate and support joint academic activities and academic–social integration. SocMap deems it crucial to include young scientists in applications, the writing of articles and in meetings with prospective partners inside and outside the university. This is important because these elements of university life need to be learned as early as possible, and because ensuring that members of a research group feel included in a collegial workplace is important to well-being, job satisfaction and the generation of new ideas.
SocMap holds weekly Thursday meetings where ongoing issues and information are shared. Once a month, a lengthier meeting with an academic agenda is held. Every six months, an academic all-day seminar is organised. At these forums, guest lecturers are occasionally invited to speak on specific research themes and/or methodologies.
PUBLICATIONS Regular meetings, seminars and other academic events are designed to ensure ongoing lively discussion and a space for the development of new ideas for future research. In addition, presentation of papers and articles at the group’s regular meetings helps ensure high academic quality and methodological refinement of publications through peer review.
The total number of publications and associated BFI-points (see Figure 3.B) reflect the composition of the group in terms of seniority and the age of the research group as such. The publication list of the group consists of individual and collective publications by members of the group. There is some variation over the years. In 2014, members of SocMap published a joint anthology. From 2016 to 2017, BFI-points increase significantly from 5.59 to 15.33.
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Figure 3.B. BFI points 2013-2017 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 Total 1 and 2
Level 1 Level 2
The members’ joint publications consist of articles for international journals and anthologies (e.g., “Mapping-metoder” (mapping methods) by Jørgensen & Jensen, ed., 2014). The group will continue to work on joint publications and plans to publish a joint research anthology within the next years. SocMap members also rely on an external network through which they will publish articles in journals and provide input to high-quality research anthologies. SocMap prioritises academic research of continuously high quality and will work to increase the number of collective publications with authors from the research networks and externally funded projects the group members are part of in the coming years.
The publications are both in Danish and English (see Figure 3.C), and there is a tendency towards an increasing share in English at the end of the period (this also extends into 2018- 2019). This reflects more publications in international journals. Publications in top international journals will also be the focus for the coming years; publications on methodological and theoretical developments, empirical research and combinations of theoretical and empirical elements from individual disciplines to multimethod approaches. Despite the aforementioned increase in English publications, SocMap will continue to write to a Danish audience because of the group’s application-oriented research focus. The topics have a high degree of social relevance, and this will also be apparent in future publications as the group aims to communicate research results to a wider public and partners outside academia.
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Figure 3.C. Publications by language 40 35 30 25 English 20 Danish 15 Other Total 10 5 0 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017
RESEARCH TRAINING A significant aspect of efforts to ensure rewarding professional careers for young researchers at the department involves creating an environment where regular lunch meetings make it possible for members to feel an affinity with the group and with each other. In such an environment, it will be possible for young researchers to learn how to present their research and continuously receive constructive criticism from other group members, which ensures high-quality academic development.
Another key element concerning young researchers is career planning. At SocMap, we consider it important for senior researchers to frequently discuss young researchers’ future careers and actively take part in planning them. This happens in several ways. A key method practiced up to now has been to include young researchers in applications for external grants, which can ensure their continued employment. This is done through collective projects etc. in which several research group members participate or by applying for funding specifically linked to the individual young researchers’ areas of academic interest. In this context, the group is keenly focused on ensuring the quality of the applications submitted, for instance by discussing applications with senior members with the most experience of drafting applications.
In the short history of SocMap, five members have completed their PhD thesis. During the reporting period, two new PhD students were enrolled and one graduated (see Figure 3.D below).
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Figure 3.D. PhD enrolment and graduation 2013-2017 2
1 New enrolment Graduated
0 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017
EXTERNAL FUNDING Despite its young age, the group has scientifically consolidated itself with sound academic breadth within the main topics and, by virtue of its Horizon 2020 grant, it has experienced a sharp increase in scientific volume. Issues of socio-spatial differences are highly topical in a policy context of European regions and Denmark as a nation state. Therefore, members of SocMap apply for research funding in both international and national contexts. We have just submitted an application to acquire strategic funding via Innovation Fund Denmark Call on Grand Solutions with the title Micro-area model of Environmental and Social Resilience Acronym: MIMER (23 million DKK). We just received a grant from the Independent Research Fund Denmark for the project “Are ‘ghettos’ a problem for integration of migrants in Denmark? Flows, consequences and the impact of policies (GHET-IN)” (5.8 million DKK). SocMap’s methodological approach is key to many pressing social challenges, making it essential to ensure that research results and the COHSMO network provides spill-over effects in the form of new applications.
Naturally, we are continuously applying for research grants. Foundations vary greatly in terms of how they cooperate with research institutions, and we are involved in various cooperation projects that we wish to develop. This applies to locally and nationally based foundations, foundations with a more international outlook, foundations with focus on specific issues, and foundations interested in basic research. Members of the group persistently and actively participate in university courses on drafting applications.
Specific grants and applications Over the years, SocMap has received external grants from various sources, including EU’s Horizon 2020 Programme for Research and innovation, “EUROPE IN A CHANGING WORLD/REV-INEQUAL-07-2016, ERC (European Research Council) Advanced Grant, The Independent Research Fund Denmark, The Obel Family Foundation, TrygFonden, The Spar- Nord Foundation, The Danish Working Environment Research Fund, The Real Dania Foundation, Danish Health Authority, and NordForsk. Most grants were given to open researcher-initiated research; others were linked to specifically assigned tasks for which tenders were invited.
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Figure 3.E provides an overview of external funding received in the period. The Project COHSMO – Inequality, urbanisation and territorial cohesion: Developing the European social model of economic growth and democratic capacity was granted in 2017 and has a total budget of 29 mill DKK. The project is scheduled to run until 2021.
Figure 3.E. New grants and sources 2013 - 2017 4.000.000 DKK 3.500.000 DKK 3.000.000 DKK Nordic funds 2.500.000 DKK Internal funding 2.000.000 DKK EU funds 1.500.000 DKK Other government funds 1.000.000 DKK Private funds 500.000 DKK Danish research councils - DKK 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017
Prior to 2013, but with funding that extends into the reporting period, SocMap members received close to 10 mill DKK in external funding from The Danish Council for Independent Research, Kommunernes Landsforening & Municipality of Morsoe, The Municipality of Aarhus and the Real Dania Foundation, The Obel Family Foundation, and Spar-Nord Foundation. At present, SocMap members are involved in a number of research proposals:
SocMap wishes to prioritise research on the correlation between local communities and local climate-adaptation solutions. In 2017, SocMap began cooperating with Aarhus Forsyning, Aarhus Vand, Haderslev Municipality, Provas Holding A/S, Odense Municipality and Vandcenter Syd, as well as consulting engineer firm EnviDan concerning an application targeting Innovation Fund Denmark’s grand solutions commitment. This cooperation has developed into a consortium that has developed the MIMER-project, which is led by members of SocMap. For the time being, the consortium is searching for funding of MIMER. Climate adaptions must adjust to local physical and social variations, and forms of engagement. The novel MIMER model offers planners methods to address such variations and reduce unnecessary costs. No other climate adaption method combines machine learning with the distinct variation and depth in data like the MIMER model. The method benefits stakeholders in climate adaption, local communities in adaption areas and society at large. The project results are disseminated through a national climate attitude map, ultimately available through a public platform, a policy and planning handbook, and are implemented through stakeholder networks, teaching activities, and networks.
SocMap will also prioritise efforts involving the interrelationship between territorial inequality, education, health and locality. In light of persistent urbanisation, it is increasingly urgent to study its impact on overall public health – both in densely and sparsely populated areas. There has long been a movement in health research towards studying physical, mental and social well-being in small geographic entities. A wide range of options already exist for exploring the interrelationship between areas characteristics, poverty/deprivation and public
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health in the SocioDemographic Database at the Department of Sociology and Social Work, which contains individual-level register data on the Danish population and covers more than 35 years. By allowing our knowledge on meaningful, variable-based classifications of localities to interact with health-related thematics, we aim to improve the understanding of geographical variations in health. This can inform our understanding of how we can address health issues in the future, taking into account territorialities. SocMap has submitted a research application based on this topic to the Independent Research Fund Denmark.
A final specific research agenda where SocMap wishes to be active is challenges related to the increasing migration, which is inadequately discussed in a Danish context. In Denmark, the share of immigrants and their descendants has been increasing for years, and many settle in housing districts around major cities, often referred to as ghettos in the Danish debate. This raises concerns, but we lack knowledge about the consequences (both positive and negative) of living in close proximity to fellow migrants. In 2019, SocMap received a grant from the Independent Research Fund Denmark for the GHET-IN project (5.8 million DKK.) and is involved in a large international project funded by the Swedish Vetenskapsrådet (13.2 million SEK).
In the future, it is a key target for SocMap to continuously obtain strategic research grants at national and international level, insofar as these are within the group’s range of expertise and research interests. It is worth mentioning our possibilities of conducting continuous analyses based on already collected data in research projects, which are formally completed vis-à-vis the commissioning party. This applies to, for instance, projects supported by the Independent Research Fund Denmark such as “Belonging”, “Family histories and establishing of daily life after fertility treatment” and “Structural Factors in Relation to Youth Behaviour, Lifestyle, and Health”. This gives the group access to data in quite a number of areas at limited costs. It is particularly worth mentioning SocMap members’ engagement in and access to The Socio- Demographic Database at Department of Sociology and Social Work containing rich and individual-based registry data on the entire population in Denmark. This database offers unique opportunities for conducting research and publishing as it has been underexplored within the fields of SocMap’s research areas and in sociology in general.
THIRD MISSION ACTIVITIES SocMap members are active participants in media debates and comment on relevant themes, both as invited experts and in feature articles. Members of SocMap participate as lecturers and keynote speakers at conferences in Denmark and abroad, where they communicate the group’s research. In addition, results are disseminated through Danish-language articles, daily newspapers, etc., and to more specific partners in municipalities, regions and research foundations.
Networks SocMap is involved in different cooperation projects with partners in national and international research environments. A key SocMap partner is Danish Building Research Institute (SBi), with which the group cooperates as part of the COHSMO project and the Master’s programme in City, Housing and Settlement Patterns (BBB). In addition, the cooperation with SBi also focuses on launching a series of externally funded projects.
SocMap wants to focus on other partners in (e.g., the Clinical Research Department concerning health interventions surveys and Centre for Comparative Welfare Studies on topics
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related to migration) and outside the framework of Aalborg University (particularly the University of Copenhagen – Geography, Sociology and the Nordic Research Centre, and MOSPUS at Roskilde University insofar as cities’ internal social development is concerned – and VIVE and the Danish Centre for Rural Research at the University of Southern Denmark, DPU and the Ministry of Education relating to settlement patterns and demography outside major cities).
In addition, the group seeks to cultivate interdisciplinary cooperation at the university. SocMap cooperates with the Centre for Regional Disparity – REDY (Professor Jørgen Goul Andersen), Department of Political Science, with employees in the Centre of Mobilities & Urban Studies (C-MUS) environment, as well as with employees in and around the public health environment.
Naturally, external networks (such as the national teams in COHSMO) are involved as partners where this is deemed to enhance the quality and achievements of the groups’ research. A focal point of the group’s external network which holds potential for future collaboration is the Danish and Nordic Demographic Associations, just as members continuously cultivate their international relationships within relevant academic areas. Furthermore, SocMap will work on establishing relations to experts within other fields of research that could benefit research, give expert assistance in projects, and infuse the group’s work with special expertise, e.g., on bio-statistical analyses and other statistical methods that are beyond the group’s field of expertise.
3.5 RESEARCH AND TEACHING COHERENCE All permanent members of SocMap are lecturers in the bachelor and Master’s programme in Sociology, the Masters programme in Social Work, in the Master’s programme City, Dwelling and Settlement, as well as in the Master’s programme in Criminology, in addition to teaching in other departments such as Public Health, Political Science and Learning. SocMap members are primary lecturers in and coordinate sociological courses, including Education, Demography, Quantitative Methodology, Advanced Quantitative Methods, Qualitative Methods, and Sundhed, Rum og Sted (Health, Space and Place). SocMap’s researchers are also involved in the courses: “Environment- and climate sociology” and “Sociology of Space”. Both courses are developed with our specific research aim in mind to explore the concepts of socio- geographic development, spatial belonging and spatial sociology.
Several SocMap members are lecturers in and assist with coordination of the Master’s programme, City, Housing and Settlement Patterns (BBB), established at the department by Anja Jørgensen and Hans Thor Andersen in 2013 and now organisationally based at the Danish Building Research Institute. Teaching here particularly involves the themes demography, local and spatial sociology, social differentiation in cities and teaching in the combination of GIS and various types of social data.
Of the recent advances in the field, especially digital methods and computational aspects of spatial concepts are developing fast. It would be beneficial for students and for research in general to focus more on implementing this in educational settings, and SocMap members have the competences to do so in the future.
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By developing not only courses, specialisations and modules, but also full Master’s courses that are inherent in sociology of space, we deliver high-quality research-based teaching and supervision that combine our current research – methodological, theoretical and practical – in the courses. Via close connections between research and educational activities, we achieve a synergy with a very structured teaching environment and a constantly changing syllabus with the flows of the overall field.
3.6 SOCIETAL IMPACT SocMap’s research affects society in different ways, on different societal levels and at different scales. The special place-based research themes often generate immediate interest from government actors, civil society and local business actors. This is one reason members from SocMap often are interviewed to local and national newspapers, TV and radio. The way the SocMap analyses emplace inequality, difference, power, interaction, communities, health, education and other sociological themes and issues seems to have immediate appeal in the surrounding world.
SocMap produces societal impact in other ways and at other levels. Through research projects that move research fields forward, the research group contributes to elaborations, refinements and innovations within relevant fields of academic research; primarily when it comes to the interrelation between social inequality and territorial cohesion. Through management and participation in the COHSMO project, SocMap contributes to our understanding of socio- geographically inequality as a matter of socio-economic inequality and as a matter of social relatedness to place/belonging. Social relatedness to place varies with regard to family, kinship, friendships, neighbourhoods, associations, etc., a collective layer of social affiliation to society that is often overlooked but are very important drivers in territorial inequality. The research results are communicated directly to the EU-Commission via the deliveries from each work package and through quarterly policy briefs. Likewise, research results from COHSMO are disseminated and communicated via the project’s SoMe and the project homepage.
SocMap has developed a methodological tool to handle the different dimensions of social bonds that combine GIS data with registered data, survey and qualitative data.
In addition to the above-mentioned impact and influence on urban sociology and social geography, these effects are very important for the development of geodemography, health research, education as well as environmental and climate issues the group is engaged in. In relation to social work practice, SocMap’s research projects on local social integration of vulnerable citizens have resulted in invitations to keynote presentations at conferences for social work practitioners.
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PANEL EVALUATION SOCMAP
Observations SocMap – Demography, Social Geography and Health – was founded in 2010. In 2017, 10 members were listed (six associate professors, one PhD student, two professor emeritus/emerita, and one associate member). Since then the group has expanded, and today there are twelve members (2020). The group has regular lunch meetings every week, and once a month a longer meeting. These meetings are mainly used to discuss ideas, comment on research applications and articles. Every year, the group holds a one-day seminar, which is open for external members. The group’s research focuses on how location matters in social and sociological analysis/the importance of place in sociology and social analysis, i.e., local communities, place-based communities, territorial inequality, territorial cohesion, mobility, local social integration, migration. In addition, questions on demography, migration, inequality, and climate change are important. The research interests are primarily in the field of urban sociology, social integration, socio-spatial aspects of sociology, and social stratification. The research team represents a broad range of social science expertise from sociology, economics, demography, and data analytics. Although the group is clearly interested in applied social policy analysis and responses, there did not appear to be any social work academics in this group, unlike in the other research groups.
The researchers use a number of different methods: qualitative, quantitative, mixed methods and mapping methods. Methodological questions and the use of big data are important ingredients in the group’s collaborative work. SocMap cooperates extensively with other research environments in Denmark and in other countries, and participates in cooperating projects with, for example, the Danish Building Research Institute and the Centre for Mobilities and Urban Studies.
SocMap lists a large number of international partners. In general, there are many active and ongoing international collaborations, not least through the European project (COSHMO). Publications are both in Danish and English. Towards the end of the period (2017), there is a tendency towards more publications in English. Writing in Danish is also a part of a strategy to communicate with groups outside academia. The BFI points vary considerably over the period, with a peak in 2014 (coincides with the publication of a joint anthology). During the reporting period, two new PhD students were enrolled, and one graduated. There is currently one PhD student in the group.
During the reporting period, which was the establishment phase, new funding has been quite low, except in 2017 when the research group received massive funding for a European project (COHSMO), which is scheduled to run until 2021. This project also has a heavy emphasis on policy design and on contributing to policy and strategy decisions and processes in a European perspective. SocMap members are well represented in the media and as experts in different forums. The research group contributes to elaborations and innovations in the field of social inequality and territorial cohesion, not least through the development of new methodological tools to handle complex big data. All permanent members of SocMap teach in the BA and MA in sociology, and several members teach in the Master’s programme in City, Housing and Settlement Patterns (BBB).
Recommendations
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SocMap has a clear and well-defined area of expertise and research. The research interests are in the field of urban sociology, socio-spatial questions, social stratification and big data. The profile is very elaborate and tied into a deep interest in methodological innovations. There is potential for SocMap to partner with other research groups within the Department to contribute a multi-level analysis of practice and policy questions of concern across these groups.
Funding was quite low during the evaluation period, but this changed in 2017 when SocMap received a huge Horizon 2020 grant. The group has put a lot of effort into developing research applications, and this has been richly awarded. There are now at least three large ongoing projects, and the group has submitted several new applications. Cooperation with external partners has resulted in a high success rate.
A main observation from evaluation panel is that SocMap seems to put great effort into developing research applications, whereas there is a certain lack of publication strategies. The BFI points vary considerably during the evaluation period. The evaluation panel suggests that the research group develop more clear plans for publications, not least in level 1 and 2 journals. A more developed home page and dissemination strategies will make SocMap more visible for the international community. The impression is that this is a dynamic and successful research group with a clear strategy for funding and international co-operation.
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APPENDIX 3.1: IMPACT CASE – COHSMO
Inequality, Urbanization and Territorial Cohesion: Developing the European Social Model of economic growth and democratic capacity.
Cohesion in the local context: reconciling the territorial, economic and social dimensions.
COHSMO puts emphasis on how place in contemporary society divides, separates and is a basis for social integration. This issue proposal attempts to uncover the relation between socio-economic structures of inequality, urbanisation and territorial cohesion, and how territorial cohesion on different European scales affects economic growth, spatial justice and democratic capacities. Before the 2008 Green Paper on Territorial Cohesion and the so-called Barca Report, European regional and urban policies were mostly characterised by treating individuals, people and communities as not playing a significant role in allocation of resources and the success or failure of such policy endeavours. In this sense, EU policy has tended to treat spaces as almost undifferentiated in terms of the communities that inhabit them. COHSMO case studies focus on how location matters in the relation between policies aimed at promoting economic growth and social well-being and the context of local territorial cohesion. It is based on the hypothesis that local conditions such as territorial cohesion, in the project broken down to the elements of patterns of collective efficacy, governance and the capacity of the community sector to engage are often neglected conditions that affect the way policy programmes are able to alleviate inequalities, generate economic growth and social well- being.
Target audience Type of impact Research Communities Journal articles, conference presentation, writing of anthologies and monographs Policy-makers Participation in public debates, policy-briefs related to the COHSMO-Project Public stakeholders Territorially informed analyses published in Providers of Social Services newspapers and in journals targeted at policy-makers Local and regional governments and public administration. Analyses that can serve as input to policies that are aware of territorial variations and the mechanisms that create, maintain and change these dynamics. Developers, investors and Participation in workshops, sector skills councils and organisations with a stake in local committees that are focused on settlement, territorial development regeneration, inequality related to real-estate market etc.
The impact of the present project can be summarised under the following headings: supporting European Union policy goals related to growth and territorial-strategy development; integrating
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social and investment policies; ensuring fundamental service provision in times of austerity, and enhancing the democratic legitimacy of the European Union at local level: – Increasing territorial policy efficiency at local governmental and regional level – Increasing social mobility in territories of de-growth and poverty – Increasing citizens’ quality of life – Increasing collaborative market efficiency across societal sectors
As the figure below illustrates, COHSMO achieves this overall impact by (1) analysing local governmental and regional problem-solving policies that aim to use territorial cohesion as a platform for generating sustainable economic growth and social-service investments, while (2) taking into account the role of existing EU cohesion policies and instruments for enabling such policies; on this basis, (3) integrated policy solutions are recommended; solutions and recommendations that are (4) fine-tuned to the knowledge demands of local, national and EU- level networks. The specific impacts of such recommendations are to, in accordance with the work programme: – identify sustainable growth policies promoting spatial justice and socio-economic citizen well-being (policy efficiency) – contribute to conceptualising the European Social Model (social mobility) – ensure the provision of public services in times of austerity (quality of life) – ensure democratic adaptability in the context of adaptation and change (p. 44, Work Programme) (involving in a collaborative fashion strategic partners, e.g., citizens, businesses in territorial governance)
These impacts are further elaborated in the table below.
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Figure. Illustration of COHSMO's Impact: COHSMO’s contribution to the expected impact as set out in the work programme
Table: Expected impacts in the work programme call and how they are addressed in COHSMO
Expected impacts as set out in COHSMO impact contribution REV-INEQUAL-07-2016 Conceptually and empirically COHSMO includes 21 case studies, analysed on the enhance the knowledge base on basis of a thorough empirical and conceptual literature spatial justice and territorial study (WP2+3). These conceptual and empirical studies inequalities all deal narrowly and dedicatedly with one of the most delicate and challenging dilemmas that polity, academia and public governance have ever faced in relation to territorial strategies and inequality: how to employ a policy-mix of endogenous and exogenous place-based tools, displaying process capacities of consistency, international inspiration and reflexivity, while retaining policy efficiency, policy integration, policy legitimacy and policy implementation. On the basis of such studies, the developed guidelines will contain a number of comprehensive policy recommendations that conceptually and empirically unveil the full range of complexities and dilemmas vis-à-
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vis middle-range solutions decision-makers may experience and can deploy. Identify policies promoting The general output of COHSMO is communicated, spatial justice and socio- demand-led policy and governance guidelines, as well as economic well-being at various a handbook that demonstrates the elements policies, levels of governance (incl. local strategy-development processes and governance at organisations and stakeholders) various levels should contain in order to maximise the chances of achieving spatial justice and citizen well- being. Reappraise existing cohesion EU policies and instruments will be assessed in terms of policies and instruments their abilities to facilitate and inspire comprehensive, cohesion-enabling policies at local level: What distorts EU policies and tools? What capacities should governance at various levels have in order utilise such instruments to their fullest? Reappraise the essential role of Analyses will address the extent to which local and public services and make regional governance deploys a ‘social investment recommendations for their approach’, demonstrating integrative policy qualities continuation under conditions of across typically sector-divided policies related to social uncertainty issues and investments. Conceptualise the European The social-investment analysis (wp5) will empirically Social Model inform a review of existing understandings of the European Social Model, arguing on the basis of project studies that the European Social Model can be enhanced by more closely linking social and investment policies, using territorial-cohesion strategies as a location- sensitive, mediating policy platform, useful for creating collaborative support. Assessments will be made to determine whether pre- conditions exist to implement the social-investment approach and eventually to create a favourable milieu for this. Furthermore, this research will improve understanding of the capacity of social investment programmes to re-connect social-equality goals, including territorial equality, with positive economic functions. Propose solutions for a more On the basis of the above knowledge, research will cohesive European territory assess whether European cohesion policies (and related policy tools) are able to take into account local- contextual conditions. This assessment generates institutional recommendations for policy recommendations. These recommendations can potentially lead to a more balanced European territory and a more integrated European Social Model, combining policies related to territory, growth and social policies. Practice-relevant models will be generated on the basis of a handbook on how to generate territorial cohesion. Improve the knowledge base on COHSMO focuses on nested case-analyses and examines the relation between regional how higher-level governance structures affect local policy and political claims attempts to generate territorial cohesion and alleged
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regarding regional autonomy efficiency. Policy recommendations for regions are and decentralisation provided, taking into account whether existing EU or national policy-frameworks hamper regional possibilities to develop territorial-efficient policies.
Substantial impacts not mentioned in the work programme COHSMO generates knowledge on policy design at various governance levels for generating territorial cohesion, as well as knowledge on policy and strategy processes. This implies that one of the outputs of the project is to communicate integrated policy solutions that highlight static as well as dynamic design qualities, such as decision-maker choices and required relations between stakeholders in order to generate collaborative commitment to territorial strategies and policies at the executive level.
COHSMO applies a unique research design that combines the perspectives of strategic stakeholders with citizens’/citizen-networks’ perceptions of identity and sense of belonging, and on this basis provides detailed recommendations for how to make citizens’ participation in local democracy strategic. This, in turn will enhance the chances that integrative policies aiming at territorial qualities, growth-enabling qualities and social-investments will sustain their democratic legitimacy. Democratic legitimacy is vital if policies are to have enduring impact.
COHSMO emphasises the crucial role of agency: although the main research unit is policies, in accordance with the work programme, how their development came about is important knowledge, as policies may be inspired by the entrepreneurial leadership demonstrated by market or civil-society actors. Being receptive as a public agency to the self-organising initiatives of market and civil-society actors is crucial for maintaining flexibility and innovative capacity to act. Accordingly, COHSMO deliverables will pay keen attention to who inspired policy development and what enabled such entrepreneurial activity to affect public-authority discourse.
Finally, by working across typical divisions in practice and research (governance vs. citizen perceptions; social vs. financial; territorial vs. comprehensive; static perceptions of policy vs. dynamic process perspectives), COHSMO will produce knowledge and new research concepts that are able to coin such complex and dilemma-ridden territorial realities faced by public authorities and politicians.
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4. CASTOR
4.1 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY AND FUTURE PLANS
CASTOR engages in sociological and criminological research on changes in social differentiations, communities and social control, changes closely related to processes of inclusion and exclusion in society. The research focuses on intersections between class, gender, ethnicity and age related to topics such as civic engagement; crime and consequences of sentencing; lifestyle and identities; work-life balance; citizenship and political identities; migration and globalisation. CASTOR scholars draw on a broad set of quantitative and qualitative methods, and studies are often based on mixed methods designs. CASTOR emphasises research combining theoretical knowledge with empirical research, and consequently contributes to empirical as well as conceptual understandings of the processes of social differentiation in contemporary society.
At the end of the evaluation period, CASTOR includes 20 members of which six are PhD students. Supporting and training the PhD students is one of the most important tasks for the research group. Over the five years covered by the evaluation, seven PhD students have obtained their degree. During the same period, the number of publications from the group has increased significantly. In the last part of the period, there has been a sharp increase in the share of publications at level two in the BFI classification. Furthermore, the research groups has attracted a consistently high number of research grants.
It is CASTOR’s ambition to continue as a significant national and international sociological and criminological research unit with a high degree of scientific quality, creativity, and societal relevance. We will continue to focus on internationalisation in terms of publications, networks, recruitment, projects and partners. This includes an effort to achieve more publications in high-ranking international outlets, in core sociological and criminological journals and books, as well as in other fields of relevance for CASTOR research. We have also developed a targeted strategy for social impact, including systematic discussions of social impact initiatives in relation to various projects.
CASTOR will keep its focus on supporting PhD students and junior researchers. A key part of this is training and support at research group meetings and seminars where we will continue to invite papers for presentation, critique, and discussions in a friendly and constructive atmosphere. At the same time, we will strengthen our effort to integrate PhD students and junior researchers in international networks and to open opportunities for longer stays abroad. We find it important to emphasise that these goals and ambitions involve dilemmas. Over several years, there has been a strong increase in the teaching and administration workload of Danish university academics, and simultaneously demands on securing research grants and high-level publications have risen and led to stronger competition and more competitive work environments. These conditions are mainly results of national policies and decisions at faculty or university level. However, we want to emphasise that at the department level and in the daily work of the research groups, it is crucial to pay attention to problems related to work environment, stress, and family-work balance.
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4.2 RESEARCH PROFILE AND STRATEGY
CASTOR was initially named “Sociological Laboratory” and was established by Professor Jens Tonboe in 1998 as a research forum intended to complement the BS and MS program in Sociology, which admitted the first students in 1997. In its first years, the group functioned as an open forum for individual researchers who presented and discussed their research and draft work. In 2004, the name was changed to CASTOR, and the “COMPAS” project headed by Annick Prieur received the first major collective research grant from the Danish Research Council. This project defined a thematic core, contemporary forms of social differentiation, and it defined a mode of cooperation between senior and junior researchers within a common research project, both of which became important. After COMPAS followed three large collective projects, “Belonging” (2008, headed by Anja Jørgensen and Lisbeth B. Knudsen), “The social differentiation and production of trust” (2008, headed by Lars Skov Henriksen), and “INTERLOC – Intersectionality and Local Citizenship” (2008, headed by Ann-Dorte Christensen), all funded by the Danish Research Council. Around 2010, CASTOR had grown substantially in size and research interests had become more specialised and diverse. Two new research groups (SocMap and SAGA) were formed, and CASTOR continued in its present form, focusing on social differentiation and new forms of inequality.
CASTOR members have had a major responsibility for the development and subsequent running of the MS program in Criminology that opened in 2013. Since then, CASTOR has covered both sociological and criminological research. The two research areas go well together, as the issue of social differences and inequalities as well as their consequences for people's inclusion and exclusion in society is still at the centre of CASTOR’s empirical and theoretical work. Although the Danish society is one of the most equal in the world, with an egalitarian welfare state model that enjoys support from the majority of the population, the dividing lines between included and excluded are pronounced, and in some areas, differences, diversity and inequalities are increasing. This presents a challenge to social cohesion and solidarity in Danish society and makes Denmark an important comparative case in an international perspective.
CASTOR explores social and cultural aspects of new forms of differentiation based on the intersection between class, gender, ethnicity and age. These inequalities are investigated in topics such as cultural consumption, citizenship, trust, crime, consequences of sentencing, civic engagement, and various forms of welfare state interventions. CASTOR also focuses on new forms of inequalities, such as increasing demands on the individual's competences in the educational system and in the labour market. Another important aspect is global challenges, where migration, refugees and transnational movements give rise to new challenges at the local, national, transnational and global level. These tendencies call for a stronger comparative perspective in research design and analyses.
Since the formation of the research group, the ambition has been to create a significant national and international sociological and criminological research unit with a high degree of scientific quality and societal relevance. We have supported this ambition by emphasising the creation of space for collective discussions and mentoring of junior scholars. We have a strong focus on talent development that can promote PhD students and young researchers and facilitate research of high international quality that enhances the possibilities of developing research careers.
Research Themes
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In the period 2013-2017, CASTOR’s research has been structured around the following ten sub-themes:
‐ Transformations of civil society and civic engagement ‐ Gender, masculinity and intersectionality ‐ Social skills and cultural capital ‐ Group-related crime, including drug markets ‐ Marginalisation and social control ‐ Work life, education and family ‐ Political identities and political radicalisation ‐ Welfare institutions and new welfare technologies ‐ Migration, refugees – new social boundaries, communities and solidarity forms ‐ Transnational crime
Theoretically informed empirical research has a high priority in CASTOR’s research, which draws on a broad set of inter-related empirical methods. Research design is therefore often based on mixed methods approaches combining quantitative data (register data, survey data) and qualitative data (ethnography studies, focus group interviews, qualitative interviews, biographical narrative interviews, document and discourse analysis). Methodologically, the group strives to employ innovative quantitative and qualitative analytical techniques.
Research Centres:
Based on two of the research themes in CASTOR, the following research centres have been established: In 2012, CiFri – a research project and national network on civil society and volunteering, was established. The centre was funded by a grant from the Danish Ministry of Social Affairs and should establish a national data infrastructure on civic engagement, analyse changes in volunteering and others forms of civic engagement, and create a national research network to facilitate young scholars’ research training and international collaboration. The centre was headed by Lars Skov Henriksen and involved senior and junior researchers from University of Southern Denmark, Roskilde University and VIVE. Four PhD students (two from AAU and two from Roskilde University) wrote their dissertations at the centre. With the publication of the comparative volume, “Civic Engagement in Scandinavia” in 2018, the centre has finalised its tasks. Four CASTOR members participated in the centre, Hans-Peter Y. Qvist, Ane Grubb, Rasmus Juul Møberg and Lars Skov Henriksen. (Morten Frederiksen, FoSo, also participated)
In 2016, CeMAS – Centre for Masculinity Studies was established. Its objective is to produce critical, interdisciplinary knowledge about men and masculinities at a high international level. The centre has been headed first by Ann-Dorte Christensen and later by Sune Qvotrup Jensen. Two other senior staff members and one PhD student participate together with a core member from FREIA – Centre for Gender Research at the Department of Culture and Global Studies. One of the projects is “Terror and radicalization processes”, which is funded by an AAU talent grant awarded to Sune Qvotrup Jensen. The project also includes PhD student Jeppe Fuglsang Larsen.
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4.3 ORGANISATION, COMPOSITION AND FINANCING
Research Staff as of 31 December 2017
Professor Ann-Dorte Christensen (Head of Research Group) Annick Prieur Lars Skov Henriksen (Head of PhD Program) Søren Kristiansen (Vice Dean)
Associate Professor Jakob Skjøtt-Larsen (Head of the Sociology Study Board) Kim Møller (Head of the Criminology Study Board) Morten Ejrnæs (25% employment) Morten Kyed Rasmus Juul Møberg Sune Qvotrup Jensen
Assistant Professor Annette Olesen Christian Klement Oline Pedersen
Postdoc Ann-Karina Henriksen
PhD Student Eva Magdalena Stambøl Hans-Peter Qvist Jeppe Fuglsang Larsen Dorte Raaby Andersen (External financing/Department of Occupational Medicine, Herning Hospital) Vivi Friis Søgaard (External financing/VIA University College) Maria Libak Pedersen. (External financing/Research Department at the Ministry of Law/National Police)
Associated Members Ann Phoenix, University of London (adjunct professor) Feiwel Kupferberg, Professor Emeritus, University of Malmoe (adjunct professor) Britta Kyvsgaard (External part-time professor 20%) Claus D. Hansen (SocMap as main affiliation) Mette Rømer (MIS O as main affiliation) Kristian Gade Kjelmann (Teaching Assistant) Stine Thidemann Faber (FREIA – Center for Gender Research as main affiliation) Lotte Bloksgaard (FREIA – Center for Gender Research as main affiliation)
Staff profile and development Over the evaluation period, the number of staff members at CASTOR has doubled, from 10 members in 2013 to 20 members by the end of 2017. Four members were professors; six associate professors; five assistant professors/postdocs; and six PhD students (three external
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financed). Furthermore, throughout the period, 5-10 researchers have been associated members.
Figure 4.A. Staff development 2013-2017 25
20
15
10 number of staff 5
0 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017
CASTOR has almost achieved gender balance, and two of the four professors are females. There is a strong overrepresentation of native Danish members; only two staff members are foreign nationals (one Norwegian and one Norwegian/French). The research group has primarily been located at AAU Campus Aalborg.
CASTOR members are primarily trained as sociologist or criminologist. About half of the members received their Master’s degree at the Department of Sociology and Social Work at Aalborg University, and slightly over half of the members received their PhD degrees from the same department. In the future, CASTOR will focus on staff recruitment and mobility and try to balance recruitment of internal talents and researchers from other Danish and international universities.
The overall management of CASTOR is conducted in turns by one of the full professors. From 2006 to 2010, CASTOR was led by Annick Prieur; from 2010 to August 2017 by Lars Skov Henriksen; since then, by Ann-Dorte Christensen.
CASTOR members meet approximately every third week primarily to discuss papers. It is a high priority that PhD students present papers and that all members of the research group read and contribute to the discussion initiated by a discussant. To strengthen internal coherence, CASTOR organises a two-day research seminar once a year to discuss research strategy, new projects and papers. The last seminar was organised as a writing workshop.
CASTOR members take part in research collaborations and scholarly networks, both nationally and at a Nordic and international level. CASTOR encourages members and especially PhD students to present papers at international conferences in order to get comments from external researchers and to establish networks. CASTOR also co-edits international journals, participates in international editorial panels, and reviews articles for journals.
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4.4 RESEARCH GROUP ACTIVITIES AND OUTPUT
Publications CASTOR’s publication output has grown during the evaluation period, cf. Figure 4.B. This partly reflects a growing number of researchers in the group. The percentage of publications in English is in most years around one third with some variation from year to year.
Figure 4.B. Publications by language 2013- 2017 80 70 60 50 English 40 Danish 30 Other 20 Total 10 0 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017
As shown in Figure 4.C, the share of publications at BFI level 2 increased sharply. To some extent, this reflects a strategy and effort to publish more in high-ranking international journals and publishers. CASTOR members target core sociology and criminology journals as well as leading field journals within the group’s main research areas.
Figure 4.C. BFI points 2013-2017 140 120 100 80 60 40 20 0 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 Total 1 and 2
Level 1 Level 2
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Research Training PhD
CASTOR has achieved very good results with PhD training. We believe that this is primarily due to a careful selection of candidates in the recruitment process combined with a high standard of supervision and a supportive research group. Regarding selection, the professors and associate professors involved always scrutinise the candidates, their research potential, as well as the feasibility and scientific quality of their proposals very carefully.
The professors at CASTOR have considerable experience as supervisors and assessors of PhD theses, and the associate professors are currently building up their experiences. High- quality supervision has a high priority for all supervisors, with the provision of close follow-up, frequent meetings, and rapid and thorough feedback. Some PhD students have published together with their supervisors, but more often independently of or after submitting their theses, and only rarely articles that are part of their theses. Co-publishing will probably become more frequent, as all our current PhD students write article based PhD theses and as we regard co-publishing as a very good way of transmitting skills.
Further, the support of the PhD students’ work and the training of their skills in dialogue and critique are among the most important tasks for the research group. This work is seen as crucial for securing the scientific quality of PhD theses and thereby crucial for securing the PhD students’ future careers. At least once a year, every PhD student in our group, including external candidates, have to present some of their work – usually a draft for an article or chapter – and have it commented and discussed in the group. All senior members take very seriously the obligation to read and comment on these papers, and the PhD students are invited to comment on other members’ papers. The senior members are very conscious of the importance of securing the scientific quality of these discussions as well as a friendly and supportive atmosphere. There is no doubt that the PhD students see these paper discussions as an opportunity to get constructive feedback, and we never notice signs of reluctance or fear related to these presentations. At least twice a year we plan social activities, which also help build a good work environment.
We strive to include the PhD students who are interested in a career at AAU in the senior members’ research applications in order to secure them postdoc positions, or we support those who apply on their own.
Over the five years of evaluation, seven PhD students at CASTOR have obtained the PhD degree. Four of them obtained their MSc degrees at our own department, while three came from other Danish universities. All seven PhD theses were accepted as they were submitted, and none of the candidates were more than a few months delayed. All seven candidates have been successful in the labour market after obtaining their PhD degrees. Only one of the seven does not currently work as a researcher. Over the five years, only one PhD candidate has terminated the PhD period prematurely (a candidate who was affiliated to CASTOR for a short period after transferral from another research group). Three of the seven had longer stays abroad during their scholarships, and three had shorter stays. One of the seven obtained a research council travel grant, and another obtained a research council postdoc scholarship. We will encourage current and future PhD students to take longer stays abroad. We regard such exchanges to be very important, especially for our own PhD students. During the period of evaluation, the department’s PhD coordinator has been a CASTOR member, and until 2017, the head of the Faculty’s PhD school was also a CASTOR member.
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CASTOR members have been in charge of several PhD courses in this period and have invited several internationally renowned scholars to Aalborg, such as Nikolas Rose, Mike Savage and Ann Phoenix.
Figure 4.D. PhD enrolment and graduation 2013-2017 4
3
2 New enrolment Graduated 1
0 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017
External funding 2013-2017
CASTOR has a fairly high success rate in attracting external research funding. Senior researchers are committed to attracting collective research projects to pursue research questions within a common framework that can facilitate research training for young scholars and provide for high-quality standards and international publication practices.
CASTOR has attracted different types of research grants ranging from collective research projects funded by independent research councils over individual postdoc projects to minor network or workshop grants. CASTOR has received grants for new projects every year from 2013 to 2017.
The total number of new grants awarded in the period is 14, amounting to more than 10 mill. DKK, cf. figure 4.E. In addition, CASTOR has grants of approx. 5 mill DKK in the evaluation period for four ongoing projects, awarded in 2010-2012 but extending well into the evaluation period (all formally ending in 2015). CASTOR’s research has been funded by different external sources, including high competition funds like the Independent Research Council, cf. figure 4.E.
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Figure 4.E. New grants and sources 2013 - 2017
8.000.000 DKK 7.000.000 DKK 6.000.000 DKK Nordic funds 5.000.000 DKK Internal funding 4.000.000 DKK EU funds 3.000.000 DKK Other government funds 2.000.000 DKK Private funds 1.000.000 DKK Danish research councils - DKK 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017
Most of CASTOR’s external funding has been granted for independent and free social research. This is important for our quest for excellence and new frontiers in methods, theories, and analyses, and for our ambition to create a research environment in which young scholars thrive and test new and innovative ideas and research designs.
CASTOR conducts most of its research in collaborative teams of senior and young scholars. Constellations of people can change from project to project, and we seek to combine skills and competencies to compose the strongest teams.
4.5 RESEARCH AND TEACHING COHERENCE
Members of CASTOR hold substantial leading, coordinating and teaching responsibilities at MA and BA level in the Sociology Study Programme and at the MA level in the Master of Social Science in Criminology. In addition, members fulfil their main teaching responsibilities in the Master of Social Work. At the MA level in the Sociology Study Programme, members of CASTOR hold major coordinating and teaching responsibilities, for instance in the following courses: Civil Society and Social Movement; Correspondence Analysis; Event history Analysis Applied to Longitudinal Administrative Data, and Biographical Narrative Methods. In the BA programme, members of CASTOR hold coordinating functions and substantial teaching responsibilities in all semesters and are engaged in coordination and teaching in, for instance, the following elective courses: Gender, Intersectionality and Masculinity; Consumption, Lifestyles, and Media; Criminology; Sociology of Work; Ethnographic Methods; Survey Methodology. In the Master of Social Science in Criminology, members of CASTOR hold coordinating functions for all courses offered and are responsible for major parts of the teaching at all courses. The strong ties and active engagement in teaching activities is an opportunity to disseminate CASTOR’s research. Many of CASTOR’s research themes are taught in courses or are integral parts of courses taught at the MA and BA level. Likewise, many methods and methodologies used in research projects are taught in one of the listed educational programmes.
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4.6 SOCIETAL IMPACT
THIRD MISSION ACTIVITIES AND SOCIETAL IMPACT. Societal impact and third mission activities are a focal point for CASTOR. We have a broad understanding of societal impact ranging from influencing legislation, over contributions to teaching materials, to contributing with new knowledge of societal trends to the wider public. A primary focus is thus continuous knowledge dissemination. The group works to ensure societal impact by disseminating research results to mixed fora that include both academics and practitioners, and to the general public media. CASTOR emphasises careful dissemination and devotes time to collectively discuss and improve members’ drafts of newspaper articles. We provide solicited comments on day-to-day media news when these are considered to fall within our research expertise. As the table below illustrates, the group has a relatively high presence in mass media.
Table 4.i. Number of mass media appearances (press clippings) by year
2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 136 77 157 372 136
Media appearances cover a wide range of topics such as poor single parents, video surveillance, voluntary organisations, gangs and drugs, social reproduction, criminal young women, social class, workplace absenteeism, ethnic minority youth, crime prevention etc.
CASTOR does a substantial amount of research in cooperation with, or within, existing organisations. We consider it mandatory that these organisations receive feedback in the form of a summary report of our findings. In recent years, a significant part of the group's research has been developed in collaboration with public institutions, voluntary associations, NGOs and local communities, which have subsequently been able to use the acquired knowledge to improve the way they work. Examples include the Ministry of Social Affairs, The National Center for Volunteer Work, the Danish Prison and Probation Service, the Danish re-entry organisation Café Exit and Norwegian Red Cross’ Post-Prison Network. Group members also give invited talks or presentations at private or public organisations.
Group members have furthermore supported the Danish Ministry of Taxation in developing new debt collection strategies, and served on a committee under the Ministry of Ecclesiastical Affairs for a revised election process for local church councils. Moreover, collaboration has been developed with artists, which has led to a new type of research dissemination and to contributions to the public debate about the relation between art and research. One example is the collaboration between Ann-Dorte Christensen and visual artist Marit Benthe Norheim around the art project Life-boats, which for instance led to the book A Shipload of Women's Memories: Narratives across Borders (Christensen & Norheim, 2017).
Below, we give two examples of third mission activities from two research projects:
The MARS (Masculinity, Risk and Safety) project was a collaboration between researchers from CASTOR and researchers from the Danish Ramazzini Centre, Department of Occupational Medicine, Herning Regional Hospital. The following will focus on the impact of Morten Kyed’s PhD thesis “John Wayne and Tarzan no longer work here”, which was an integrated part of the MARS project.
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The main societal impact of the research project has occurred through communicating how safety is a social phenomenon with a wide range of gendered associations and implications. The empirical research shows that while masculinity can stimulate risky actions and accidents at work, it does not have to be that way. Indeed, contemporary Danish masculinity practices both have latent positive and negative effects on safety practices. Different workplaces have different culture- and context-specific masculine leeway in connection with safety practices, and occupational health and safety practitioners should be aware of this and consider utilising it in their occupational health and safety work.
As part of a broad community-oriented dissemination of the MARS project, Kyed and the research team created the website http://www.erdusikkermand.dk/, which popularises four of the PhD thesis' main findings about the relationship between masculinity and safety practices. Humorous speed drawings illustrate some of the potential leeways and offers recommendations on how masculinity can be incorporated into safety practices in male- dominated workplaces. The drawings targeted practitioners working with occupational health and safety and men in male-dominated workplaces interested in safety.
Practitioners in the trade union movement involved in work environment issues also expressed interest in the MARS project. Therefore, Kyed gave lectures on the relationship between masculinity and safety for occupational health and safety representatives in Dansk Metal in Copenhagen and Aalborg.
Kyed and researchers from the MARS project were also invited to a workshop on men and work accidents at the Working Environment Conference 2013 in Nyborg, which is Denmark's largest conference for occupational health and safety practitioners. Work environment representatives in the BAR Industry (in Danish: Branchefællesskabet for arbejdsmiljø i Byg & Anlæg) were very interested in how they could work with masculinity in everyday life. Finally, Kyed's research on masculinity and security practices has received some media coverage in nationwide news media, local (DR4 Nordjylland, ANR) and national radio (Hjernekassen on P1), and TV. Especially Kyed’s participation in the national final of the newspaper Information’s PhD Cup, where the conclusions of his PhD thesis were broadcasted on national television, DR2, in 3 minutes, offered useful platforms to disseminate the research results to a wider non-academic audience.
A more recent example of a project with potential social impact is “Immigrant background and youth crime” (Nielsen et al. 2019). Funding was obtained in 2017 by Associate Professor Kathrine Vitus and CASTOR member Associate Professor Sune Qvotrup Jensen. The project was carried out in 2018 by Vitus, Jensen and two additional CASTOR-members: research assistant Trine Ravn Nielsen and Assistant Professor Christian Klement. The project summarises empirical findings from Denmark on the relationship between having an immigrant background and youth crime, offers theoretical explanations of the relationship, and points to promising features of selected crime preventive programs.
The potential social impact of the project lies in a combination of its key insights and how they are disseminated. Especially two insights are relevant. (1) The theoretical explanations of the relationship between having an immigrant background and crime are put into a context of crime prevention, including street-level preventive measures. (2) Features of three selected crime-preventive programmes are reflected upon in terms of their potential for crime prevention. These two areas of insight are published in a report written in an easily accessible language and in short versions of the report intended for mass distribution among Danish
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public crime-prevention employees. In addition, the insights will be presented to those same employees at their annual meeting with at least 300 participants. Press releases have also been developed to increase the dissemination of the key insights in the project.
The dissemination strategy of closely targeting prevention employees has to be seen in relation to the funding agency, The Crime Prevention Council of Denmark. The engagement with a key societal actor in a partnership offered the opportunity to not only conduct relevant research but also to connect with potential users of the research. Hopefully, the dissemination of the key insights among Danish public crime-prevention employee will increase awareness about why some adolescents with immigrant background are at an elevated risk of committing crime and what can be done about this.
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PANEL EVALUATION CASTOR
Observations CASTOR was established in 1998 as Sociological Laboratory. The name was changed to CASTOR in 2004. At this time, the research group was very successful in obtaining external funding, and several projects were initiated. Around 2010, CASTOR split into three research groups: SocMap, SAGA and CASTOR. CASTOR engages in sociological and criminological research based on qualitative and quantitative methods as well as mixed methods design. Topics include transnational crime, citizenship, political identities, migration, globalisation, gender, masculinity, intersectionality, etc. At the end of the evaluation period, CASTOR included 19 members (four full professors, six associate professors, three assistant professors, six PhD students, and eight associate members). In 2020, the group consists of 16 members. Based on two of the research themes in CASTOR, two research centres have been established: In 2012, CiFri – a national network on civil society and volunteering – to establish a national data infrastructure on civic engagement. In 2016: CeMAS – Centre for Masculinity Studies. Both centres involve members of CASTOR as well as researchers from other departments and universities. The centres were established in connection with acquisition of larger projects and with the aim of collaboration within specific networks. The centres have no formal status and are considered sub-groups internally. CASTOR is large compared to other RGs at ISS and has centres or sub-groups, but the aim is to remain one group. Being a large group makes it possible to maintain a variety of perspectives and approaches. CASTOR members meet regularly every third week to discuss papers and ongoing research work. There is an annual two-day research seminar, organised around particular research topics of common interest for many members or as a writing workshop.
Most publications are in Danish, but 1/3 are in English. The BFI points were quite low in 2013-2014 but had risen considerably at the end of the period (2017). This reflects a strategy to publish in higher-ranked journals and probably also a larger number of members.
CASTOR puts strong emphasis on the PhD students’ work and training. At least once a year, every PhD student presents some of their work. Today, most PhD students from 2017 have completed their thesis, and they have submitted on time. In 2020, there are three PhD students in the group, and two are close to completing (one on time, the other almost on time). CASTOR members have been involved in several PhD courses and have invited internationally renowned scholars for PhD courses and other forms of cooperation. Even if the supervisor has the primary responsibility, the group seems to take joint responsibility for the quality and progress of the PhD students’ work. The group systematically includes PhD scholarships in applications for external funding.
CASTOR has been successful in attracting external funding. However, a large part of the funding was received in 2013, and the level of new funding was considerably lower 2014 and quite low 2015-17 because the substantial funding received in 2012 and 2013 covered the years 2013-2017. CASTOR members have continuously submitted new research applications, but the success rate varies over the years. Project proposals are mainly directed at Danish Council for Research and other public sources, but also at private funds.
Members of CASTOR coordinate and teach at MA and BA levels in the Sociology Study Programme, and at the MA level in Criminology. CASTOR does a substantial amount of research in cooperation with different organisations. There is a strong focus on continuous
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dissemination of research results in the media and other forums. Members of the group are often asked to participate in networks and research proposals, give lectures and keynotes, take on duties in organisations etc. The research group has a well-developed home page.
Recommendations CASTOR has a long history at the department. The group has transformed and developed over the years, but it has continued to be a central sociological and criminological group constellation. The group has thorough plans for doctoral training, regular meetings, text seminars and internal as well as international collaboration. The members are active, and their attendance at meetings is high. CASTOR has been successful – although to varying degrees – in attracting external funding and shows a good track record.
The evaluation group suggests that the organisation of the group as a whole, and in particular the connections to the two research centres, are clarified. This would make it easier for external observers to understand internal and external relations; what divides and what unifies the research areas; or, to be more precise, where there is potential for synergies. In addition, the research profile seems to be quite broad, ranging from a clear focus on criminology to a very differentiated and broad sociological spectrum of research areas. CASTOR could benefit from a sharper presentation of its profile. This could also help the group to develop more innovative strategies for funding and recruitment of new members, i.e. PhD students and postdocs, especially considering the long-term development of the group and its research. It would also make the group more visible for the international academic society. The publication strategy seems to be on the right path, but a focus on publications in international journals (preferably at level 2) is probably needed. Sharpening the group’s profile might also prove useful for internal purposes.
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5. SAGA
5.1 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY AND FUTURE PLANS
In this first section, we want to summarise the main reflections and conclusions from the self- assessment report and present a brief plan for future improvements in the research group. The purpose of SAGA (Sociological Analysis – General and Applied Research) is to analyse phenomena primarily at the micro-level with focus on people’s everyday lives, interactions, social norms, emotions and formation of identity and meaning. The group’s members share an interest in what emerges from empirical studies based on inductive and/or abductive/adaptive reasoning and the possible links between the micro- and macro level and thus emphasise both basic research and applied research. This is exemplified by the group’s interest in the sociology of emotions and the sociology of deviance. The members mostly take a qualitative approach in a phenomenological, hermeneutic, interactionist, critical theoretical or social- constructionist perspective.
Today (2017) the total number of staff in the group is 11, one full professor, four associate professors, one researcher from REPHA and five PhD students employed at the department. As the number of publications shows, members of SAGA publish their research intensively and with a high frequency. The publication channels vary from high-impact journals to contributions to (and editorship of) research anthologies, and the members share an interest in communicating to a wider public sphere that can benefit from the sociological insights produced by the group.
SAGA will continue its intensive publication strategy and continue to strengthen its applications for external research funding. An important aspect of SAGA's future plans is to remain involved in the development of research-based teaching, especially within the areas of SAGA's concern, ranging from social theory, diagnosis of the times, qualitative research methods, to topics such as emotions, death, grief and deviance.
5.2 RESEARCH PROFILE AND STRATEGY OF THE RESEARCH GROUP
SAGA is a relatively new sociological research group founded in 2009. The purpose of the group is to describe, document and analyse sociological phenomena at the micro-level, meso- level and macro-level, with specific focus on the interaction among these different levels theoretically and empirically. This is done by focusing on the relationship between overarching societal structures and ordinary daily behaviour and, not least, the mutually inductive and inherent changes emerging within these contexts. The work of the research group spans macro-oriented cultural-sociological societal diagnoses and micro-sociological studies of individuals’ daily lives and emotional realities, as well as the formation of identity and meaning. SAGA is a sociologically rooted but interdisciplinary research group that primarily applies (cultural-)sociological, socio-psychological, criminological, anthropological and philosophical theories and methods. In recent years, the research group has examined the possible links between micro-sociological approaches and macro-sociological perspectives, exemplified by the group’s interest in the sociology of emotions and the sociology of deviance. This focus has been dominant in the research group’s publications in recent years, in the form of monographs, edited books, book chapters and articles in journals.
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SAGA also studies the sociology of education and the sociology of the labour market. A concern with social class, social stratification and reproduction of inequality through the educational system has been the topic of several publications based on quantitative data material and comparative cohort analyses. In addition, longitudinal studies and the perspective of 'de-standardisation' have been used to investigate certain structural barriers to equality of education and earnings.
SAGA has specialised in and is keenly focused on current social issues concerning individuals’ daily lives, interaction, identity, lifestyle, emotions, social norms, normality and social deviance. The overarching topic concerning normality and social deviance has been elucidated, for instance, in specific studies of social pathologies and diagnostic culture, grief in cultural contexts, end of life situations, daily life among westerners in South-East Asia, domestic violence, disadvantaged children, nursing, prison research and youths and criminology/police science/gang research, as well as theological research and religious studies. Identity has been a focal point in theoretical developments and in empirical studies of openness in adoption, domestic violence, and identity formation of young people suffering from depression.
The research group mostly takes a qualitative approach in a phenomenological, hermeneutic, interactionist, critical theoretical or social-constructionist perspective, but also applies methodology triangulation and relies on the interplay of qualitative and quantitative methods. The group endeavours to be methodologically inventive in analysing the complexity of people’s daily lives and the multifaceted sources of influence shaping social life. This means, among other things, that when analysing how daily life unfolds and identities are formed/negotiated, the group is interested in developing phenomenological and hermeneutic methodologies, including micro-sociological ethnography, observational studies, narrative interviews, video analysis and document analysis, so it will be able to capture the complexities, ambivalences and nuances of social life. SAGA prioritises and practices sociological openness in identifying and elucidating relevant sociological issues and in its methodological approaches. The members share an interest in what emerges from empirical studies, based on inductive and/or adductive/adaptive reasoning.
SAGA encompasses a variety of academic and scientific profiles. This may even be SAGA’s trademark, both internally at the department via the research and teaching provided, and externally via lecture activities and publication. At SAGA, open, researcher-initiated research is significantly more prevalent than strategic research priorities. An important element of SAGA’s research profile is the emphasis on basic as well as applied research. The group focuses on disseminating results externally, and SAGA’s members are generally involved in the dissemination of research results, not only in academic contexts but also as general information or in application-oriented contexts through lecture activities, seminars, organisational involvement in boards, etc., and in the form of courses outside academia for associations, businesses and organisations.
SAGA’s members initiate and participate in a wide range of Danish and international publications, i.e., books, articles and chapters. The group’s overall output and publishing frequency remain exceptionally high (see documentation below), not least due to the group’s high productivity and many internal and external joint publication projects. Going forward, SAGA will continue its high publication rate, particularly focusing on international publications. Three members of the research group have completed externally funded, empirically based research projects within the past year, which paves the way for publications in journals in
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Denmark and abroad. New externally funded projects are in progress, thus ensuring the basis for additional publications.
5.3 ORGANISATION, COMPOSITION AND FINANCING
Research staff as of 31 December 2017
Professor Michael Hviid Jacobsen
Associate Professor Anders Petersen Trond Beldo Klausen (Head of Department) Inger Glavind Bo (Head of Research Group) Marie Bruvik Heinskou
PhD Student Nadja Kirckhoff Hestehave, Ole Raakjær Juliane Ledet Jespersen Lone Juul Holm Klarup Karen Tind Nielsen Line Søberg Bjerre Bodil Margrethe Nielsen
Associated Members Vibeke Graven Poulsen postdoc REPHA
Staff development
Figure 5.A. Staff development 2013 - 2017 14
13
12
number of staff 11
10 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017
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As shown in figure 5.A, the size of the group has fluctuated between 11 and 13 members. The group is thus relatively small when it comes to professors and associate professors, and counts only four senior researchers and some internally and externally funded PhD students. Due to cost reductions at the university, we recently missed the opportunity to occupy the vacant positions as assistant professor/associate professor.
In the first years of the group’s existence, several permanent staff occupied management and administrative positions, which complicated the development of joint scientific initiatives. Several co-funded PhD students are currently in the process of completing their projects. SAGA has been a prime initiator of several educational initiatives (Master’s and bachelor study programs), including the Master in Humanistic Palliative Care (2008–2014) and the Master in Criminology, which currently functions as an autonomous study program, admitting about fifty students a year. SAGA’s academic profile should be seen in light of this history and this intense, prolonged educational commitment. This commitment also manifests itself through the publication of a wide range of textbooks for educational purposes in various specific courses. The group has a goal of continuing to ensure and strengthen the research- based foundation of the educational process, including in the sociology and criminology programs, and this particularly applies to the fields of micro-sociology, the sociology of emotion, the sociology of deviance and to instruction in qualitative methods in a wide sense.
5.4 RESEARCH GROUP ACTIVITIES AND OUTPUT
In this section, we will describe and reflect on the group members’ activities and academic output. The section consists of a quantitative account of publications, PhD students, funding and third mission activities, such as press clippings (based on figures from Aalborg University Library). These accounts will be discussed at the end of this section.
Figure 5.B. BFI points 2013-2017 140 120 100 80 60 40 20 0 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 Total 1 and 2
Level 1 Level 2
As the numbers show, the members of SAGA publish their research intensively and with a high frequency. A majority of the publications are in Danish, but a large part of the publications are written in English and published in international journals and books (see figure 5.C).
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Figure 5.C. Publications by language 50 45 40 35 30 English 25 Danish 20 Other 15 Total 10 5 0 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017
The publication channels vary from high-impact journals to topic-specific and nation-specific (Danish) journals to books and contributions to (and editorship of) research anthologies. When it comes to the former, we see ourselves as part of a national as well as an international network of scholars who disseminate knowledge to each other, and hereby develop the discipline and the areas covered by the discipline. In respect to the latter, we also see it as one of our main obligations to publish sociological research that is not only of interest to other scholars within the social sciences or the humanities, but also to a wider public audience that may benefit from the sociological insights we produce. Less than 10 per cent of the publications are not peer-reviewed. The total number of peer-reviewed publications in the period 2013-2017 is 177.
One characteristic of the publications is that there is a large variation in the topics covered by SAGA: social theory, criminology, methodology, the sociology of diagnosis, death and dying, grief and bereavement, nostalgia, ethics, ethnography, crime, work life, social psychology etc., just to mention some. This shows that the members of SAGA are both generalists and experts in specific topics within the realm of sociology, who take pride in being well-read and well-informed sociologists as such. We believe that this is for the greater good of our discipline and for those training in sociology. Of course, our publications have changed over time as research interests as well as topics have changed. For example, members of SAGA have published frequently in areas such as emotions sociology and diagnosis culture. The overall picture is still frequent publication about important matters within a sociological framework. We frequently publish journal articles and contributions to anthologies together, and the internal collaboration between SAGA’s members is highly appreciated, it brings coherence to the group and is important in the professional maturation of PhD students. SAGA has not encountered any real obstacles or challenges in relation to our publications. We have been fortunate and skilled enough to be able to publish in (more or less) the journals and books we prefer. Should this change, the internal coherence of the group is strong enough to address this. We would support each other and make sure that those who might run into a publication standstill will receive the necessary help and backing from the rest of the members.
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Our ambitions and strategies for research publication in the next five years are as follows: • We intend to stick with our quite successful publication strategy (regarding quantity and quality). • We intend to direct our attention to high impact journals.
As mentioned, our publications cover as vast array of inter-related topics of sociological interest. Prospectively, we do not intend to alter this perspective on publication as we continue to pursue many different topics and publication channels.
RESEARCH TRAINING (PHD) In this section, we will reflect on the development of our research training, how we are creating a good PhD environment, and present a list of the different places our PhD students are employed after completion of their theses. We start with an overview of PhD students enrolled and completed per year.
5.D. PhD enrolment and graduation 2013-2017 5
4
3 New enrolment 2 Graduated
1
0 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017
As shown in figure 5.D, six new PhD students have been enrolled between 2013 and 2017, and three have graduated. The majority of our PhD students are primarily financed by external sources and only a third are financed solely by the department. As SAGA consists of a relatively small group of permanently employed researchers or core group members and a larger group of PhD students, it is important to ensure research training, cooperation and talent management among the group’s members, which SAGA seeks to support through various activities.
There is a strong focus on cooperating with young research talents and PhD students by establishing writing communities with senior researchers to ensure publication options for the young segment of the group and support their potential for promotion in various academic contexts. It is worth noting that core group members have co-authored more than ten articles in journals and anthologies in recent years with their PhD students and thus made it possible for PhD students to find publishing outlets in anthologies edited by the senior researchers. Moreover, SAGA cooperates on publication with younger colleagues from other research groups such as CASTOR, SocMap as well as outside the department. We have often initiated
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research and publication collaborations with particularly younger researchers in other research groups, and in in this way SAGA has been instrumental in establishing ties to other research groups and providing publication outlets for their members.
This publication cooperation is facilitated and supported internally at SAGA through different activities and particularly applies to PhD students, who are continually encouraged to present their work and ideas at research group meetings or seminars. During such presentations, their ideas are constructively discussed in an open and inclusive environment, and this is a golden opportunity to propose options for co-publications with younger group members. We wish to ensure that the research group functions as a collective mentoring and supporting arena for young members/research talents in publication and application situations to improve their opportunities for future employment (e.g., as part of post-doc applications). The group has introduced a policy that ensures that notably young members of the research group can give presentations at meetings and seminars and get feedback on dissertations, draft articles or applications.
We also strive to make it possible for PhD students to utilise senior researchers’ networks and connections in Denmark and abroad in relation to conference participation, stays abroad and research contacts. SAGA’s talent management extends to undergraduate and postgraduate students, who are invited to collaborate with core group members in order to promote and even publish the findings of their bachelor and master’s theses. An example is the recent collaboration between a master’s student and a senior SAGA member that resulted in a joint piece published in the Scandinavian Journal of Caring Sciences (2018) based on the student’s dissertations.
After completion of their PhD projects, our PhD students, both during and after the evaluation period, have obtained employment. One as assistant professor at the Department of Health Science and Technology at Aalborg University; one as postdoctoral student at Pedagogical Anthropology at the Danish School of Education; one at The Centre for Youth Research at Aalborg University; and one at the psychiatric ward at Aalborg University Hospital. Three PhD students from SAGA (Nadja Kirckhoff Hestehave, Karen Tind Nielsen and Ole Raakjær) secured employment prior to, during and after their PhD thesis, which might explain why they did not finish their PhD project within three years.
EXTERNAL FUNDING Our main focus in attracting external funding has been funding for co-financed PhD projects. During the last five years, we have been engaged in two major and one minor externally funded research projects. Based on this, activities in the research group have not only been determined by external funding and collaboration. This means that externally funded projects do have some impact on our publication pattern.
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Figure 5.E. New grants and sources 2013 - 2017 3.500.000 DKK 3.000.000 DKK Nordic funds 2.500.000 DKK Internal funding 2.000.000 DKK EU funds 1.500.000 DKK Other government funds 1.000.000 DKK Private funds 500.000 DKK Danish research councils - DKK 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017
In recent years, as part of our research strategy, SAGA has successfully applied for external funding for a number of PhD projects within the areas of death and dying, palliative care, everyday life, social marginalisation and crime and crime prevention. Immediately before the evaluation period (2012), one co-financed PhD with EGV Foundation was established. Within the evaluation period, two more co-financed projects were established in cooperation with The Foundation Kanonen and Metropol in Copenhagen, resulting in grants of approximately 2.3 million DKK. The purpose of attracting funding for and supervising such PhD projects has been to connect the world of academia with the world of social practice. In addition to the co- financed projects, three PhD projects with people fully employed outside Aalborg University have been supervised by members of SAGA. These PhD projects provided an opportunity to collaborate with external organisations and agencies that may pave the way for future projects and dissertation collaborations.
SAGA is an active partner in cross-disciplinary research projects. One project, ‘The Diagnostic Culture Project’ (2013-2017), was headed by Professor of Psychology at Aalborg University Svend Brinkmann and co-headed by Anders Petersen. It was a Sapere Aude project funded by The Independent Research Fund, Denmark. The SAGA share, to Anders Petersen, was approx. 600,000 DKK. This project also engaged two PhD students, and Anders Petersen supervised one and co-supervised the other. The research project attracted external as well as internal researchers.
The overall questions in the project were: (1) How do (psychiatric) diagnoses as scientific categories enter into the self-understandings of those diagnosed with depression and ADHD? (2) How are diagnoses represented socially in media, news stories and popular culture? (3) How do diagnoses such as depression and ADHD emerge historically as scientific objects and travel into the medico-scientific and health care systems coming to affect thousands of people every day? The project was very successful and the research has been widely used, discussed and cited.
Another project, ‘The Culture of Grief’ (2016-2021), was also headed by Svend Brinkmann and co-headed by Anders Petersen. This project, in which six senior researchers and four junior researchers are involved, has received more than 12 million DKK from the Obel Family Foundation. Since the project primarily takes place at another department, SAGA’s share is
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around 500,000 DKK. The overall research question is: Which socio-structural transformations have permitted the emergence of the diagnosis prolonged grief disorder? Anders Petersen is supervising one PhD student and co-supervising another.
A third research project in which SAGA has been engaged is headed by Inger Glavind Bo and co-headed by Professor Hanne Warming from Roskilde University. The project was financed by The Council of Appeal on Health and Safety at Work (Ankestyrelsen) and the overall research question was: How do people around the child understand and handle openness in adoption and what are the consequences for the child’s wellbeing? How do the Danish law and international conventions support or disturb ‘best practice’ in the field of adoption? Data was collected by using narrative interviews – primarily with adopted children, their parents, and with adopted grownups – and the analysis was initiated accordingly. This project ran from 2015 until 2017, when it was successfully ended by the report Openness in Adoptions (Åbenhed i adoption).
THIRD MISSION ACTIVITIES AND COLLABORATION OUTSIDE RESEARCH The research group is continuously engaged in third mission activities and takes them seriously, as the numbers show. SAGA members are highly profiled researchers within specific fields, and we are frequently cited in and interviewed in written media. This is documented in the table below.
Table 5.i. Press cuttings from 2013-2017.
2013 2014 2015 2016 2017
456 274 209 143 303
We also participate in radio and television programmes where we disseminate our research. It is a truism that our contacts with the media are dependent on our research being good and relevant enough to merit interest outside academia. The best way to keep the media’s interest and maintain our collaboration with them is to continue to produce substantial knowledge and research results of interest to a wider public.
5.5 RESEARCH AND TEACHING COHERENCE
For many years, SAGA has been particularly active in the development and management of educational activities, including the (continuous) development of the Sociology and Criminology programmes as well as the Master’s programme in Humanistic Palliative Care. Core members of the research group have for many years held formal positions such as Head of Department, Director of Studies and Heads of the Study Boards of these programmes, thereby taking responsibility for the development and daily management of different educational activities. Moreover, members have been highly active in initiatives for and accreditation of master’s programmes. Members are responsible for several modules in the Sociology programme, e.g., our specialisations in social theory (diagnosis of the times and the sociology of deviance), social psychology and the sociology of emotions.
Recently, the research group developed two new tracks for the Master’s programme: Culture, Everyday Life and Emotions and Social Deviance and Contemporary Diagnoses of the Times.
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In this context, group members have developed, coordinate and teach these educational (30 ECTS) processes. Both these new initiatives, as well as our involvement in teaching tasks more generally in sociology, criminology, social psychology, etc., show the close connection between the thematic research interests of the research group and the teaching responsibilities covered. A general characteristic of research group members is their desire to combine their research initiatives and research interests with teaching activities, and thus contribute to research-based teaching and teaching-based research. One way this is achieved is by actively participating in developing and implementing the educational contexts and imparting own research results and experiences in order to obtain a rewarding interplay between research and teaching. It is the basic teaching philosophy for the research group that research may qualify teaching and that teaching may inspire research initiatives.
We experience that it is often through teaching and supervision of students that we come across interesting research problems or themes that we may being to study as well as the other way around. For example, planning and developing the new course, Culture, Everyday Life and Emotions, spawned our own research interest in the specific emotion of nostalgia, which has paved the way for a new international anthology titled Nostalgia Now, forthcoming in 2020 at Routledge. Moreover, many of the students’ questions about how to study and document emotions has resulted in another research volume being prepared by some of the group’s core members on how to study emotions by using different methods and research techniques.
Just as teaching experiences may provide food for thought and inspire research initiatives and publications in SAGA, research endeavours may inspire and qualify our teaching planning and practice. Most of the teaching conducted by members of SAGA (core members and PhD students) relates to their research interests. In the literal as well as transferred sense, we take our research into the lecture theatre. Members of SAGA have published more than 15 textbooks (e.g., on emotions, crime, social theory, research methodology, everyday life, palliative care and social critique) based on our research interests and experiences and aimed at the students attending the modules we teach. This literature, which we have initiated and written/co-written, is in courses supplemented by literature written by other researchers. In this way, we use our own active research interests as steppingstones to develop textbooks aimed at our students (often published in Danish) and fitted to their specific level and interests. Moreover, we have published two edited volumes with contributions from students (undergraduate and postgraduate) stemming from their interesting project work. It is thus a core concern for SAGA to think research and teaching as two tightly linked activities. During the five-year evaluation period, the BSc and MSc students in sociology have twice elected members of SAGA as ‘teacher of the year’.
5.6 SOCIETAL IMPACT
To show the depth and vigour of the group’s overall societal impact, we describe three examples or cases that illustrate which channels, mechanisms, types of cooperation etc. we have used to ensure ongoing societal impact of our research.
First, we have to make clear that social/societal impact is, of course, an important element of SAGA’s research and communication. SAGA members are active in a wide variety of forums where they contribute to dissemination of research results and general education. Members frequently take part in media contexts (television, radio, magazines and newspapers) with analyses and research-based results and input. For instance, one of the group’s members is a
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regular op-ed writer for Nordjyske (a local newspaper), where sociological perspectives are applied to current social problems, and another member has been quoted more than 1,000 times in the media in recent years. In addition, the group’s members actively participate in public lecture activities, scientific debates and in popular science contexts, e.g., university extension courses, debates at the Annual Political Festival in Allinge, and the Cultural Meeting on Mors. Many group members are involved in cooperation projects with a wide variety of practical fields, including with knowledge centres and partners outside the university, and they are members of advisory boards of many research-related societies and organisations. In order to specify this, we describe six specific examples of societal impact:
1. The outcome of our engagement in the research network Social Pathologies of Contemporary Civilization. Besides holding conferences in Denmark, Ireland, England, Holland and Germany (next conference is in Hungary) – that attracted scholars from all over the world – the network has created joint PhD-collaborations, initiated public debates, co-written books and anthologies, all of which have been publically noted and commented upon. 2. The outcome of the research project Diagnostic Culture (2013-2017). Terms have been coined; articles, books and newspaper articles written; and members have appeared in television and radio programmes and in the Ethical Counsel (Det Etiske Råd). This has had an impact on the societal understanding of psychiatric diagnosis per se and on the ways diagnoses are treated in the Danish health care system. 3. The extensive work conducted in creating a Nordic Forum for researchers within the field of death and dying, previously a rather disconnected group of scholars. A member of SAGA has been a driving force in the development and administration of the internet network portal Nordic Network of Thanatology. Its Facebook group allows for continuous exchange of research findings, advertising new publications and initiating research collaborations. The forum has hosted conferences on death and dying in Aalborg, Oslo, Linköping and Helsinki. 4. Establishing a close connection between research on death, dying and grief and the professional organisational collaboration with The National Association Life & Death (Landsforeningen Liv&Død) in Copenhagen – a private non-profit organisation concerned with creating the framework for a dignified death and public/political debates about death and dying in contemporary society. This collaboration has resulted in several courses on death, dying and grief held at The Open University as well as popular/research-based publications such as Giv sorgen ord! from 2019 and joint applications for research funding. 5. The volume The Emotions of Everyday Life. The contributors to this book all subsequently gave lectures at The Open University about emotions such as grief, depression, laciness, boredom, love and shame. The Open University courses were held twice a year. 6. The development of workshops about education and formation of students in collaboration with two other researchers who are not members of SAGA. One is a psychologist from the Faculty of Humanities who had written a philosophical PhD thesis on the ideal of formation for university students. Based on these workshops held in 2016 for students from the psychology and sociology departments, we are now completing a book about learning and formation processes – how these formation processes can be inspired and facilitated by a narrative approach in workshops (the synopsis for the book won a book award from Aalborg University Press).
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PANEL EVALUATION SAGA
Observations SAGA (Sociological Analysis – General and Applied research), was founded in 2009. The research group focuses on sociological phenomena at the micro-level – social interactions, norms, emotions, and everyday life. Methodologically, the group belongs to a social constructionist, hermeneutic and phenomenological approach. Research areas mentioned in the description are: the sociology of deviance, the sociology of emotions, the sociology of education, and the sociology of the labour market. The profile is to a great extent on the sociology of emotions, with a strong focus on social psychology and modernity. The main approach is qualitative, i.e., ethnography, observations, narrative interviews, video analysis, etc., but there is also an ambition to use triangulation and combinations of qualitative and quantitative methods. In 2017, the total number of staff was 13 (one full professor, four associate professors, seven PhD students, and one associate member). In 2020, there are four PhDs and five permanent staff. The current ambition is to consolidate and continue the strong focus on research and publications rather than to grow in numbers.
SAGA has been involved in several Master programmes, for example, the Master in Criminology (fifty students a year). This involvement manifest itself through the publication of more than 15 national and international textbooks. SAGA has developed strong connections between its research activities and the development of new courses, and the textbooks fill an important function in conveying and disseminating the research to the students. A fair share of the publications are in English and reach a broad international audience. The research group’s BFI points are high, but they vary over the period 2013- 2017, with somewhat fewer points in 2015, for example. The majority of the publications are in Danish, but the relation between English and Danish publications also varies yearly. The ambition is to publish more in high-impact journals. However, textbooks will be given high priority also in future. In 2020, group members are involved in several book projects.
Six new PhD students were enrolled between 2013 and 2017, most of them externally financed. SAGA has a strong focus on cooperating with young research talents, establishing writing communities and mentorship. SAGA has regular lunch meetings where research and teaching activities are discussed. PhD students are regularly asked to present their work with their thesis.
SAGA cooperates regularly with colleagues from other research groups (CASTOR, SocMap). External funding for research projects varies considerably. 2013 was a successful year, but since then fewer applications have been successful. As part of its research strategy, the group has prioritized applications for external funding for PhD students. SAGA is an active partner in several cross-disciplinary research projects. SAGA members frequently appear in the media, and they are involved in a diversity of co-operations between the university and the community.
Recommendations SAGA is a small but successful research group with 13 members in 2017 (11 in 2020). According to the description, the research group covers a variety of – and quite large – research areas within sociology. The evaluation committee suggests that the group develops a sharper and more consistent profile and focus in its research, or at least a more precise presentation of its profile if the members consider it sharp and consistent already. This will
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make the group more visible and accessible. The profile should also be reflected on the home page (which needs some development). The profile seems to be leaning heavily on social psychology in general, and the sociology of emotions in particular. This is an area where SAGA is very successful and well-known through the members’ extensive publication activities and media appearances.
The BFI rate is high, and the group has a well-defined and intellectually robust publication plan. There is a clear ambition to publish more in high-ranked journals. The evaluation committee suggests that SAGA considers the balance between publishing a large number of textbooks and in high-ranked journal articles. The latter will probably require a rethinking of the publication strategy.
The current funding strategy focuses on applying for external funding for one PhD student each year. The group has been very successful in gaining PhD funding but less successful in attracting external funding from research councils and other sources. There are some collaborative research projects, but few projects initiated and driven by SAGA members. Although the strategy seems to be leaning heavily on attracting PhD projects, more research funding in general would probably benefit the research group’s future development.
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6. COMA
6.1 SUMMARY AND FUTURE PLANS
Center for Organization, Management and Administration (COMA) was established in March 2012 under the Faculty of Social Sciences at Aalborg University as a collaboration between the Department of Political Science (COMA-POL) and the Department of Sociology and Social Work (COMA-SOC). In our daily routines, we tend not to distinguish too much between our different organisational anchoring. This self-assessment report focuses primarily on COMA- SOC at the Department of Sociology and Social Work.
COMA is anchored in the international research traditions of general organisation and management (Management) and public organisation and administration (Public Administration, Public Governance). COMA contributes to and is at the forefront of developments in this research, for instance in public sector inter-organisational collaboration and coordination, integrated care, and the role of context. At the SHOC (Society for Studies in Organizing Healthcare) conference in Manchester in April 2020, COMA member Ninna Meier co-organises a panel submission on Contexts in Action, along with Prof. Sue Dopson, Prof. Louise Fitzgerald, Prof. Davide Nicolini, Prof. Louise Locock, and Dr. Eleanor Murray. This is based on a 2019 Oxford University Press book on the topic. Moreover, Janne Seemann’s recent research project on cross-sector collaboration and coordination resulted in a national conference for managers and political decision makers, a research paper submitted to Strategic Organization with Ninna Meier and Kasper Elmholdt, and conference activities are planned in 2020. COMA is dedicated to conducting national and international research at the highest level within these two research traditions. COMA-SOC primarily subscribes to Organization-Sociological perspectives and has published broadly in this field on topics such as leadership practices, organisational interfaces, innovation, organisational change, boundary work and boundary objects, as well as more methodological contributions on, e.g., creativity and resonance in academic analysis and writing.
Our activities contribute to both basic and applied research, including theoretically based and detailed studies of reform and change attempts, initiated in and across the public sector and in the interaction between the public and private sectors.
PLANS FOR THE FUTURE We will secure funding for a major collaborative research project in which our expertise in the field where the healthcare system converges with social services can be brought into play. An example is our project on Social Equity in Health (Public Health University of Aarhus and the City of Aarhus), for which we will apply for the Velux HUM-PRAXIS grant. Going forward, we focus on securing funding for research projects within our strategic focus areas. This is essential for COMA-SOC’s research pipeline (PhDs and postdocs), for expanding our portfolio of research projects, and therefore for the empirical and theoretical contributions we wish to make to research and practice. To this end, we have applications at different stages of the process, and we expect to submit 2-3 applications for funding in 2020 (Innovation fund, Velux Hum-praxis, and the Danish Independent Research Council) on the topics: Implications of AI in Healthcare, Social Inequity in Healthcare, and Academic Writing & Knowledge Production. Specifically, we wish to strengthen interdisciplinary collaboration between COMA’s sociological segment and relevant parties at the Faculty of Social Sciences and across
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faculties, such as existing partners from Economics and Management (SAMF) and Communication and Psychology (HUM). The emerging environment for social innovation at the Department of Communication and Psychology is an ideal partner for COMA-SOC. At the same time, there is obvious integration potential in terms of research and teaching between Sociology and Social Work where we, as organisational sociologists, can make a positive contribution due to our academic, educational and counselling affiliations in both places. With our activities for 2020 and onwards, we expect to intensify our cooperation with researchers and universities in Norway, Sweden, the UK, and the USA.
6.2 RESEARCH PROFILE AND STRATEGY
Today, COMA at the Department of Political Science (COMA-POL) has six members, including one professor, two associate professors, two assistant professors and one PhD student. COMA at the Department of Sociology and Social Work (COMSA-SOC) currently includes one professor, one associate professor and one postdoc. “COMA-TOTAL” currently consists of a gender-balanced group of nine members (research assistants not included). Since 2012, Professor Janne Seemann (COMA-SOC) has led the research group, and in 2017, we found it useful to include Professor Morten Balle Hansen (COMA-POL) in the management to secure cross-coordination of the whole group.
COMA's research and teaching are dedicated to the organisation, management and administration of the public sector’s activities and of interactions with the environment of the public sector (e.g., citizens and private sector organisations). While we do research in specific policy fields such as public health, labour market, park- and road services and eldercare, our focus is on the organisation, management and administration of these activities. Specific empirical fields are seen as cases and contexts in which our main subjects – Organisation, Management and Administration – take place. As technology, digitalisation and ICT (information and communications technology) are important subjects in our research projects, we focus on how they relate to the organisation, organising, leadership/management and administration of activities within and around the public sector.
It is an important characteristic of our group that we combine the traditions of general organisation theory, sociology and public management theory in our research and teaching. We have a strong peer-review culture across disciplines and departments in COMA, where we present our work, give and receive feedback, and develop and share ideas. This environment encourages us to sharpen our arguments and pursue alternative interpretations of our materials and findings. While many in COMA use models and consider them extremely useful, we also have a basic respect for the importance of context in general and the public context in particular, and this characterises our approach to research.
COMA is anchored in the international research traditions of organisation and management (Organisation Theory, Organisation Studies, Management) and the public organisation and administration tradition (Public Administration, Public Governance). Within these research traditions, COMA is dedicated to conducting national and international research at the highest level. However, COMA-SOC members primarily subscribe to organisational sociological perspectives and approaches. We do research in specific policy/empirical areas like public healthcare systems, health and social care, eldercare, and digitalisation and it is always with a focus on the more general organisational, managerial and administrative aspects within these areas. Our activities contribute to both basic and applied research including
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theoretically based and detailed studies of reform and change attempts, initiated in and across the public sector and in the interaction between the public and private sectors. Besides our unifying characteristics, COMA's members have several specific research areas such as Health Care Organisation, Managerial Work and Leadership, Relational Coordination, Patient Involvement, Digitalization, Public Performance Management, Top Civil Servants in Local Government, Marketization, Organising eldercare, Public-Private Partnerships, Street- level Bureaucracy and Categorization Practices.
COMA-SOC members currently work with the following foci: inter-organisational coordination and collaboration, inter-professional collaboration, organisational change, integrated care, innovation, relational coordination and leadership, organisational simulation and learning, implications of artificial intelligence in healthcare, and academic writing and knowledge production.
ONGOING RESEARCH ACTIVITIES (BRIEF DESCRIPTION) COMA-SOC is involved in the following active research projects:
• The patient’s team and the lead physician in charge of treatment at Aalborg University Hospital: Janne Seemann and Jeppe Gustafsson. In the publication/completion phase. Funded by the North Denmark Region. • Diagnostics Centre, Farsø: Janne Seemann, Ninna Meier and Marie Østergaard. Empirical study of patients’ experiences of accelerated pathways + the interface between GPs and the Centre. In the publication phase. Funded by Sparekassefond in Farsø. • Organisational coherence, relational coordination and leadership. Ninna Meier. In the publication phase. • Open writing: Ninna Meier. In the operating phase, a grant from the Swedish Research Council for development of Nordic networks (2017–2020). Based on this, applications for a project on the conditions and practice of academic knowledge production are in progress. • Prospective sense-making and simulation technologies at work: Ninna Meier (Central Denmark Region). In the publication phase. • Intersectional management and innovative cooperation models in the healthcare system: Janne Seemann, Ninna Meier and two research assistants (Anne Lyngby Petersen, Maja Østergaard). In publication phase. Funded by the Capital Region of Denmark.
INTERNATIONAL NETWORKS Professor Janne Seemann is a member of the board of the International Journal of Integrated Care/IJIC, Nordic Network of Organizational Health Research, and the Sclerosis Hospitals in Denmark (with a current research budget of 10 million DKK). In addition, there are good research relations with the Department of Political Science at Agder University (Norway). Research ideas and common research projects are being developed and established through a common initiative called ‘Skagerrak Seminars’ funded by Norwegian Research Council.
Associate professor Ninna Meier is a visiting scholar at Saïd Business School, University of Oxford, as well as a faculty member of the Relational Coordination Research Collaborative,
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Heller School of Social Policy and Management, Brandeis University. Ninna will be visiting Warwick Business School, IKON Centre (Innovation, Knowledge, and Organisational Networks), Prof Davide Nicolini in spring 2020 as part of a research collaboration where Ninna has partial affiliation as senior researcher at the Clinical Research Center, Amager – Hvidovre Hospital. Ninna is applying for funding for a joint research project (AAU is the social science part of a larger project) concerning AI in healthcare, and COMA member Kasper Elmholdt is part of this project. Ninna also conducts research on context-action-change together with Professor Sue Dopson. Their joint publications include an anthology published by Oxford University Press with contributions from a wide range of internationally leading researchers in the field. Ninna is part of a recurring workshop at The Academy of Management conference on Organisational Change as relational, multi-level phenomenon together with Professor Jody Hoffer Gittell and a group of members of the Relational Coordination Research Collaborative. She presents her work at the annual Relational Coordination Roundtable and at the monthly webinars for RCRC members. She is co-founder of The Open Writing Community, together with associate professor Charlotte Wegener (AAU), and has received Nordic networking funding to develop research in this field together with researchers from Norway, Sweden and Finland. To this end, she is working on a research project on the conditions for and practice of academic knowledge production with Wegener, Helin and an additional Swedish member – currently in the application for funding stage.
Both Ninna and Janne are members of EGOS (European Group for Organizational Studies) and AOM (Academy of Management) and are reviewers for international journals, particularly for the topics of organisation, management and organisational change, as well as integration within the healthcare system (e.g., Journal of Integrated Care, Journal of Management Inquiry, Journal of Management Learning, Social Science and Medicine, VIVE (Danish Research Institute of the Public Sector)).
STRATEGY Vision: In its research and practice, COMA aims to encourage managerial innovation and sustainable organisational change in the public sector. COMA will realise this vision by conducting top-level research in the fields of new organisational, managerial and administrative methods and models adapted to the unique characteristics of the public sector and the societal challenges that lie ahead. COMA also trains and educates skilled managers and employees for the public sector and for private-sector organisations in close cooperation with the public sector.
COMA’s point of departure is the latest organisational, management and administration theories, including process theories of organising, new institutional theory, sense-making theories, organisational culture and profession theory, interorganisational/network theory, organisational change theory, theories of temporality and materiality in organising, decision- making theory and innovation theory. The formation of theories is applied and developed out of respect for the unique characteristics of the public sector. COMA is rooted in international research into general organisation and management as well as public administration and public governance.
The methodologies are both basic research and applied research with theoretically based and detailed studies of organisational change processes, work-organisation-technology interplay, as well as management and implementation of reforms, technologies, new organisational
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forms, and innovation initiatives; all initiated in and across the public sector and in the interplay between the public and private sectors. The research focuses on the organisation and practice of work and management, identifying public-sector actors’ interpretations of and engagements with new initiatives and concepts, conflicts and integration cross organisations, sectors, political levels and professions. The research also focuses on the development of new organisational, management and administrative methods and models, which are adapted to the public sector’s unique characteristics that include politicisation, complexity and publicity. The strategy of COMA-SOC is explained in more detail in the following sections.
More about visions and strategies (COMA-SOC) We have a vision of strengthening our international network and partnerships, e.g., by participating in conferences or collaborating on applications for foundation grants (typically transnational comparative studies). We expect that keeping up work in this area will also strengthen our possibilities of attracting international researchers as guests and our potential to recruit internationally.
We wish to sharpen the focus of our publication activities on 1) high quality (defined as publications by recognised publishing houses and top journals within our field); and 2) contributions within a strategic area of high scientific and practical relevance in Denmark and abroad, e.g., integration mechanisms in the healthcare system, organisational change processes in complex organisations, or the implementation of healthcare technology.
Furthermore, COMA-SOC will seek to retain its positions of strength in more specialised research areas, where members’ positions are well established:
• research into interorganisational collaboration within the healthcare system, focusing on the interaction between the hospital system, municipalities and general practitioners (to be upheld); • research into innovation and digitisation in the interplay between the public and private sectors (to be developed and supported via COMA’s close collaboration with the newly created research group CIM (Center of IT Management), led by ‘former’ COMA member professor Jeppe Agger Nielsen, and others); • research into context, action and change in public sector healthcare organisations (supported by the international relations to Saïd Business School, Oxford University and IKON; Warwick Business School)
At the time of writing, we have been active in applying for external funding (2017-2019), although expectedly not all applications were rewarded with funds. To provide a few examples of applications and projects we are still working to fund: we have applied to the Norwegian Research Council (Helsevel, twice: 2017 and 2018) for a comparative analysis of new super hospitals in Europe (in collaboration with the universities of Warwick, UK and Stavanger, Norway), as well as via Danish regions and municipalities. We have applied to Velux twice regarding the project on Social Equity in Health (2017) and Integrated Eldercare (2017). We have applied to The Danish Research Council for funding to a research project on Academic Writing and knowledge production (twice: 2018 and 2019), and for a travel grant (2019). We have applied for the Danish Research Council’s thematic call on Digitalization (2019) and for a Sapere Aude Grant (2019). As part of our strategy, we keep pursuing the funding of these projects.
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To achieve the strategy outlined above, COMA-SOC is seeking to employ an additional assistant or associate professor within organisational sociology and to maintain the pipeline of PhD and postdoc students.
6.3 ORGANISATION, COMPOSITION AND FINANCING
Current research Staff (COMA-SOC) as of 31 December 2017
Professor Janne Seemann
Associate Professor Ninna Meier
Postdoc Jannie Kristine Bang Christensen
PhD Student Vibeke J Andersen Anne Døssing
Associated members Bodil Margrethe Nielsen (PhD student at COMA, but with main supervisor from SAGA) Andreas Jørgensen (PhD student, University of Greenland) Jeppe Gustafsson, (Associate professor at the Department of Business and Management) Professor emeritus Finn Borum (Copenhagen Business School, Denmark) (COMA-SOC) Professor Barbara Czarniawska (Gothenburg University, Sweden)
Figure 6.A. Staff development (COMA-SOC) 2013- 2017 12
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RESEARCH TRAINING (PHD) During the period, six PhD students have been enrolled (plus Andreas Jørgensen, PhD student from Greenland University). One changed supervisor after approximately 1.5 years. The new
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supervisor belongs to the research group SAGA. Therefore, only five PhD-students are registered in figure 6.B. In 2018, they have all completed their PhD degree. See text on our research group and teaching activities for descriptions of how we include PhD students in the research group’s work and aim to produce a safe social learning environment where learning through participation is prioritised and the potential challenges of PhD life are acknowledged and addressed.
Figure 6.B. PhD enrolment and graduation 2013- 2017 3
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CONTINUED CONSOLIDATION COMA wishes to continue to develop and create settings that promote individual and collective endeavours to deliver recognised research and teaching within COMA’s field of research through:
• frequent meetings and seminars where COMA members primarily present their research and secondarily their teaching and receive thorough, constructive and qualified feedback on their work; • exploiting potential synergies relating to knowledge sharing and coordinating research and teaching activities transcending departments and faculties at Aalborg University; • ensuring that COMA members take part in and initiate national and international research networks, conferences and other types of cooperation within COMA’s field of research.
COMA members share a number of research topics, which indicates a basis for additional joint ventures. This could be a feature issue of a journal, a book with multiple contributors from COMA or a major research project/programme. Under the heading of “consolidation”, we will therefore take a more ambitious approach to promoting synergy and a greater degree of interdisciplinary teamwork involving group members. However, going forward, the retention and further strengthening of research into the healthcare system’s organisation and management, which constructively unites COMA members at this Department, will also be given high priority.
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6.4 ACTIVITIES, OUTPUT AND ACADEMIC IMPACT
TALENT MANAGEMENT/RESEARCH TRAINING We have a research group that works well together, is doing well and making a positive, helpful contribution to each other’s work. We have some very constructive routines at COMA that support the working environment and cooperation and provide settings for academic feedback, mentoring and project concepts. It is particularly worth mentioning that PhD students take precedence at the meetings, both in terms of receiving feedback on papers and when they manage the commentator role. Much of the researcher education is ‘apprenticeship’ learning, and our COMA meetings support this important concept. Our research group is highly motivated and has great potential for development. The group is brimming with relevant ideas and works well as a team both internally at the department and at COMA. PhD students are encouraged and supported in their efforts to take part in international conferences as well as stays abroad where COMA gladly mediates contacts with relevant universities. We have employed research assistants in the Intersectional Management project, which we hope will continue in the form of PhD positions. They participate in COMA meetings, where it is possible for them to give and receive feedback on papers and be generally included in the research environment. Also, we make use of student assistants and, in the first half of 2018, we hosted a research trainee from the sociology programme. This can be seen as part of testing and recruitment of talents.
TEACHING (RESEARCH-BASED) COMA-SOC manages key teaching tasks in the academic field of organisational sociology (broadly defined), particularly in the area of sociology and the Master’s programme in Social Work. Lectures are given to a minor extent in the department’s international master’s programmes, as well as at MBU. COMA-members provide the instruction at the Department of Political Science, and particularly for the Master’s in Public Administration and Public Management programmes. This creates academic solidarity and flexibility and lessens vulnerability in the event of illness at COMA overall. In addition to the general embedment in organisational sociology and theoretical research, this teaching is based on the instructors’ research into public organisations and forms of organisation, professional sociology, sociology of work, management research, theories on organisational change processes and innovation. These topics are included in the following current COMA research projects: Organisation and Management at a University Hospital (FLO), Patient Experiences at a Diagnostics Centre, Interdisciplinary Management, and Interdisciplinary Management/Innovative Forms of Collaboration. COMA-SOC is also active in teaching advanced qualitative methods to sociology students (w. Morten Kyed) and in the Master Thesis preparation course for sociology students. In addition, COMA-SOC teaches academic writing for bachelor students, 2nd semester at the master programmes of Sociology, Criminology, and Social Work, as well as co-teach the PhD course ‘Skriverliv’ (Writing Life) with Charlotte Wegener. This teaching draws on COMA-SOC’s research into academic writing, including in the research project “Open Writing: The Missing Link in the Open Science Agenda” (funded by the Swedish Research Council).
IMPACT, HIGHER INFLUENCE AND DISSEMINATION In order to obtain external funding and find suitable partners, it is important for COMA to maintain a high, well-reputed profile in the public and private sectors with which COMA interacts. To live up to the vision, the researchers wish to render their research useful by disseminating the results to relevant stakeholders. Therefore, there are plans to hold an
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annual themed day for public-sector partners and stakeholders where the group presents significant research results.
Each year, COMA-SOC holds a series of lectures for the public sector (e.g., Local Government Denmark, Danish Regions, trade unions, social and health institutions, individual municipalities and regions) and presentations in regional management development programmes, cooperation conferences and themed days.
Finally, we wish to develop our sizeable methodological contributions to the Danish impact agenda: we are a group of researchers with vast experience with collaborative impact studies and collaborative projects between research and practice. We have good collaborative relationships with the North Denmark Region, the Central Denmark Region and the Capital Region of Denmark, which is apparent from the list of activities above.
EXTERNAL FUNDING According to figure 6.C, four projects (including a postdoc, 50% of a PhD and two times funding to the same project from Region North of Denmark) amounted to DKK 5,394,472. It illustrates some experience with external funding, but it is an important part of our strategic development to increase and improve external funding.
Figure 6.C. New grants and sources 2013-2017 2.500.000,00 DKK
2.000.000,00 DKK
1.500.000,00 DKK Other government funds 1.000.000,00 DKK
500.000,00 DKK
- DKK 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017
PUBLICATIONS COMA-TOTAL has obtained 97 BFI points (documentation available upon request). COMA-SOC accounts for approximately 35 distributed as follows:
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Figure 6.D. BFI points 2013-2017 40 35 30 25 20 15 10 5 0 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 Total 1 and 2
Level 1 Level 2
There is room for improvements in terms of increasing the number of level-2 articles or monographs. Due to decline in staff especially in the last two years of the period, we see a ‘natural’ decline of BFI points since COMA-SOC only counts for a few permanent staff members.
Figure 6.E. Publications by language 2013 - 2017 80 70 60 50 English 40 Danish 30 Other 20 Total 10 0 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017
The publications are in Danish and primarily English (approximately 60% over the period), cf. figure 6.E.
THIRD MISSION ACTIVITIES We must underline our desire to engage in third mission activities and collaborate with organisations to bring academia and practice closer together. We ensure this impact through keynote speaks at numerous national (and less at international) conferences, meetings with our external funding partners and via lectures to individual municipalities and regions in Denmark. In addition, Danish Medical Association, Danish Nursing Association, Danish Society for Quality in Health Care and the like often invite us as keynote speakers.
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At COMA-SOC, we are key note-speakers about Managing and Organising Danish Health Care on occasions like annual conferences in connection to the Association of Danish Regions and the Association of Danish Municipalities These keynotes are held several times per year and reach more than 1,000 decision-makers (top management and politicians) at a time. We debate and discuss approximately once a month with decision-makers at practitioner conferences and seminars.
Through our (externally funded) research projects, we achieve a certain impact on decision- making in Danish health care. The next section illustrates this impact through our longitudinal trailing project concerning Aalborg University Hospital (AAUH).
As far as the press/mass media are concerned, we are almost not present, as our core research activities are aimed not at the general public, but at managers, consultants, and decision-makers in the public sector. We therefore prioritise events and outlets relevant for these stakeholders.
6.5 SOCIETAL IMPACT
Our example in the following draws on a case study of an ambitious organisational development initiative at Aalborg University Hospital (AAUH) in Northern Region of Denmark. The goal of the change initiative was to develop new modes of organising, managing and collaborating in order to promote integration across professional and organisational boundaries and improve coherence and quality in patient pathways within the hospital and between hospital units and external parties involved in health care.
Our research group has followed the change initiative since the beginning of the implementation in January 2013. The overall purpose of the study is to explore the main features of the change and identify critical challenges for managers and employees to improve our understanding and gain more knowledge of dynamics related to the creation of coherent patient flows through horizontal integration.
The change initiative primarily contains three management innovations: reorganisation of the overall clinical structure, new management structure, and development of new concepts for cross-boundary coordination.
The research has been funded with 1.6 million DKK by Northern Region of Denmark and Aalborg University Hospital. Throughout the research period, we have had several meetings with top management at the regional and hospital level. We have reported the results on several occasions at regional, national and international events/conferences. Since health care almost all over the world is struggling against fragmented care, the Aalborg University Hospital initiative and our research have attracted great national and international interest. Especially at international conferences, e.g., at IJIC (International Journal of Integrated Care) in Berlin and Budapest, at EGOS (European Group of Organisation Studies) in Copenhagen, at EGPA (European Group of Politics and Administration) in Budapest and at the World Nursing Association in Las Vegas.
As a very concrete impact, the hospital's (Denmark’s third largest) annual action plans were revised in 2015 and 2016 in accordance with our research report from 2015 (including meetings, presentation of results etc.).
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PANEL EVALUATION COMA
Observations COMA is a cross-departmental research group, or centre. The majority of the members belong to the Department of Politics and Society, and two members are employed the Department of Sociology and Social Work (ISS). Only the ISS part of the group, COMA-SOC, is described in the report. COMA was established in 2012, with the present leader of COMA- SOC as initiator. The number of members in COMA-SOC had risen to 10 in 2015, but dropped to 5 in 2017 and two in 2020. The present members are both sociologists with organisational sociology as speciality. The research area has shifted from social services/the organ to a focus on interorganisational collaboration and health services. The members of the group are responsible for teaching in social, sociology, as well as in programmes at the Department of Politics and Society.
The centre, or at least the COMA-SOC part, has no PhD student today, whereas six were enrolled during 2013 and 2017. During the evaluation period, the group obtained approximately DKK 5 million from regional funds, which included funding of a postdoc and part of a PhD position. Funding has so far mainly been obtained from regional and national sources, but applications were also submitted to Nordic and EU funds. The group has strong relations to public agencies and has engaged in large research projects in the North Denmark Region (Nordjylland) and latest the Capital Region. It has had societal impact via research in development processes in, for instance, hospitals and municipalities. The group participates and is invited as keynote speaker at national and international conferences.
COMA members have quite high BFI points, and the publications are mainly in English. They have extensive collaboration with Nordic and international researchers. Consolidation with continued focus on research on the management and coordination of health care services is central to the strategy of the group as is further engagement in the challenges of public and private sector health care service and dissemination of research to the public.
Recommendations The members of COMA-SOC describe themselves as having a somewhat peripheral role at the department, even if their knowledge and qualifications are needed for teaching purposes. Their research interests only partially fit with the interests of other groups at ISS (work sociology is mentioned), and they obviously collaborate closer with members of COMA from the Department of Politics and Society. This constellation seems fragile, at least for COMA-SOC, and we question its viability in the long run. The founder of COMA, professor Seeman, makes a strong case for the need to connect micro and macro perspectives and for cross-disciplinary collaboration. We support that, and even if it should prove difficult to obtain in research, it is necessary that the perspectives represented by COMA members are included in the education of future social workers and sociologist. Organisational sociology is offered on master’s level and for students of social work at bachelor level where COMA also lectures.
When it comes to further development and strategies, it is probably more interesting, and more relevant, to discuss COMA as a whole, which is not included in this evaluation. However, the department will presumably need a strategy for the future development of the group if they want to continue the collaboration in COMA. We suggest that the department initiate a dialogue about this with the group members. One position has been announced
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lately, and they have applied for two PhDs. COMA seems to be a successful and strong research group with solid research, publications, and presence in the academic field of public administration, management and organisational theory. COMA-SOC emphasises its engagement with practice, for instance in workshops and conferences.
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7. PRACTICE RESEARCH AND SERVICE USER PERSPECTIVES (P&B)
7.1 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY AND FUTURE PLANS
The Practice Research and Service User Perspective research group consists of 11 members from Aalborg University and collaborating University Colleges. The group is characterised by:
• Establishing research processes aiming at developing and qualifying social work practice through close collaboration with social work practitioners and service users • Developing understandings, definitions, theoretical foundations of practice research and service user perspectives • Testing understandings, definitions and theory in social work practice
Group activities focus on identifying and developing 1) theoretical understandings and definitions, 2) methodological approaches and 3) practical and empirical testing of practice research and service user perspectives.
Based on these characteristics and activities, the main aims of the research group are to:
• Develop, identify and conceptualise practice research, including the theoretical, methodological profession-developing and practice-developing foundation • Initiate specific practice-research projects, including individual projects, permanent collaborative projects with municipalities, regions and institutions, and overarching projects supported by sizeable research grants • Develop understandings and definitions of service user perspectives, as well as research in service user perspectives • Elaborate forms of knowledge in the interplay between empirical, methodological and theoretical implications of service user perspectives • Develop, test, analyse and discuss service user-controlled or service user-involving research strategies and projects within the field of social work
The group has a central position nationally and internationally in the development of practice research and service user perspectives, and future plans will concentrate on sustaining and enhancing this position by focusing on the following specific activities: Continue the ongoing development of definitions and theoretical perspectives; participate in national and international research projects; initiate research projects in collaboration with practitioners/service users; publish nationally and internationally; uphold and enlarge international networks; develop national networks in practice research; plan and host the 6th international conference on practice Research; initiate at least one PhD position; create one or two postdoc positions; associate coming assistant professors to the area; apply for an international doctoral school in collaboration with European
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7.2. RESEARCH PROFILE AND STRATEGY OF THE RESEARCH GROUP
PROFILE The focal point of the research group is to identify and develop 1) theoretical understandings and definitions, 2) methodological approaches and 3) practical and empirical testing of practice research and service user perspectives. The focus is based on the mentioned three areas individually as well as on their mutual interrelationship, and has a particular emphasis on perspectives for developing practice and professions relating to social work.
The group is concerned with the fact that descriptions, development and research occur in differentiated types of collaboration among service users, practice and research, whereby specific collaboratively initiated research projects in themselves contribute to a heightened understanding of the issues and possibilities in practice research and in service user perspectives. The research group emphasises that collaborative projects including practice and service users must contribute to tangible development and to initiating learning processes in practice and research. The research group approaches the field of practice with an appreciation of social work practice as wide-ranging, knowledgeable and meaningful for the generation of knowledge in the field and thus for practice research. The aim is to strengthen processes of involvement and the impact of scientific knowledge in practice and hence acknowledge different kinds of knowledge as a basis for establishing practice research and learning processes.
The aim of the research group is to: • Develop, identify and conceptualise practice research, including the theoretical, methodological profession-developing and practice-developing foundation • Initiate specific practice-research projects, including individual projects, permanent collaborative projects with municipalities, regions and organisations, and overarching projects supported by sizeable research grants • Develop understandings and definitions of service user perspectives, as well as research in service user perspectives • Elaborate forms of knowledge in the interplay between empirical, methodological and theoretical implications of service user perspectives • Develop, test, analyse and discuss service user-controlled or service user-involving research strategies and projects within the field of social work
The research group’s work falls within three fields: practice research and service user perspectives as independent areas, and the interplay between practice research and service user perspectives.
Two perspectives are given priority in relation to practice research: • Abstract and theoretical identifications of what constitutes practice research, e.g., through participation in the development and discussion of practice research in Denmark and abroad – including describing and problematising methodological challenges and differences/similarities with adjacent research approaches. The group is specifically interested in developing research where service users are involved as co-researchers and thereby enabling the linking of practice research and service user perspectives • Initiating specific practice-research projects aimed at developing and improving both practices and research, but also enhancing the potential of using lessons learnt to further qualify practice research and critical discussions relating to it
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In relation to service user perspectives, the focus is on: • Developing research projects whose focal point is service user experiences and preferences as an interface with professionals and authorities, but also as an interface with volunteers and private organisations • Developing the way social work understands and copes with service user perspectives in practice. Service user-controlled and -involved research challenges and develops familiar research approaches and methods, and it contributes to the development of new methodological approaches relating to social work aimed at disadvantaged and vulnerable service user groups. This calls for new types of collaboration in and around the research as well as entering into learning processes together with service users, authorities, organisations, professionals, volunteers, etc. and, hence, influence the development of both social work research and social work practice – and further underpin the link between practice research and service user perspectives
Concerning the interplay between practice research and service user perspectives the focus is to: • Link service user perspectives with practice research methodology and ideology by developing research, including service users as participants, consultants or stakeholders and by analysing the possibilities and challenges in research collaboration • Analyse whether and how experiences from service user participation in research can be transferred to social work and vice versa.
GOALS WITHIN THE NEXT FOUR YEARS Representatives of the group have during the last 10 years obtained a central position in the development of practice research in social work through participation in the international group of researchers planning the five international conferences on social work practice research. We have also taken initiatives to establish a special interest group on practice research in the European Social Work Research Association and a Nordic network of practice research in social work within the Nordic research association. Members of the group have headed both networks, delivered several keynotes, oral presentations, symposiums and workshops on the topic at national and international conferences, and have published more than 40 articles and book chapters on practice research. The group will follow up these positions, initiatives and activities by continuing the participation in national and internationals forums, by developing and defining notions, approaches and theoretical perspectives in practice research and service user perspectives, by arranging an international conference on practice research with the overarching topic: service users’ participation, and by continuing publishing within the topics.
Members of the group have participated in national and some international research projects as data-collecting researchers and as members of boards and/or planning committees. Likewise, members have participated in European and Nordic research applications, but without obtaining funding for a large national or international research project. Thus, one goal is to launch one national and one or two international research projects, which include both practice research and service user perspectives. To reach this goal, members participate in national and international research applications on an ongoing basis.
A central issue in practice research is to support learning and impact processes in social work practice – to participate in the knowledge production in social work. This is supported by
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large-scale research projects and by small-scale and locally based projects. Besides applying for large-scale research funding, the understanding of practice research as locally bound and connected to local learning processes emphasises the importance of also initiating small-scale research projects in collaboration with practitioners/service users. This goal is reached by including practitioners and/or service users in university-based applications and by establishing local projects funded by municipalities, organisations and foundations.
To strengthen the group and internal collaboration, publications are often planned in groups when relevant. Whenever a publication is planned, groups of different sizes work together to publish it. It is our plan to continue this tradition and collective learning process. Members expect to publish nationally and internationally, including participating in a national and an international book about practice research. While working with the research evaluation, the latter goal is almost fulfilled as three group members participate with 2-3 chapters in a national book – expected to be published in 2020 – and with four chapters in an international book expected to be published May 2020.
Group members are participating in national, Nordic and international networks in practice research and service user involvement. The goal is to both uphold and enlarge these networks. This goal will be reached by initiating and supporting ideas for relevant networks and via the central board positions members have in existing networks.
The international conferences on practice research are a fulcrum for national and international development of practice research and service user-focused research. Group members have not only participated in the conferences, but have also been heavily involved in developing and planning them and the following statements. The group aims to participate in the 5th conference in Practice Research hosted by the University of Melbourne, Australia in 2020. Likewise, our goal is to host the 6th international conference on practice at Aalborg University. For the 2020 conference, two symposium proposals and five individual abstracts have been submitted – and one member is invited as keynote. For the 6th conference, the group has officially informed the international committee that Aalborg University would like to host the conference.
To support the balanced age difference in the group, we aim to initiate at least one PhD position, create one or two postdoc positions, as well as associate coming assistant professors to the area. During the work with the research evaluation, the group has already been supplemented with one young PhD student. One group member is part of an international consortium applying for Marie Curie ITN research programme in which two PhD students are allocated to Aalborg University. The group will include postdoc’s in the above-mentioned research applications and will support present PhD students and postdocs in obtaining assistant professorships. The group is open to both internal and external researchers focusing on practice research and service user involvement. The group will discuss how close the connection to the group will be.
STRATEGIC RESEARCH AND INDEPENDENT RESEARCH INITIATIVES • To be included in at least one Horizon 2020 application in collaboration with international partners. The application is expected to be submitted in March 2020. The point of departure for the collaboration is a well-functioning and multi-year cooperation around the Erasmus Mundus Master’s Programme in Advanced Development in Social Work as well as a completed pilot project and a previously submitted highly scored Horizon 2020 project
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• To participate in an international application in collaboration with an already established network comprising universities from all the Nordic countries and with a view to initiate a comparative study of youth unemployment including the involvement of unemployed youths. The network has already held four exploratory workshops in the period 2015–2017, will launch a book in 2020 and it is currently exploring possible funding for the project • To participate in an application for Marie Curie ITN funds with a view to establishing a research school in cooperation with universities from UK, Portugal, France, Poland and Greece. The project is expected to strengthen the research group’s profile by adding PhDs and to intensify the research into service user perspectives and the link between practice research and service user perspectives. Application will be submitted in January 2020. • To initiate and/or be involved in a number of small-scale research projects in collaboration with social work practitioners and/or service users. As projects usually arise as part of established collaborative relationships, and as participation by partners in design and implementation has high priority, it is impossible to predict the number and content of projects • To expand the Nordic comparative project ‘Research on Welfare Services’: Social work and social policy in a local, national and international perspective. The cooperation comprises researchers from Umeå in Sweden and from the three Norwegian universities in Stavanger, Nordland and Agder. • To participate in an international comparative study ‘Social Work with Families (SWF)’: Social Workers’ constructions of family in professional practice. The project aims to describe and analyse how social workers working with families across different contexts understand notions of family and how they describe their own practices with families from a micro- and macro-perspective. The international research group has representatives from Norway, Sweden, Russia, UK, Australia, Spain, Argentina, Malawi, Mexico, Chile, South Africa, Finland, Iceland, Lithuania, USA and Denmark.
7.3 THE RESEARCH GROUP’S ORGANISATION, COMPOSITION, HISTORY AND FINANCING
Research staff as of 31 December 2017
Professor Lars Uggerhøj
Associate Professor Maja Lundemark Andersen
Teaching associate professor Kirsten Mejlvig
Assistant Professor Lene Ingemann Brandt
Postdoc Mette Rømer
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PhD student Pernille Wisti
University College based members of the group Kirsten Henriksen (Associate Professor, VIA University College) Liesanth Nirmalarajan (Assistant Professor, VIA University College) Sabine Jørgensen (Associate Professor, University College Copenhagen, SAB as main affiliation) Line Thoft Carlsen (PhD Student, Danish Cancer Society/Aalborg University, SAB as main affiliation) Maja Müller (PhD Student, University of Southern Denmark/University College Lillebælt)
Figure 7.A. Staff development 2013-2017 12
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As described below, the research group includes members from other research groups and/or institutions. Normally, PhD students follow the supervisor and are listed as members of the supervisor’s research group. Therefore, some of the members of this research group are listed as members in other groups. In reality, they are members of ‘Practice Research and Service User Perspectives’ because their field of research is connected to this group. Naturally, they still receive supervision from their supervisor connected to another group.
The Social Work Research Network (FoSo) at the Department of Sociology and Social Work was established in the beginning of the millennium as one big group. In 2013, the group was reorganised into an umbrella organisation with five research groups (from 2018, seven groups). Since the establishment in early 2013, the ‘Practice Research and Service User Perspectives’ group has been committed to increasing its volume and the number of young researchers. Both goals have been achieved. The group has grown from five to eleven members and from having been one professor, three associate professors and only two PhD students, where now four out of seven newly admitted members are young (one person left the group because of a change of job before the end of 2017). The age profile is almost equally divided into one third in the 30th, one third in the 40th and one third over 50.
The research group differs from other groups at the department by representing primarily members with a social work background. Social work bachelors in Denmark are – just like nurses, pedagogues, teachers etc. – educated as professional bachelors, normally based at
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University Colleges and, hence, not directly connected to academic work and traditions at universities. Although Aalborg University represents an exception by offering a social work bachelor degree, all other social work programmes in Denmark are based at university colleges. In 1992, Aalborg University launched a master’s programme in social work and through this opened for a PhD level in social work. The master’s and the doctoral levels are placed at universities. All but one member has a professional bachelor background, and all have practiced social work. Eight research group members have graduated from Aalborg University’s master’s programme in social work, and nine members have completed or will complete their doctoral programme at Aalborg University. Denmark’s first PhD in social work graduated in 1995, and very few graduated over the next years. The research group represents the boom of PhDs in social work in Denmark in the last 10 years.
It has been important for the group to be open and flexible to attract members who are enthusiastic about the practice research and service user perspective topic(s) and hereby also to attract members from outside Aalborg University. All present members have or have had connections to Aalborg University. The commitment to the main topics is more important than the specific and present engagement with Aalborg University. Some research colleagues from outside Aalborg University have difficulties finding research colleagues who share their research interest in practice research and/or service user perspectives. To support these colleagues, to connect to different social work bachelor programmes, to bring new ideas, new knowledge and new perspectives into the group, ‘outsiders’ from the university colleges VIA, Copenhagen and Lillebælt have been invited into the group. From 2013 to 2017, four members have represented institutions outside Aalborg University. The members from university colleges are not looked upon as associated members but as full time members. They participate in all meetings and collectively in publications, research projects, conference presentations etc. The group is also open to visiting colleagues. In 2019/2020, PhD students from China and Norway will join the group temporarily, and in the spring semester 2020, an invited professor of social work from University of Auckland, New Zealand with expertise in practice research will visit the group.
As FoSo members, the group members take part in two annual joint events in May/June and December respectively. The Practice Research and Service User Perspectives group meets at least every two months, usually in half-day meetings. As some group members reside in Copenhagen, some in Aarhus and some in Odense, it is occasionally possible to attend meetings via Skype. The research group leader heads the group and sends out agendas for meetings to group members. Group members take turns taking minutes from each meeting. The group gives priority to a diversified composition, but with the key issues connected to the group’s overarching topic: Practice Research and Service User Perspectives. The group is open to projects and activities in the periphery of the group profile and to accepting different interests, understandings of practice research and service user perspectives, and research activities being developed towards the profile. The group is in every research project, publishing activity, development and learning approach focused on defining – and re-defining – the overarching topic, partly to ensure a common frame of reference and partly to ensure that all members feel ‘at home’ in the group.
Priority is given to joint projects, although group members also have their own projects and collaborate in these contexts with partners outside the group. The group seeks to write articles/chapters together and jointly contribute to workshops/symposia at relevant conferences for the purpose of using these joint activities to identify scientific possibilities and challenges and to strengthen the publishing strategy. Often group members work together
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in research projects and/or invite group members into a project once it is funded. The possibilities of joint productions, usually comprising two to five people, are discussed at group meetings.
There is a tradition of one or two members presenting drafts/work in progress of articles/chapters or ongoing research projects at group meetings.The presented papers are subsequently critically discussed by the group. The group emphasises the possibility of being inspired and getting support at the meetings, but also that individual members offer their services as support/respondent/critical friend between the meetings. If relevant, the group invites researchers, teachers, students or practitioners focusing on the main topics to participate in presentations and discussions at research group meetings. These invitations can either be based on approaches from a person or from an approach from the research group. Group members are often connected to other research groups – either as permanent members or on short-time basis. Practice research and service user perspectives are themes included in the work of several research groups in house as well as in other national and international research network and projects. Therefore, interdisciplinary meetings, research collaboration and co-publication outside the group are a natural part of the work in the group. Members often serve as consultants, opponents and/or partners in identifying and conducting research projects within the overarching themes of the group, or members of other research groups are invited to participate in discussions and developments of research projects or publications.
The group’s history, development and profile are characterised by a focus on practice research as an immature and still young research approach, a specific focus on international perspectives in social work and an aim to support collaboration between practice and research in social work. Since 2008, before the establishment of the group, members have been engaged in the development of practice research. As mentioned, group members have been involved in preparing and publishing the existing four international statements in practice research, in arranging the four organised international conferences – in Salisbury, UK, Helsinki, Finland, New York, USA and Hong Kong, China – and involved in the 2020 conference in Melbourne, Australia. The group expects to host the next international practice research conference in 2023. The international perspective has been connected to the development of practice research and the international discussion of service user involvement, but also to the development of two international master’s programmes where the Aalborg University semesters aim at practice research and service user perspectives. To establish connection between research and practice and to emphasise impact in practice, the group has specific focus on meeting with representatives from practice to talk about collaboration, to develop research projects, to present practice research and service user perspectives at social work conferences. Moreover, to emphasise writing articles in journals read by social work practitioners – sometimes at the expense of more academic journals and especially level- 2 articles. This is why the group has a high level of activities – meetings, presentations etc. – probably at the expense of more academic publications, as seen below in section 4.
7.4 RESEARCH GROUP ACTIVITIES AND OUTPUT
PUBLICATIONS As seen in figure 7.B, the research group has a growing number of BFI-points from 2015 to 2017. There is a growing number of Danish publication and a rather stable number of publications in English (cf. figure 7.C). The improvement of international collaboration concerning practice research, research applications and development of master’s programmes
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have increased the number of English publications from 2017. Publication output is limited at the moment as many members are working on their doctoral (monograph) dissertation and need to focus on this instead of publishing articles. This problem is expected to disappear as department policy stipulates that present and future PhD students write article-based dissertations.
Figure 7.B. BFI points 2013-2017 25
20
15
10
5
0 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 Total 1 and 2
Level 1 Level 2
The information about publications delivered by the Aalborg University Library (VBN database) does not cover publications from group members positioned outside Aalborg University. To give a more accurate and comprehensive picture of the number of publications in the group, it can be added that the total number of Danish publications is 46 and that total publication is 61.
The reason for adding published books, chapters not registered in VBN is that most publications released by members of the group are a result of the work, collaboration, critical discussions etc. in the group. In correlation with the division between published journal articles and book chapter there is a majority of book chapters in the group publication. This is probably motivated by several requests to group members to publish in textbooks for social work students and the fact that the field – especially practice research – is still new and that master’s programmes in social work are is still under development and in need of textbooks for courses and modules. Many group members are, for instance, now working on chapters for The Routledge Handbook of Practice Research.
To further explain the development in (international) publications, and its impact especially after 2017 – It is necessary to include the history of Danish social work at an academic level.
As mentioned above, social work bachelors – in Danish named professional bachelors – are educated at university colleges where teaching does not have to be research-based and with no possibilities of obtaining a master’s or a PhD degree. The first – and only – Master in Social Work – was launched at Aalborg University in 1992, and the first PhD in social work graduated in 1995. Consequently, very little research and a vanishingly small number of publications in journals and books have been produced within social work before the millennium. After 2000, the number of academic social work publications grew, but they were primarily written in Danish. After 2010, the number of publications in English slowly started
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growing. The main goal for social work researchers and especially for this group – due to its practice research focus – has therefore been to support development in social work and, hence, to write articles for Danish social work practitioners rather than international academic journals. The culture has changed due to the focus on publishing in English and on BFI level 1 and 2 articles, but also as a result of the increasingly academic approach to social work research.
Figure 7.C. Publications by language 2013 - 2017 18 16 14 12 English 10 Danish 8 Other 6 Total 4 2 0 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017
Although it continues to strengthen its international publication rate, the group will still prioritise publishing in Danish, in social work textbooks and – when possible – social work practice magazines.
RESEARCH TRAINING (PHD) As described above, the group has prioritised having PhD students and young researchers as members. There is focus on the need for a continuous infusion of PhD scholarships to maintain a flow from PhD grants to assistant professorships, postdocs, associate professorships to professorships. This is done by being attentive to research applications and annual specification of positions needed. Both practice research and service user perspectives are in great need of increased research and testing.
PhD students and young researchers (postdocs and assistant professors) are approached and supported in different ways. While PhD students have one or two supervisors supporting throughout their project, assistant professors and postdocs are supported by research colleagues and the head of the research group and therefore often feel left more alone. To change this situation, the research group supports all young researchers the same way in addition to the more formal support from supervisors and heads of the research groups. Therefore, the descriptions of activities directed at both groups are combined in the following.
The research group’s prioritisation of PhD students and young researchers is implemented in terms of teaching, research, publication and organisation. In terms of teaching, senior researchers are aware of involving young researchers in teaching programmes in general and specifically in their own research. Senior researchers have teaching and planning duties in the Social Work Bachelor’s Programme, the Social Work Master’s Programme, the Master’s Programme in Advanced Development in Social Work and the Nordic Master's Programme in
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Social Work and Welfare. In addition, there are connections to social work teaching at the University Colleges VIA, Lillebælt and Copenhagen. The current young researchers teach individually and co-teach with senior group members. Besides developing the knowledge of and teaching in practice research and service user involvement, the coordinator of the Nordic Master’s Programme in Social Work and Welfare, who is a senior researcher in the group, has chosen to offer the topic Practice Research and Service User Perspectives. This has underlined the research-based teaching for members of the group in general and for young researchers specifically. In terms of research, all ongoing and newly started research projects are discussed at the group’s regular meetings. The joint projects in the group are conducted specifically with young researchers in mind to support their possibilities of becoming involved in funded research projects. As a young researcher, it is often difficult to get a grant accepted. Collaboration with senior researchers can support participation in research projects and provide valuable procedural experience and networking. Likewise, the joint publications are a possibility to start publishing at an early stage in the PhD programme. This can take place on the basis of joint research projects or joint presentations at conferences with subsequent publication and/or by submitting joint abstracts in response to calls from journals. Also, young researchers are involved in appointed committees for local, national and international conferences. In terms of organisation, the young researchers are involved on an ongoing basis in the development of the research group and in planning group conferences and seminars. Some of the young researchers carry out coordinating tasks for study programmes.
In general, the group prioritises involvement of young researchers involved in activities, which can further qualify them and provide relevant experience for developing their expertise in teaching and research and their future career at the university and in practice. The focus of social work practice is both to understand research and development issues in practice and to collaborate directly with practice. The research leader regularly invites young researchers and specifically postdocs and assistant professors to talk about their future plans, and senior researchers conduct formal and informal interviews with young researchers about their plans for the future.
From 2013 to 2017, the group has attracted one university-funded PhD and one postdoc.
Figure 7.D. PhD enrolment and graduation 2013-2017 2
1 New enrolment Graduated
0 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017
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EXTERNAL FUNDING In the period 2013-2017, research group members have obtained funding for research projects, research networks and research conferences. In addition, members have been involved in two H2020 applications and three private funding applications, which did not received support. Six out of 11 members are PhD students and therefore already have their own research projects. The group would like to initiate more funded research but is challenged in different ways: Only five members can apply; rejected applications have consumed a lot of time; some members are based in organisations with less focus on large research applications. Further, successful applications to the Council of Nordic Ministers and the European Erasmus Mundus programme – both targeting international master programmes in social work – have been prioritised, and senior members of the group have been involved in leading the master programme in social work and two international programmes in social work.
Besides, practice research processes include time to build up close collaboration and relationships with partners before funding can be applied. The experience is also that research councils show little interest in supporting or fully funding local practice research projects. The approach and the small projects are often looked upon as ‘research light’ in traditional scientific understandings. The academic doubt about the status of practice research therefore makes it difficult to obtain funding. The group is still focused on obtaining both small- and large-scale funding.
Figure 7.E. New grants and sources 2013- 2017 600.000 DKK
500.000 DKK Nordic funds 400.000 DKK Internal funding
300.000 DKK EU funds Other government funds 200.000 DKK Private funds 100.000 DKK Danish research councils - DKK 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017
THIRD MISSION ACTIVITIES Third mission activities lie, so to speak, in the DNA of the research group. As described later in the ‘impact section’, one overarching goal is to participate in the development of social work practice and to implement practice research processes into learning processes in social work practice.
To emphasise these processes, the focus is on participatory practice research processes where practitioners and service users are involved as stakeholders. The research is expected to have an impact from the very beginning of a project (please see the description of societal impact below).
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7.5 RESEARCH AND TEACHING COHERENCE
There is strong coherence between the research group’s profile regarding practice research/service user perspectives and the teaching obligations in the group. As a part of teaching obligations, all group members have taught practice research topics in several different study programmes at Aalborg University as well as externally at other educational institutions and some teach service user perspectives in different programmes. Concerning more general themes in social work, members of the research group have been and still are affiliated with several study programmes at Aalborg University, primarily the Social Work Bachelor’s Programme, the Social Work Master’s Programme, the international programmes Master in Advanced Development in Social Work and Nordic Master in Social Work and Welfare and the Master in Criminology. Via external members, the group is affiliated with the social work bachelor’s programmes at the University Colleges VIA, Copenhagen and Lillebælt. In all mentioned programmes, practice research is an embedded subject in the programme curriculum, while service user perspectives are embedded in most of the programmes.
The members’ teaching activities are related to the research group’s profile in the sense that all members have taught core elements of practice research and several have taught service user perspectives. This includes practice research as a concept to combine practice and research in developing social work, the methodological use and research outputs of combining practice and research as well as how to design practice research projects and conduct practice research-based field studies in different institutional contexts. In relation to the teaching philosophy of Aalborg University, problem-based learning, student exercises in conducting practice research in field studies are embodied aspects in the master programmes of social work. These exercises train the students’ ability to design and analyse a practice research-based study. The teaching activities have been textbook-based, but most of the teaching has been research-based and, hence, directly affiliated with the group members’ research.
As mentioned, the group is strongly engaged in different kinds of teaching obligations where practice research as concept, activity and methodology play a dominant role. The coherence between the research profile regarding user perspective and teaching obligations is an aspect the research group would like to include more solidly in the future. It must be noted that the research group played a key role in the initiation and establishment of the Nordic Master Programme in Social Work and Welfare, which was launched in 2017 in cooperation with two other Scandinavian universities. The headline and core subject of the semester the students take at Aalborg University (module 7) is practice research and service user perspectives. The establishment of the Nordic Master Programme in Social Work and Welfare has strengthened the coherence between the research profile on user perspectives and the teaching obligations of the group members. The Nordic Master Programme has given rise to reflections on how to implement the research group’s profile regarding user perspectives more solidly in the group members’ teaching obligations. In addition to the overall topic for the Master in Advanced Development in Social Work, ‘Power Relations and Actor Perspective’ focuses specifically on service user experiences and perspectives.
The members’ teaching activities are dispersed as follows: PhD supervision and doctoral courses: Lars Uggerhøj and Maja Lundemark Andersen Master in Social Work, Aalborg University: Maja Lundemark, Kirsten Mejlvig, Pernille Wisti, Liesanth Nirmalarajan, Mette Rømer and Lars Uggerhøj Master in Criminology, Aalborg University: Mette Rømer
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Master in Knowledge Based Social Work, Aalborg University: Lars Uggerhøj and Kirsten Mejlvig Master in Advanced Development in Social Work, University of Lincoln, University of Lisbon, University Paris Nanterre, Warsaw University and Aalborg University: Lars Uggerhøj and Mette Rømer Master in Social Work and Welfare, University of Stavanger, University of Umeå and Aalborg University: Lars Uggerhøj, Maja Lundemark Andersen, Lene Ingemann Brandt, Kirsten Mejlvig, Pernille Wisti and Mette Rømer Bachelor in Social Work, Aalborg University: Kirsten Mejlvig, Lene Ingemann Brandt, Mette Rømer and Pernille Wisti Bachelor in Social Work, University College Copenhagen: Sabine Jørgensen Bachelor in Social Work, University College VIA: Liesanth Nirmalarajan Bachelor in Social Work, University College Lillebælt: Maja Müller
7.6 SOCIETAL IMPACT
Social impact is generated by constantly changing processes of learning, collaboration and negotiation between researchers and different stakeholders like practitioners, service users, managers etc. Through such processes, the collaboration is characterised by a joint responsibility with the purpose to qualify social work practices and to ensure useful impact for the stakeholders at all levels. The differentiation of the social impact can be divided into three overlapping categories:
Scientific impact: development in theoretical and conceptual interpretations of practice research and research including service user perspective, communicated through articles in international and Danish scientific journals, book chapters, other scientific publications, and presentations at international and national conferences. Practical impact: Danish journals relevant to practitioners (see section 4), service users and managers etc. Scientific knowledge like communication and discussions in multiple networks of stakeholders, e.g., municipalities, the National Board of Social Services etc.
The general social impact is ensured through research-based education in social work at BA, MA and doctoral levels at Aalborg University and University Colleges. Actions related to such educations can therefore be seen as both scientific and practical impact.
INTRODUCTION TO SOCIAL IMPACT IN A CASE EXAMPLE As described above, the reason for having a practice research focus in the research group is to develop research and learning processes which, through close collaboration among researchers, practitioners and service users, can be incorporated into qualifying processes in practice. This changes the roles of participating social workers and service users from informants to participants, making it instrumental in the development of research projects, discussions of analyses and results and the dissemination and conversion of findings. Researchers will be involved to a greater extent in negotiations and activities, which can ensure understanding and development in practice, negotiations where practitioners and service users are involved in the research design, in implementation and in activities where researchers enter into the learning process necessarily brought about by the conversion of findings and results. This gives the researcher an opportunity to monitor the conversion of research findings into practice, during the process and as a result of the completed research project – and thus supporting the impact of the research.
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The group has developed four types of practice research: Practice research on Social Work; Practitioner research; Participatory Practice research; Service User involving and/or controlled Practice research. All originating from explicit needs for strengthening the knowledge foundation of social work and qualifying practice. The case example below arises from a ‘Participatory Practice Research’ project.
The project Involvement in practice was carried out as a collaboration between three members of the group and a municipal department. The focus was involvement of young people. The initiative for the project was taken by practice and was based on a need to develop the collaboration between young people and social workers from the department.
To support the process, the department needed knowledge about the present collaboration and the understandings of involvement and collaboration among social workers and young people. During the first meeting between researchers, head of the municipal department and a municipality-based consultant, the idea, the needs, possible joint interests, funding, and research approach were discussed. To connect the research to the planned change in the collaboration with young people and, hence, the learning process, the researchers suggested a Participatory Practice Research approach. This would include ongoing meetings with the management to follow and adjust the research process and seminars with the department social workers to present and discuss the process and the findings. After two meeting, the focus of the research and the participatory practice research approach was jointly decided by the management and the researchers. Following this, more detailed negotiations took place and decisions were made concerning research questions, choice of methods, the analysis and reporting between researchers and municipal representatives. Prevalent work tasks were sorted out to ensure shared responsibility during the project. Through the negotiations, the researchers learned more about the decided issue, about challenges in practice and about the needed change, and the department representatives learned more about research processes and challenges. This knowledge was shared with mid-level managers and frontline social workers at meetings and seminars. At these meetings, the aims, frame, partial findings, final findings and ongoing consideration were presented and discussed. The impact was not regarded as a post-action but as a part of the research process. Hence, the impact started at the very first meetings and seminars where the research was defined and discussed and continued through the following meetings and seminars. This built greater understanding among participants of their needs, interests and perceptions of the issue collaborated on, as well as their tasks and cultures in general. This joint understanding and planning strengthened the opportunities to pinpoint issues, practice identified as relevant and made it possible to transfer this into research and the new knowledge into practice. Opportunities to ask questions, raise discussions of the project and of findings were combined with ongoing negotiations of the continuing process. The research data consisted of 15 observations managed by the researchers, 10 interviews conducted by a municipal consultant and 16 interviews conducted by a doctoral student. The different research methods supported the collective approach by being executed by both university and practice researchers. During seminars, frontline social workers were introduced to initial findings and had the opportunity to get first-hand knowledge and to comment on the findings before the final analyses, but also to help researchers choose where to focus the observations. Based on interviews with social workers, managers and service users, eight topics were relevant to study, but within the time frame it was only possible for the researchers to manage three topics. The researchers asked the social workers to choose three topics. This made social workers part of both the learning process and the research process, and it informed social workers at an early stage about initial findings and even made the social workers start to use findings and knowledge before
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the end of the research process. This made the impact of the research an ongoing process starting very early in the collaboration. After the presentation of final findings for social workers and managers, practice applied the new knowledge into daily tasks with the involvement of adolescents.
The described case underlines that impact in practice research is an ongoing and natural process – hence, the DNA mentioned above – that allows practitioners to use partial results during the process instead of waiting until the end and to understand or have findings explained to make it easier to implement in their daily practice.
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PANEL EVALUATION: PRACTICE RESEARCH AND SERVICE USER PERSPECTIVES (P&B)
Observations The Practice Research and User Involvement group is focused on building knowledge for practice through research grounded in direct practice. Consistent with this focus, the P&B is heavily focused on localised research activities, building knowledge through engagement with practitioners and promoting the voice of service users to influence policy and practice.
The research group was until 2016 part of the larger research group Research in Social Work, FOSO, which after reaching approximately 40 members split in five during 2013-2016. The total number of members in P&B increased from 6 to 11 from 2016 to 2017 and is still quite high. However, several of the members, including one PhD student, are employed by other institutions. In 2020, the core group at AAU consists of seven people: one postdoc, two PhD students, and one teaching associate professor who is also working on her PhD. The postdoc is affiliated with CASTOR. The members meet regularly every other month, and external members participate by digital media. P&B differs from the other RGs in that most of the members have a social work background.
While FOSO was an interdisciplinary collaboration concerned with social work research from a variety of approaches, P&B seems to have a more narrow perspective. The research interests are summarised under the overarching topic of practice research and service user perspectives. This includes the theoretical development of practice research and user involvement in research as well as in practice, a commitment to collaborative research and to the further development of practice research methodology and investigation of how social work can learn from user participation in research. In this case, practice orientation and research entail direct involvement with street-level practice, practitioners rather than management and policy levels, and inclusion of users’ perspectives via their participation in the research process. Most projects focus on the development of practice in local agencies and organisations. Group members participate in Nordic and international networks. They are central in organising international practice research conferences and have initiated special interest groups in the European Social Work Research Association (ESWRA) and in the Nordic Social Work Association (FORSA).
The total BFI score during 2013-17 is quite low but shows a growing trend. The majority of the publications are in Danish, but the percentage of international publications has risen. Group members have initiated publications about practice research in English. More international publications are at present in progress. Most externals grants have been obtained from Nordic and EU funds, mainly directed at educational programmes. According to group members, Danish private and public funds have shown little interest in this kind of social work research. P&B aims to consolidate their position and engagement in collaborative, local and small-scale practice research. They will also focus on obtaining larger grants and sustain a strong involvement in the education of social workers.
Recommendations P&B is an ambitious RG. They have a strong commitment to the development of street-level practice, particularly the interplay between social workers and users, and to the development of collaborative practice research. They contribute to the research field via publications, conferences and networks. P&B has a leading role in the development of this
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specific perspective on practice research internationally, including in the Nordic countries. They seem to be less involved with the other RGs at the department. However, P&B and other RGs would probably benefit from increased dialogue and collaboration.
P&B members acknowledge that they may be taking on too many projects, which stretches their capacity. It appears the group is undertaking practice research across a very broad range of topics, including sex trafficking and immigration. P&B might benefit from more focus on a specific set of projects relevant to applied social work research with clear international relevance. This would allow the team to maintain strong linkages to their local practice networks while also increasing the RG’s international impact. Some topics that could enable consolidation with other RGs include innovation in practice research methodology, immigration, social work with vulnerable adults, and/or social work with vulnerable children and young people.
The development of local social work practice depends heavily on political and organisational priorities, as does the development of collaborative practice research. Social policy and management research could probably benefit from a more profound understanding of the perspectives of practitioners and users. In order to obtain this, P&B members perhaps need to focus more on academic research and international publications, even if this means reducing direct involvement in local, small-scale participative research and publications aimed at Danish social work practitioners.does not necessarily mean that practitioner and user perspectives will have less priority, only that those perspectives are pursued in other ways. Given the few members and lack of large grants which make it possible to recruit, it might be difficult to uphold the local involvement along with academic ambitions, at least in the long run.
Most of the group members have a social work background and describe themselves as “insiders”, which gives them easier access to practice at street-level. However, the group highlighted that it was not the intention, nor has it ever been a requirement that members have a social work background. It may make them too “inward oriented”, both when it comes to relations to social work research as a field and in relation to the rest of the department? Again, more collaboration between RGs, such as P&B working with another RG (e.g., SAB) on practice research methodologies with marginalised vulnerable adults, or with SOCMAP on integration of local and meso-level perspectives to understand experiences of social marginalisation and opportunities for fostering service user empowerment. The department overall might consider providing funding or other support to promote innovative RG collaboration for new knowledge in practice.
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8. CISKO
8.1 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY AND FUTURE PLANS
CISKO was formally established as a research centre in early 2016 emerging out of other research groups with focus on vulnerable children and youth. The research centre functions in cooperation between the Department of Sociology and Social Work and the Department for Learning and Philosophy. The research focuses on vulnerable children, young people and their families and more specifically the following three research themes: 1) social work with vulnerable children, young people and their families; 2) the organisational settings for social work with vulnerable children, young people and their families; 3) knowledge about the experiences and life conditions of children, young people and their families.
CISKO is a young researcher centre in terms of the number of years the centre has existed and as well as its researchers. The majority of researchers are in the early stages of their academic career (PhDs, postdocs and assistant professors), and the centre is today (2019) headed by Iben Nørup, who was a postdoc researcher during the evaluated period.
Given the experience level of the researchers, the centre has performed well when it comes to publications, external funding and international network. In particular, the centre’s ability to engage in third mission activities, gaining media coverage of results and inviting practitioners and policy makers to use research results should be highlighted.
The centre’s ambition in the future is to increase publications, especially high-ranked publications, and develop the already established international network even further. The aim is to maintain the level of external funding the centre has had during the evaluated period.
The goal is to strengthen and expand CISKO’s research on the following themes: • Consequences of economic poverty for the life opportunities of children and young people. • Understandings, constructions and focus in professional practices in child protection and welfare services – e.g., understandings of vulnerability and its causes and of central concepts such as prevention and early intervention. • Translation of knowledge, methods and policy into practice, including the influence of professional management.
8.2 RESEARCH PROFILE AND STRATEGY OF THE RESEARCH GROUP
CISKO has existed as a research centre since the beginning of 2016. The research centre is established in cooperation between the Department of Sociology and Social Work and the Department for Learning and Philosophy. The research focuses on vulnerable children, young people and their families, covering three research themes: 1) social work with vulnerable children, young people and their families; 2) the organisational settings for social work with vulnerable children, young people and their families; 3) knowledge about the experiences and life conditions of children, young people and their families.
These research themes are closely connected to the investigation of societal, political, organisational, individual and social factors, which contribute to creating vulnerable positions
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for children, young people and their families, and to the investigation of social work and interventions targeted at addressing their problems and needs.
Theme 1): The purpose is to create knowledge about social work practice in relation to vulnerable children, young people and their families. Professional practices in child protection and welfare services are of special interest to the group, as well as different forms of social work with vulnerable children, young people and their families such as early interventions, preventive and inter-professional cooperation, social pedagogical work, home-based counselling, family treatment etc.
Theme 2): The purpose is to produce knowledge about the organisational setting for social work with vulnerable children, young people and their families and how it influences the quality of the social services provided. The focus is on organisational development in general and more specifically implementation of social policy, organisational learning, capacity building and management with a special emphasis on professional management of frontline workers. In this context, the research addresses how the interplay between social work practice and knowledge is organised.
Theme 3): The purpose is to investigate how vulnerability is expressed or manifested by children, young people and their families and the underlying reasons for these forms of vulnerability. The focus is on understanding and discovering the reasons for different forms of vulnerability, such as lack of mental and social wellbeing, mental illness, problems in the family, handicaps and illness, problems in school and educational dropout. Emphasis is placed on investigating the influence of the structural conditions – including the consequences of political reforms for the life conditions of children, young people and their families – e.g., in relation to economic and social inequality, poverty and inequality in the social services provided.
CISKO uses a range of different research methods and includes researchers with strong competences in advanced quantitative methods (survey and register research) as well as qualitative interview and observational methods, ethnographic methods and action research.
STRATEGY FOR THE COMING YEARS The group will focus on further consolidation and development of its research profile. This means continuing current research projects and initiating new central research projects. A central goal is to establish close contact to and collaborate with social work practitioners in the municipalities and other organisations working with children, young people and their families in order to produce research relevant for practice. Another central goal is to develop research methods, which involves students from the Master in Vulnerable Children and Young People, the municipalities and organisations the students represent. The goal is to strengthen and expand CISKO’s research on the following themes: • Consequences of economic poverty for the life opportunities of children and young people. • Understandings, constructions and focus in professional practices in child protection and welfare services – e.g., understandings of vulnerability and its causes and central concepts such as prevention and early intervention. • Translation of knowledge, methods and policy into practice, including the influence of professional management.
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8.3 THE RESEARCH GROUP’S ORGANISATION, COMPOSITION AND FINANCING
The research centre is established in a cooperation between the Department of Sociology and Social Work, and the Department of Learning and Philosophy. The centre is funded by a grant from the Obel Family Foundation.
Research Staff as of 31 December 2017
Professor Erik Laursen, Department of Learning and Philosophy (Head of Research Group)
Teaching associate professor Finn Skovfoged Laursen
Assistant Professor Betina Jacobsen (Head of the Master in Vulnerable Children and Youth Study Board) Mie Engen Stine Bylin Bundgaard, Department of Learning and Philosophy Stina Krogh Petersen Cecilie Kolonda Moesby-Jensen
Postdoc Iben Nørup (Assistant Head of Research Group) Randi Riis Michelsen
PhD Student Birgitte Theilmann Maria Bülow Mette Bonderup, Department of Learning and Philosophy Line Søberg Bjerre (SAGA as main affiliation, main supervisor from SAGA)
At the end of 2017, CISKO consists of 13 researchers: one professor, one teaching associate professor, two postdocs, five assistant professors and four PhD students (one with main affiliation in another research group). Two are male and eleven are female. Age range from 24 years to 70 years. The research group has several junior researchers and only a few seniors, however, two of the assistant professors and one of the postdocs are qualified to apply for tenure as associate professors within the next years. The four PhD students will complete their PhD projects in the coming years.
CISKO is in two ways a young research centre. First, the centre was established in early 2016 and has thus existed for three years. Second, the centre consists of several junior researchers. We have chosen a flat hierarchy, meaning that the members all take responsibility for activities in the group. The formal leader is the professor, however, one of the postdocs has assisted by participating on behalf of the group at department and faculty meetings. This shared-responsibility model is a consequence of the organisation of the group members in two departments.
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Figure 8.A. Staff development 2013-2017 16 14 12 10 8 6
number of staff 4 2 0 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017
8.4 RESEARCH GROUP ACTIVITIES AND OUTPUT
PUBLICATIONS In the period 2013-17, CISKO has published more than 50 publications, with a steep increase after the establishment as a research centre in 2016. The figure shows the development in BFI points (figure 8.C), with almost an equal share between BFI level 1 and level 2 in 2017.
Figure 8.B. Publications by language 2013 - 2017 40 35 30 25 English 20 Danish 15 Other 10 Total 5 0 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017
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Figure 8.C. BFI points 2013-2017 16 14 12 10 8 6 4 2 0 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 Total 1 and 2
Level 1 Level 2
The publication profile shows a predominance of articles published in academic journals, with an absolute majority of publications in international journals, in the areas of youth studies, social work, welfare studies, sociological and organisational issues, and child development. In contrast, the majority of books and chapters in books are published in Danish. Still, also these publications have been peer-reviewed. Overall, the volume of publications, as well as distribution on the various channels, paints a reasonable picture, considering the size and short lifetime of the group and the majority of young members several of whom have not yet completed their research training.
The group supports the development of the individual members’ as well as the group’s publication activities. Considerable time at the frequent research meetings is dedicated to presentation and discussion of publication outlines, drafts and ideas, and at the annual research seminar, new ideas for research projects as well as publications are discussed and planned.
The ambition is to boost publication productivity even more with special focus on high-ranking academic journals and to publish a book on the organisational context of social work in relation to vulnerable children and youth, with special focus on cross-sectional and interdisciplinary cooperation and the use of knowledge, based on recent research of the group.
RESEARCH TRAINING (PHD) In the period 2016-17, three members of the group have completed their PhD studies and received the PhD degree, cf. figure 8.D. At the end of the evaluation period, the group has three PhD students. One is associated with an externally funded research project, one is funded through the Department of Sociology and Social Work, and one is financed as a collaboration between the University and an external source.
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Figure 8.D. PhD enrolment and graduation 2013-2017 3
2
New enrolment Graduated 1
0 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017
All three PhDs who have completed their PhD studies at CISKO are in 2017 employed at the Department and members of CISKO; one as postdoc and two as assistant professors. Since we are a young research group, all our research activities are tailored to support and inspire young researchers in their development. CISKO offers plenty of opportunities to present their work, ideas, problems and results, as well as a frame for discussions and collaborations.
EXTERNAL FUNDING In the period 2013-2017 the research group has been engaged in eight externally funded research projects, of which four grants were awarded to CISKO. The largest grant is from the Obel Family Foundation and it made it possible to establish CISKO as a research centre.
Figure 8.E. New grants and sources 2013-2017 6.000.000 DKK
5.000.000 DKK Nordic funds 4.000.000 DKK Internal funding
3.000.000 DKK EU funds Other government funds 2.000.000 DKK Private funds 1.000.000 DKK Danish research councils
- DKK 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017
At present, the group has seven unapproved applications. Overall, we see the amount of external funding as satisfactory for a group of this size, considering that the group is relatively
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new and the majority of its members are PhD students or assistant professors for whom external funding is not a high priority.
In the future, we see external funding as an important area for the group in two respects:
1. Doing relatively minor, local projects in collaboration with local organisations and communities gives us an opportunity to build networks with local actors and interests and to update our knowledge about what is going on in social work. 2. Doing major research projects financed by national funds gives us an opportunity to produce new, high-quality research-based knowledge in the high-priority fields of our research areas and position ourselves as a group in the chosen academic fields.
In the future, it is important for the group to have both kinds of external funding to an extent that matches the size of the group.
THIRD MISSION ACTIVITIES During the first three years of CISKO’s existence, the research centre has demonstrated a very strong ability to draw societal attention and media coverage to its research. The researchers have written chronicles or debate articles to leading Danish newspapers and have been interviewed by national newspapers, radio and television about their results. Some CISKO members are frequently used by the media as experts within their field of research.
Though the majority of the researchers are in the early stages of their academic careers, the centre has demonstrated a strong ability to translate research and results into themes with relevance for the public and the political debate.
This is also reflected by the number of press clippings in the period of 2016-2017: 183 press clippings about CISKO were registered as the first results of the research centre’s projects were published.
8.5 RESEARCH AND TEACHING COHERENCE
The main part of CISKO’s teaching obligation is affiliated with a master’s programme in vulnerable children and young people (MBU) and a bachelor’s programme in social work, and there is great coherence between CISKO’s research profile and the two educational programmes, i.e., the focus on social workers in child welfare and protection services and connections between theory and practice.
CISKO’s research area 1 revolves around social workers in child welfare and protection services, which is also a key component in the two educational programmes. Around 70-80 % of students in the bachelor’s programme in social work will be employed as social workers in child welfare and protection services, and around 50 % of students in the master’s programme in vulnerable children and young people are already employed in the same field.
CISKOs research area 2 on organisational contexts and their impact on social work practice constitutes a substantial part of teaching and learning goals in both programmes. The bachelor’s programme focuses primarily on implementation of social policy, law, and
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economics into practice, and the master’s programme focuses primarily on social work management.
CISKOs research area 3: Knowledge about vulnerability among children and young people and preventive social work supports research-based teaching in both educations.
Synergy between research and practice: An obligatory traineeship is part of the bachelor’s programme in social work, bridging knowledge on current problems and developments in practice and teaching. The master’s programme in vulnerable children and young people teaches practitioners and social work managers, who contribute with perspectives on management and current and future directions in practice. In both educational programmes, the practice perspective contributes with valuable and practice-oriented research themes. Furthermore, CISKO researchers teach social work (MSc), the Nordic Master in Social Work and Welfare, sociology (BSc and MSc), public administration (BSc and MSc), criminology (MSc), learning and innovative change (MSc), pedagogical leadership (MSc), learning processes (MSc), organisational learning (BSc), management and organisation psychology (MSc) and university pedagogy for assistant professors. Finally, CISKO researchers teach quantitative, qualitative and combined methods in the majority of the educations listed above.
8.6 SOCIETAL IMPACT
During the first two years of CISKO’s existence, the research centre has demonstrated an increasing ability to secure social impact of the research. When CISKO was established in 2016, its aim was to conduct research with high relevance and a close relation to practice. The group has demonstrated social impact in different forms:
a. Projects in close collaboration with practice. b. Arranging seminars and conferences for practice. c. A strong presence in media – television, radio and newspapers – nationally and regionally. d. Attendance at meetings and invitations as speaker at hearings and the like. e. A strong presence in social media like Facebook and LinkedIn. f. Close connection between CISKO’s research and teaching for social workers in the Master and the Bachelor of social work. g. Research results have in several cases underlined a critique of policy and/or changes of policy or in practice.
The aim was to develop and conduct research in collaboration with practice in the field of vulnerable children and youth or research that addresses societal problems relevant to political practice as well as frontline practice in organisations working with vulnerable children and youth.
CISKO has to a large degree succeeded in this ambition. The majority of its research projects in the period 2016-2018 have been very closely linked to practice; some through funding directly from municipalities and other practice organisations, e.g., the research project “Skuret”; some through joint and successful applications for research grants, e.g., “Aalborg Projektet” og “Jammerbugt Projektet”; and some by addressing societal problems and problems of high relevance for political and frontline practice, e.g., the project “Young people’s experiences of mental health and vulnerability”. We have held conferences, e.g.,
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“CISKO conference”, where we invited 100 participants from practice and communicated our research results. We have communicated broadly in media, e.g., in debate programmes, quotes in newspapers, and interviews. See appendix 8.1 for examples of societal impact.
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PANEL EVALUATION CISKO
Observations CISKO was established in 2016. It focuses on the analysis of social work and organisational settings related to practice with vulnerable children, young people and their families, and knowledge about their experiences and life conditions. The group is a joint initiative of the Department of Sociology and Social Work and The Department for Learning and Philosophy.
The majority of researchers are in the early stages of their academic career (PhDs, postdocs and assistant professors). As of 2017, CISKO consisted of 13 researchers: one professor, one teaching associate professor, two postdocs, five assistant professors and four PhD students (one with main affiliation in another research group). The Head of Research in 2017 was Erik Laursen, Department of Learning and Philosophy (Head of Research Group), but during the evaluation period, the centre was headed by Iben Nørup, who was then a postdoc. Dr Norup was the Deputy Head of the RG.
The research group has several junior researchers and only a few senior researchers. However, two assistant professors and one postdoc are qualified to apply for tenure shortly after the end of the review period (2012-2017). During the review period, three PhD students completed their PhDs, and three were enrolled. The RG uses mixed methods, and its researchers have strong competences in advanced quantitative methods (survey and register research), qualitative interview and observational methods, ethnographic methods and action research.
The research activity is structured around three themes: Theme 1: Creating knowledge about social work practice in relation to vulnerable children, young people and their families. The research focuses on the critical analysis of professional practices in child protection and welfare services, particularly early intervention and various forms of family support. Theme 2: Producing knowledge about the organisational setting for social work with vulnerable children, young people and their families, and how it influences the quality of the social services provided. Theme 3: Investigating how vulnerability is expressed or manifested by children, young people and their families, and the underlying reasons for these forms of vulnerability. Understanding how structural conditions shape service provision and outcomes for vulnerable children, young people and their families.
In the period 2013-17, CISKO published more than 50 publications, 16 of them in English. The 21 BFI Level 1 points during this period represent moderate academic performance. However, the relatively junior profile of the group must be taken into account. During the review period, CISKO received four grants at a value of over DKK 6,000,000. All grants were from private and government funds. There were no funds from the Danish Research Council.
A key objective of the RG is to create change in frontline practices in organisations working with vulnerable children and youth. CISKO has succeeded in this ambition to some extent. The majority of its research projects in the period 2016-2018 were very closely linked to practice. The group has held conferences and has communicated its research in the public media.
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Recommendations The RG’s reliance on young, emerging scholars may not be sustainable. During the panel interview, participants noted that despite some success in achieving the research agenda, membership of the research group had declined dramatically from 13 in 2017 to four in 2020, as young researchers have left university following a stressful period with an overload of teaching. In addition, the research leader has withdrawn from the group due to impending retirement. The remaining researchers reported being exhausted by the stress placed on them, particularly managing significant teaching loads. Pressure and reduced group membership limit their capacity to continue to achieve the research agenda.
Despite the current challenges, the RG has great potential. First, the team has very strong mixed research capabilities across a large range of qualitative and quantitative methods. Second, the members appear to collaborate well with each other and with organisations. Third, the group identified substantial funding opportunities for their research interests in the organization of child and youth services. However, the team does not have the capacity to lead new research due to dwindling group membership.
The RG needs to achieve sustainability, for example by attracting more members, especially senior researchers with the capacity to support the early career researchers. An alternative is to merge with other RGs with similar themes, for instance: SAB (because of its strong focus on the organization of frontline services), SOCMAP (because of its capabilities in mixed methods research), P&B (because of the focus on the service user voice) or the Social Problems and the Governance of Social Work Group (because of its interest in service governance and reform).
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APPENDIX 8.1. SOCIAL IMPACT. EXAMPLE: YOUNG PEOPLE’S EXPERIENCE OF MENTAL HEALTH AND VULNERABILITY Publications: Nørup, I. & Jacobsen, B. (2017). Social exclusion among young people: Is our understanding of the drivers of exclusion outdated? Conference paper presented at ESPAnet 2017 Nørup, I. & Jacobsen, B. (2017). Nu falder middelklassens børn også igennem. Feature, February 16th 2017, Politiken. Jacobsen, B. & Nørup, I. (2019). When the narrative of endless possibilities meets the narrow structures of reality: New social pathologies among youth. Conference paper presented at ESPAnet 2019. Jacobsen, B. & Nørup, I. (2019). When the narrative of endless possibilities meets the narrow structures of reality: New social pathologies among youth, Acta Sociologica (in review)
Activities: The research project has resulted in a large number of societal activities, mainly presentation of results to policy makers, practitioners and organisations, e.g., the teachers’ union (Danmarks Lærerforening). The union has used the results from the project to formulate their new policy on performance testing of children. Other activities include arranging a dialogue meeting with practitioners, policy makers and youth together with the Nordic Welfare Center and teaching doctors and nurses at two Danish hospitals about social pathologies among children and youth. The researchers have visited the City Council of Oslo, Norway, to present their results. The researchers are still frequently invited to present the results.
Jacobsen, B. Oral presentation ESPANet 2017: Social exclusion among young people: Is our understanding of the drivers of exclusion outdated? September 2017. Nørup, I. Oral presentation ESPANet 2019: When the narrative of endless possibilities meets the narrow structures of reality: New social pathologies among youth. September 2019 Nørup, I. Oral presentation, Nordic Council of Ministers: Sårbare unge mellem uddannelse, arbejde og udenforskab: Udfordringer for praksis i forhold til at identificere og forebygge psykisk mistrivsel. February 2017 Nørup, I. (Coordinator) Dialogmøde, Nordens Velfærdscenter: Hvad skal vi gøre mere, bedre eller anderledes for at sætte tidligt ind, når børn og unge mistrives, så det ikke udvikler sig til (alvorlige) psykiske lidelser og så børn og unges trivsel og livsmuligheder styrkes? September 25th 2017. Jacobsen, B. & Nørup, I. Oral presentation: Årsager til udsathed. Hvad beretter de unge selv? Kan det ændre forståelsen af udsathed? CISKO conference, March 2018 Nørup, I. Oral presentation: At være ung i Danmark. Krav, stress og trivsel i sociologisk perspektiv, Aalborg Sygehus, Børneafdelingen, September 2018 Nørup, I. Oral presentation: Ung i Danmark: Uddannelses- og karrierepres, mistrivsel og psykisk sårbarhed, Aktualitetsforedrag, VIA University College, November 2018 Nørup, I. & Jacobsen, B. Oral presentation: At være ung i Danmark. Krav, stress og trivsel i sociologisk perspektiv, Aalborg Sygehus, Danmarks Lærerforening, Undervisningsudvalget, December 2018 Nørup, I. Oral presentation: Når udsathed ikke kun handler om social baggrund. SSP Conference, Holstebro Municipality. Nørup, I. & Jacobsen, B. Oral presentation: Oplæg om unge og mental sundhed. City council, Oslo, March 2019 Nørup, I. Oral presentation: At være ung i Danmark. Krav, stress og trivsel i sociologisk perspektiv, Aalborg Sygehus, Børneafdelingen, Juni 2019
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Nørup, I. & Jacobsen, B. Oral presentation: At være ung i Danmark. Krav, stress og trivsel i sociologisk perspektiv, Aalborg Sygehus, Danmarks Lærerforening, Hovedbestyrelsen, Juni 2019 Nørup, I. & Jacobsen, B. Oral presentation: Mental sundhed og oplevet performancepres, MetaLog Conference, August 2019. Jacobsen, B. Oral presentation: At være ung i Danmark. Krav, stress og trivsel i sociologisk perspektiv, Skejby Sygehus, Århus, Børneafdelingen, September 2019
Press Clippings: The research project and the results have received relatively large media coverage. In total, 21 press clippings relating to the project have been recorded within a year and a half. The two researchers initially wrote a feature in the national Danish newspaper Politiken (February 2017) that started a national debate on educational reforms and the test used in the school system. The researchers were interviewed to national news (TV) and the local newspaper Nordjyske Stiftidende covered the research and presented it to national politicians and the ministers responsible for the reform.
Because of the public debate, reforms have been altered, and the researchers have been invited to present their results to practitioners and discuss how the results can change practice in schools and day-care institutions.
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9. SOCIAL PROBLEMS AND THE GOVERNANCE OF SOCIAL WORK
9.1 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY AND FUTURE PLANS
The group has focused on the interplay between on the one hand the users’ lifeworld and on the other hand public definitions of social problems, professional discourses and actions, and forms of governance and regulations. The group has had a focus on definitions of and conflicts evolving around the understanding of social problems, and how this relates to social work and forms of governance. The group has investigated this empirically and theoretically across different levels ranging from the interplay between frontline workers and users to professional discourses and actions, the socio-political framework and the broader conditions for developing welfare.
One strategic focus area has been services for vulnerable groups in society, their contact with welfare services and the conduct of these, both at the specific level of casework and at the general level pertaining to specialised institutional structures and professional discourses. The group has investigated and published research on methods and discourses within social pedagogy, counselling and treatment, and has developed paradigms and methods that can strengthen coordination and interdisciplinary efforts in the area. Due to an applied research approach, the research group has had considerable influence on practices and governance within this area on a local and a national policy level. This includes participation in councils under the ministerial department of social affairs. Within this strategic focus, the group has been able to attract funding from local, regional and national government.
A second strategic focus has been on definitions and conflicts regarding the view of human nature in policy and social work. By focusing on ways of viewing human nature, it has been possible to achieve a basic understanding of the perception of social problems and how this affects social policy, social work and welfare development. This issue has been studied across various areas of social policy and social work, e.g., social work with vulnerable children and families, including child protection, unemployed people, people with disability and mental health problems, housing and local community work. With this focus, the research group has attracted funding from prestigious private foundations and has made significant contributions to international social work research. Through dissemination of knowledge in a Danish context, the group has managed to set an agenda in social policy, management, social work and social work education.
Third, the group has had a strategic focus on at-risk youth and children in the context of health, loneliness and ethnic minority background. A central issue within this agenda has been the social and subjective processes of becoming in formation of identity, belonging and normalcy. The research group has published in high-impact international journals within this field, thereby making a significant contribution to the international state of the art as well as the national research agenda. Moreover, the group has been successful in attracting funding from the national research council and a prestigious private foundation.
Finally, the research group has pursued a research agenda on cultural, moral and value foundations of social policy and welfare states. Researchers have conducted theoretical and empirical investigations on the public notions of solidarity, social justice and social cohesion, which legitimise and challenge social policies and welfare institutions. The research has
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successfully been anchored in international collaborations and has been published in high- ranking international journals and monographs, thereby making an important contribution to international and national research. Within this field, the group has been able to attract funding from prestigious private foundations and from the AAU talent programme.
9.2 RESEARCH PROFILE AND STRATEGY OF THE RESEARCH GROUP
The research group’s profile has been strategically and very broadly focused on the interplay between on the one hand the users’ lifeworld and on the other hand public definitions of social problems, professional discourses and actions, and forms of governance and regulations. As mentioned in section 1, the group has had focus on definitions of and conflicts evolving around the understanding of social problems and how this relates to social work and forms of governance. The group has investigated this empirically and theoretically across different levels ranging from the interplay between frontline workers and users to professional discourses and actions, the socio-political framework and the broader conditions for developing welfare. This has resulted in the identification of more specific future agendas for research in social work, social policy and welfare.
Therefore, since autumn 2018, the research group has been divided into three research groups focusing on:
• The basic premises of social policy and the welfare state (Center for Inclusion and Welfare (CIW)) • The conceptual and practical premises for doing and advancing social work practice (Shaping Concepts, Practices and Advances in Social Work (SCOPAS)) • Social problems, vulnerability and the conduct of social work practice.
These groups are connected to the larger research community Research in Social Work (FoSo) but work as independent research groups. This division is an advantage in terms of organising, focusing and advancing social work research to be even more conducive to excellent research with a significant impact. Going from a very large and scientifically diverse research group that has worked well as an incubator for new research ideas, the three new groups allow the researchers to focus on specific scientific agendas and on making a significant contribution within those fields.
9.3 THE RESEARCH GROUP’S ORGANISATION, COMPOSITION AND FINANCING
In 2017, the group included one professor, seven associate professors, three teaching associate professors, three assistant professors, two postdocs and four PhD students. The group has consisted of approximately the same number of males and females and members over and under 50 years. The group has met once a month during September-December and February-May. Between the meetings, the work of the research group has been carried out individually and in subgroups connected to projects or particular themes. The work of the subgroups has been based on personal research time or external resources from different kinds of funding.
Research Staff as of 31 December 2017
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Professor Kjeld Høgsbro
Associate professor Anne Breumlund Inger Bruun Hansen Maria Appel Nissen Mia Arp Fallov Morten Frederiksen Kathrine Vitus Søren Juul
Teaching associate professor Frank Nielsen Lise Rytter Krogh Susanne Øgendahl Mouazan
Assistant Professor Pia Ringø Pelle Korsbæk Sørensen Christian Franklin Svensson
Postdoc Ane Grubb Jens Kjærulff
PhD Student Rasmus Hoffmann Birk Nathalie Perregaard Søren Holst
Figure 9.A. Staff development 2013 - 2017 25
20
15
10 number of staff 5
0 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017
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9.4 RESEARCH GROUP ACTIVITIES AND OUTPUT
The research carried out in the research group largely falls into four main categories:
1. The concepts, knowledge and practices involved in and across areas of social work 2. At-risk youth and children 3. Practices and discourses in social work in the field of disability and psychiatry 4. The history and conditions of public solidarity, redistributive legitimacy and social cohesion underpinning social policy and welfare institutions.
1) Research on the concepts, knowledge and practices involved in and across areas of social work
Several projects fall under this heading. Some have been concluded, and others are still ongoing. The main thrust of these projects has been to investigate the way social workers, managers and volunteers perceive and evaluate service users, collaborators and their own efforts.
One key project in this field is Views on Human Nature in Social Work – Welfare Policies, Technologies and Knowledge of Human Beings (PI Maria A. Nissen, 2014-2018, extended to 2019. Funded by the VELUX foundation). The project explores how views on human nature have developed over time and presently are shaped in social work practice in the interplay with policies, technologies and forms of knowledge. This exploration is based on literature and document studies as well as an extensive qualitative field study across four areas: social work with unemployed people, with families, children and young people, with people with mental illness and/or disabilities, and finally with people living in marginalised areas. Based on this, the project conceptualises predominant views on human beings as well as the conditions and mechanisms that shape them, expressed in a model suitable for reflection on the development of social work. The project shows how the idea of ‘the productive human being’ has been a dominant figure in the development of the Danish welfare society but also how there is a constant space for conflict, negotiation and thus alternative forms of knowledge and views on human beings in social work practice. So far (2020), the project has resulted in a PhD thesis, 33 Danish/English research articles and book chapters, including one Danish and one English edited book, and 22 presentations at international conferences. Moreover, the project has hosted three Danish seminars/conferences involving approx. 350 social work actors (social work professionals, social work managers and decision-makers). The researchers have been presenters and/or keynote speakers at approx. 40 workshops, seminars and conferences involving social work actors, various stakeholders and social work researchers. Research publications, perspectives, concepts and empirical examples from the project are used in social work education at Aalborg University and beyond.
Another key project under this heading is SAMAKT: Co-production between public and voluntary agencies (PI Morten Frederiksen, 2017-2020. Funded by the VELUX Foundation). SAMAKT explores configurations and practices of co-production and cross-sector collaboration in Aalborg Municipality. The research is based on ethnographic fieldwork and an interview study comparing co-production in the fields of vulnerable elderly citizens and recently arrived refugees. Analytically, the project investigates the forms of boundary work involved in cross- sector collaboration between managers as well as social work practitioners (professionals and voluntary). A key element in this investigation is the notions of worth managers and practitioners ascribe the social work practices and collaborative practices as well as how they
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justify these notions of worth. The project is ongoing, but data collection has been concluded, and publications targeting both practitioners and the scientific community will be submitted and published throughout 2020.
2) Research on at-risk youth and children
Research on at-risk children and youth covers studies of the structural, political and institutional conditions and everyday lives of children and young people living in marginal or vulnerable social positions. Projects explore how childhood and youth are organised and framed, and how children and young people take part in internalising and negotiating – as well as (re-)creating and resisting – their living condition as active subjects. One key project is “Junctures of Change in the Integration of Young Refugees” (PI Kathrine Vitus, funded by DFF for 2017-2021), which explores integration trajectories of young refugees in Denmark. The study combines in-depth qualitative research, analysis of national policy changes and case studies of the implementation of national policy in two municipalities. The study unpacks through ethnographic fieldwork, following young refugees during the Municipal Integration Programme, the conditions and timings (‘junctures of change’) that shape young refugees’ integration trajectories in decisive ways. The study seeks to develop analytical tools to better understand how individual actors, support organisations and policy systems can interact to facilitate integration. The project contributes to the research field of migration and integration by developing ‘junctures of change for integration’ as a specific problem space for research that informs integration policies and interventions to support young refugees' transition into Danish society.
3) Research on practices and discourses in social work in the field of disability and psychiatry
The research carried out under this heading focuses on different social work practices in the context of citizens with special needs, disabilities or psychiatric needs. Most of this research focuses on social work practices within different forms of residential care.
One research project ‘Citizen inclusion in local communities’ (PI Anne Breumlund and Inger Bruhn Hansen 2014-16, funded by Region Zealand) had the overall purpose of improving the practices of social services in the region to better include adults with special needs in local communities. The research methodology was practice research that focuses on collaboration between practice and research, which allows for acquisition of knowledge and learning. The research field was community care centres, two short-term community care centres (SL § 107) and one longer-term community care centre (SL § 108) for adults with different difficulties – mental retardation, visual impairments or mental disorders with additional challenges respectively. The research mainly used qualitative interviews with the residents at the community care centres, the social pedagogues working at the centres and municipal social workers with clients assigned to the specific community care centre. The results are published in one comprehensive research report and two additional reports (Breumlund, Hansen & Niklasson 2016a and 2016b; Breumlund & Hansen 2017). The reports were used as a starting point for projects aiming at developing the community care centres. Furthermore, the results were disseminated in presentations at the community care centres and at a one-day conference for all managers and directors of specialised institutions in Region Zealand.
A second project investigated conflicts at two residential homes for people with serious forms of dementia and challenging behaviour (PI Kjeld Høgsbro 2013-15, funded by Region Midt and Department of Sociology and Social Work). This project was carried out as an institutional
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ethnography involving observations, qualitative interviews and questionnaires. The project aimed to describe the lifeworld of people with dementia and understand the reasons for as well as the forms and directions of challenging behaviour. The project also focused on the mental stress and reactions of the professionals in the context of the situated exposure, professional ethics and commitment. Furthermore, the project investigated collegial conflict, support, heterodoxy among staff members as well as the social context of the management and the strategic demands in a field of rival institutions in a privatised market for social and residential services. The project succeeded in identifying the basic ‘problematic’ of the field linking issues of management to the everyday practices and interaction between residents and staff members. Furthermore, the project identified impressing positive ways of managing conflicts and identify elements in daily practice that in some cases were not in accordance with the premises of the residential homes or actually contributed to the mental workload and the conflict level in the interaction between residents and professionals. The results were presented in a monograph (Høgsbro & Burholt, 2015), which was used in a running seminar over a couple of month and led to serious discussions among the staff members. The results were combined with earlier work in the group focussing on pedagogical theories and mental work load (Høgsbro et al. 2012) into a specialised publication on challenging behaviour targeting students and young staff members in residential homes (Høgsbro, 2018). The researchers were included in a national working group under the Ministry of Social Affairs, which developed and published the national guidelines for dealing with challenging behaviour by the end of 2017. Thus, the projects contributed to a general change in pedagogical strategies from dominant cognitive/behavioural and structural approaches to greater focus on relations and personal habitus in the interplay between staff and residents.
A third project concerned standardised methods in social work practice. This was a PhD project successfully conducted and concluded by Søren Holst (PI Søren Holst 2014-2018, funded by Kofoedsminde, Region Zeeland). The project focused on the use of standardised methods of violence prevention, conflict management and risk management in social pedagogic practices at a secured institution for convicted people with learning disabilities (LD), and how various management and professional discourses promote such methods. Inspired by Institutional Ethnography and Critical Discourse Analysis, the project combined and analysed qualitative data on the personal and professional practice, the institutional praxis and the trans-local governance conditions.
The three projects concerned with discourses and conflicts at residential homes for people with cognitive difficulties have resulted in a better understanding of the interplay between pedagogical epistemologies, concepts and strategies on the one hand, and conflicts and challenging behaviour on the other hand. Subsequently, the third project gave a grounded understanding of the function and sometimes misunderstood reception of ‘evidence-based’ approaches to conflict management.
Parallel to these empirical investigations, the methodological experiences have been analysed and published in the monograph, How to conduct ethnographies of institutions for people with cognitive difficulties (Høgsbro, 2019).
A fourth project in this field explores ontological models in social work (PI Pia Ringø 2012-17). The project develops the idea of ontological models as a way to analyse the interaction between politics, management, knowledge and practice in social work in psychiatry. Ontological models are a framework for combining knowledge of contemporary movements in management, politics and ideals of knowledge, and, on the other hand, in-depth ontological knowledge of social and human problems and their complex causes and generative
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mechanisms. The analytical work has created a methodological link between constructivist and realistic positions, which has given rise to further work and development of the concept of exemplary learning. It has particularly had a social impact in the field of psychiatry and disability studies where the analytical framework has contributed to further development of an expanded vulnerability model (Ringø 2013, Ringø and Høgsbro 2016, Ringø 2016, Ringø 2017). The analytical focus has led to Danish and English publications and presentations for practitioners, including the Danish Handicap Organisations, the Danish Social Worker Association’s Department of Disabilities and the Nordic Network for Disability Research. The project has had impact during the research process, through research publications, through social work education and a range of workshops, seminars and conferences involving social work actors, stakeholders as well as social work researchers.
4) Research on the history and conditions of public solidarity, redistributive legitimacy and social cohesion underpinning social policy and welfare institutions.
The research carried out under this heading concerns the fundamental contemporary and historical condition of social policy and welfare institutions.
One project under this heading concerns how social pathologies are expressed in social policy, social work institutions and social work practices. The project is based on the research monograph Solidarity in Individualized Society (Juul, 2013), which offers theoretical analyses on solidarity in current individualised, differentiated and globalised societies and empirical analyses of cultural, political and institutional obstacles to solidarity. Several of the concepts and ideas elaborated in the book have been employed and developed in later publications, in particular in Anerkendelse og dømmekraft i socialt arbejde (Høilund & Juul, 2015) and Selvets kultur – en kritik af individsamfundets menneskesyn og fornuft (Juul, 2017). The latter addresses a number of social pathologies in current individualised societies ranging from the increased number of people with mental problems to the competition state’s difficulties finding joint solutions to challenges, such as increased global inequality, climate change and refugee crises. The books addressed pressing issues and problems in modern society and facilitated public attention to these issues.
Another project within this field is the European values study 2017: Denmark (PI Morten Frederiksen, 2016 – 2020 funded by The ROCKWOOL foundation). The project is part of an ongoing worldwide collaboration within the consortiums of the European Values Study (Tillburg University) and World Values Survey (University of Michigan). The worldwide survey investigates fundamental human values and maps value changes over time and between social strata and geographic regions. The survey has been ongoing since 1981. In the project, this research group has focused on the effect of increased material insecurity and welfare retrenchment on solidarity, tolerance and support for redistribution and social inclusion. The main Danish publication of the project, Uncertain Modernity, was published in 2019.
A third project, Just Worlds, concerns the cultural foundations of welfare and perceptions of social justice (PI Morten Frederiksen, 2018-2022 funded by Aalborg University Talent Program and Sino-Danish Center for Research and Education). The project investigates the different cultural repertoires involved in perceptions of social justice. It combines qualitative interview studies in US, China, Sweden and Denmark with quantitative data analysis of survey data from the European Values Study and World Values Study to map different notions of entitlement, rights and solidarity, comparing the preferred principles of achievement and obligation between and within country cases. The project is ongoing, and data collection is in progress.
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The project is carried out in collaboration with Prof Hu Xiojiang, Beijing Normal University and Prof Michele Lamont, Harvard University.
THE COMBINATION OF THE DIFFERENT RESEARCH ACTIVITIES
In sum, these projects have contributed to the joint strategy to investigate different aspects of the conditions and conduct of social work practice and social policy. Some of the projects have investigated the values and discourses underlying social policy in Denmark, others have investigated the discourses influencing social work practice, its view on human nature, ethics, and professional paradigms and concepts. The joint efforts have made it possible to identify the relation between macro- and micro-practices and discourses, and how this influences views on human nature, professional identities, identities of vulnerable groups and interaction between actors in social work practice. Integration of micro- and macro-practices and discourses is a significant feature of the publications of the research group.
RESEARCH TRAINING (PHD)
In the period 2013-2017, the research group has included six PhD students. They have been included in the PhD programme/School of Social Sciences. The completed PhD theses have been approved. External resources have funded all PhD projects except one.
The PhD projects have been organised either as a single independent study or as an independent study related to a joint research project. PhD students who have worked individually have been closely supervised individually as well as at research meetings. PhD students who have worked on a study related to a joint research project have been supervised individually, at meetings with researchers affiliated with the project, and at research group meetings. In both cases, PhD students have had the opportunity to join the annual seminar of Research in Social Work (FoSo).
Besides attending specialised PhD courses, PhD students have had the opportunity to develop all competences related to a research career and to careers in society requiring a high level of academic skills, e.g., development of knowledge-based social policy and social work. PhD training has involved supervision and participation in individual and joint publications, international and national research presentations at research conferences, dissemination of research to stakeholders and decision-makers in social policy, management and social work practices, and finally research-based tuition. Moreover, the research group has urged PhD students to do a research stay abroad and has actively applied for funding for this. One PhD student obtained an EliteForsk Travel grant for an extended research stay at Curtin University, Melbourne and Department of Sociology, Goldsmiths, University of London. Finally, research training has included supervision in relation to postdoctoral research applications.
Two PhD students were closely connected to regional and ministerial funding raised by senior researchers of the group but chose to be members of another research group. One was financed by the Velux project and fully included in discussions in the research group and his project group. After his PhD, he became assistant professor at the Department of Psychology and left the group. Two PhD students were fully financed by their employers, and one of them managed to get a research appointment at the residential home that had financed this PhD programme. Thus, this PhD programme resulted in a new institutionalised form of research- based social work practice.
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The only PhD programme that was fully financed by the department was the discussion of ontological issues in psychiatry which led to Pia Ringø’s PhD in 2013. Today she is an associate professor at the department and still a member of the research group.
The research group has contributed to developing and teaching PhD courses, e.g., Sociological Power Analysis, Department of Sociology and Social Work, AAU, 2014, Mixed Methods Research, Dept. of Sociology and Social Work 2016 and 2017 and Nordic PhD courses in qualitative social work research 2014 and 2017.
Figure 9.B. PhD enrolment and graduation 2013-2017
4
3
2 New enrolment Graduated 1
0 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017
PUBLISHING The research group has focused on developing a diverse publishing profile, which includes:
• Research monographs, international articles and chapters in international edited books that guarantee international debate about the research results and deliberations, and form part of our communication with our international network. • PhD dissertations. • Reports that formed a part of the national development of services offered to particularly vulnerable groups. These are published in Danish on an ongoing basis. • Books that address the public at large and seek to improve the understanding of the conditions for vulnerable groups and their demands for adequate forms of social support. • Textbooks that introduce new social workers and social education workers to new paradigms for social work practice. • Edited books that communicate results and deliberations from the work of the research group, both nationally and internationally.
The following selected publications exemplify how the group’s publications span from high- ranking international publications to publications facilitating social impact on policy, practice and education:
From 2013 to 2017, the group’s publication profile has become more productive, of higher bibliometric quality and with greater international impact. This has been achieved while maintaining the group’s longstanding focus on publishing for national audiences. It is of key
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importance to the research group to address both international and national audiences and to disseminate research results to Danish practitioners and students. The group has had increasing success on these parameters, which is reflected in the general increase in BFI points at both level 1 and 2 and a balance tipping towards level 2 publications.
Figure 9.C. BFI points 2013-2017 120
100
80
60
40
20
0 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 Total 1 and 2
Level 1 Level 2
Figure 9.D. Publications by language 2013 - 2017 60
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40 English
30 Danish Other 20 Total 10
0 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017
EXTERNAL FUNDING The research group has been increasingly successful in obtaining external funding for ongoing and new research activities. The external funding comes from a variety of sources reflecting the diversity of the research activities: municipalities, regional government and national government levels sponsoring evaluations and research on specific social interventions. The main part of the external funding comes from grants from the national research council and prestigious private foundations (e.g., TrygFonden, VELUX, ROCKWOOL) for independent research projects.
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The research group has been particularly successful in securing fund for four areas of research: 1. Concepts, knowledge and practices in social work (Maria Appel Nissen) 2. Vulnerable youth and ethnic minorities (Kathrine Vitus) 3. Perceptions of solidarity, social justice and welfare state legitimacy (Morten Frederiksen) 4. Social psychiatry (Kjeld Høgsbro, Anne Breumlund, Inger Bruun Hansen).
Work is in progress to set up a large national centre for sociological psychiatry research with funding from one of the large private foundations.
Figure 9.E. New grants and sources 2013-2017 16.000.000 DKK 14.000.000 DKK
12.000.000 DKK Nordic funds 10.000.000 DKK Internal funding 8.000.000 DKK EU funds 6.000.000 DKK Other government funds Private funds 4.000.000 DKK Danish research councils 2.000.000 DKK - DKK 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017
NATIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL NETWORKS Members in this research area have participated in activities linked to national and international networks. Over the coming 5-year-period, we will focus on consolidating this collaboration in concrete projects. The research group has consolidated international research collaborations in the fields of solidarity, social justice and welfare state legitimacy.
The group has contributed to the development of European Social Work Research Association founded in 2014 with one member of the international board 2013-2016. Moreover, the group has contributed to the development of Nordic Social Work Research 2016-2019 by holding the position as Editor-in-Chief.
The group has been represented on the board of the research committee on Sociology of Mental Health of ISA (International Sociological Association) and the thematic group on Institutional Ethnography.
The group has two members of the board of the Danish Division of NNDR (Nordic Network of Disability Research).
The group has also contributed to the European Values Study through bi-annual meetings and membership of the board of national programme directors of the EVS collaboration since 2016.
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9.5 RESEARCH AND TEACHING COHERENCE
The group has conducted research-based teaching and supervision within the
• Bachelor of Social Work • Master in Social Work • Erasmus Mundus Master in Advanced Social Work • Post-graduate programmes for practitioners in social work
It is a specific objective for our teaching in these programmes that we can combine concrete knowledge about the specific issues in practice with a theoretical and international perspective. Publications from the group’s research are included in all programmes.
9.6 SOCIETAL IMPACT
In all projects of the research group, the ambition has been to achieve societal impact by dissemination of research to and by initiating dialogue with various stakeholders and decision- makers in policy, management and social work practice. By publishing articles and books in Danish, hosting national and local conferences and seminars, and as regularly invited keynotes, presenters and advisors by public and private institutions, the group has contributed to societal impact.
The group has been represented on the National Board of Social Services' Council for National Coordination in the most specialised social and special needs education areas. We have been involved as experts in a working group under the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Social Affairs that developed the ministry's strategy for psychiatric research, and we have been a member of a working group under the Ministry of Social Affairs aimed at developing guidelines for coping with conflicts in social housing units. Over time, our investigative method has provided input to methods development in the socio-educational area, and we continue to prioritise a dissemination strategy that addresses social work practitioners in terms of language and content. We will also continue to have a central position in dialogue with actors at institutional, municipal, regional and national level.
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PANEL EVALUATION SOCIAL PROBLEMS AND THE GOVERNANCE OF SOCIAL WORK (SPGSW)
Observations This RG was one of five subgroups in FOSO and was established as a separate group in 2013. By 2017, the group had increased from 11 to 19 members, including 1 professor, 7 associate professors, 2 postdocs, 3 PhDs and 6 assistant professors and teaching associate professors. Since 2017, one more have qualified for professorship. All members belong to the department. Four strategic foci are described:
1. Services for vulnerable groups, which seems to correspond to activities later presented under the heading Research on practices and discourse in social work in the field of disability and psychiatry, and which is mainly focused on residential care. The projects under this heading have an applied research approach and seem to have considerable influence on social work practice and policy. The projects are funded by local, regional and national authorities.
2. How the understanding of human nature and social problems influences social work and social policy, which comprises research on concepts, knowledge and practices in and across areas for social work. Projects that fall in this category have been funded by prestigious private funders, contributed to social work research internationally and set an agenda in social work practice, policy and education, even if they seem more theoretically oriented than the ‘focus’ presented above in 1.
3. At-risk youth and children, which includes research on the structural, political and institutional conditions and everyday lives of young people, and more specific the conditions and lives of young refugees. Integration and the formation of identity, belonging and normalcy are core topics. Both private and public funding has been obtained, and results are published internationally.
4. Cultural, moral and value foundations of social policy and welfare states, which corresponds to research on the history and conditions of public solidarity, redistributive legitimacy and social cohesion and represents a variety of topics ranging from human values and value changes over time, via cultural repertoires involved in perceptions of social justice. The projects presented under this heading are funded by private and public funds and involve international collaboration and publications (books).
In 2018, the group split in three: Centre for Inclusion and Welfare (CIW, 8 members), Shaping Concepts, Practices and Advances in Social Work (SCOPAS, 9 members) and Social Problems, Vulnerability and the Conduct of Social Work Practice (8 members). How the four research areas fit with the three RGs is not clear. According to the group, the split has led to new research ideas and a stronger focus on specific scientific research agendas. Group members include staff and associate members from other institutions. The members, mainly sociologists and representatives from other social science disciplines, participate actively in national and international networks. The group identifies that they have strong theoretical foundations in continental philosophical traditions linked to phenomenological research epistemology, studies of governmentality and institutional ethnography. The group is engaged with concerns about current and future directions in social work and social
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policy, including research on big data and machine learning, social inclusion and civil society.
In 2020, there are four PhDs connected, seemingly to CIW. Presumably they are externally funded like the PhDs connected to the group during the evaluation period. The group has been successful in obtaining external funding, especially in 2016 and 2017, and in the years after, according to group members. Funding comes mainly from Danish sources, private foundations and the Danish research council. There are probably some nuances between the three groups in this respect, as there also might be when it comes to publication profile. The number of BFI points increased from 2013 to 2017, and so did the percentage of publications in English. The RG (three RGs) plans to continue publishing in both English and Danish.
Recommendations Obviously, the RG, or the present three RGs, need to update the way they present themselves, both on the web and otherwise. They need to be more precise about their profiles and how they differ from each other and from other groups at the department (see evaluation of the department). The division into three groups is explained with a need to focus on specific future agendas, and presumably they will (have) prepare(d) specific strategic goals and plans accordingly. Like most RGs in this evaluation, they plan to continue to publish both in English and Danish in order to have an influence on Danish social work and social policy as well as reach the international research community.
The RGs describe themselves as practice oriented, but there might be nuances between the three groups with respect to what this concept involves – welfare services and social work practice on street level, organisational practice or how organisational structures and management or policy influence practice? Most of the RGs at the department describe themselves as practice oriented, and considering that also other concepts appear in the descriptions of several RGs, they would probably benefit from either specifying what they mean or finding other ways to define their research.
SPGsw is an interesting contrast to CASTOR, which has remained a large group with centres and subgroups, instead of splitting up in order to keep the broad perspective even if, or perhaps because they pursue more narrow paths in the centres/subgroups. SPGsw split in three because of the broad perspective and large number of members and a need to focus on more specific research agendas. SPGsw shares quite strong similarities with at least three RGs. Like P&B and SAB, SPGsw is interested in a street-level analysis of social and technological changes especially as these affect users and providers of social work services. Like SOCMAP, SPGsw has a strong interest in technological changes as they shape the organisation of social services and the prospects for civic inclusion. Unlike SOCMAP, SPGsw addresses these questions primarily from a qualitative research perspective. There seems considerable scope for collaboration across these research groups.
The overall impression is that the groups that formerly were organised in one, are very successful and ambitious. However, they should perhaps pay more attention to strategy, especially regarding external funding and how to approach different funding agencies.
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10. SAB
10.1 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY AND FUTURE PLANS
‘Social Work at the Frontline of Employment Policy’ (known by its Danish acronym SAB) is a fairly new research group that has developed rapidly in terms of both performance and size.
Researchers from SAB have strong research networks in Denmark and abroad. Working across disciplines (e.g., political science researchers in CARMA) has proven successful in creating important and relevant research-based knowledge. The group has disseminated its research in high-level international academic journals and by sharing knowledge with the field of social work through a variety of other channels. SAB has a strong focus on creating opportunities for its younger research talents. This has been made possible through external funding for research from numerous sources.
SAB has an explicit ambition to deliver research-based knowledge that can contribute to the development of employment and social policy, integrated services and social work in the Danish welfare state. Several elements are necessary in order to do this:
Funding: In the coming years, SAB aims to sustain a high level of external funding and aims to fund research oriented towards the practice-level as well as more theoretical and methodologically oriented research that will allow us to develop our research approach further. The collaboration between CARMA, Department of Political Science and SAB (managed by Flemming Larsen and Dorte Caswell) has been successful so far, and we have just been informed that a 15 million DDK grant will be available for us to continue the work from 2020- 2024 (funding from Den A.P. Møllerske Støttefond, four Danish municipalities and Aalborg University).
Teaching: We are in the process of developing knowledge-mobilisation structures in collaboration with the field of practice (mainly municipal managers and social workers). This will include the development of knowledge-brokering programmes. We also plan to continue our work with students (primarily from master of social work) to involve them in research activities.
Third Mission: In order to follow the ambition to contribute to the development of employment and social policy and services, we are continuing to focus on a dissemination strategy that ensures that research knowledge from SAB reaches the field of policy and practice. We do this by publishing (in Danish and English), oral presentations and participation in public discourse in the area. Finally, we do this by continuing to focus on the relations and network we have developed over the years to facilitate the relevance and use of research in practice.
Publishing: Research is legitimised and strengthened by the rigorous procedures by which it is pproduced.roduced. ThisThis includesincludes methodsmethods andand analysis,analysis, but but it italso also includes includes the the peer-reviewing peer-reviewing process. Thus, weprocess. plan to We continue plan to publishing continue ourpublishing research our throu researchgh high-level through channels high-level (international channels journals on level (international journals on BFI level 1 and 2) and to make it available to a broader audience.
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10.2 RESEARCH PROFILE AND STRATEGY OF THE RESEARCH GROUP
SAB originates from the research group FoSo (short for Research in Social Work), which is the largest research environment in Denmark within social work research. Since 2013, FoSo has been an interdisciplinary social science research unit under the Department of Sociology and Social Work, and we maintain close collaboration with the research groups in that unit. SAB does not have a long history with status as a research group. However, the researchers in SAB have been central in this specific field of research nationally and internationally for many years.
SAB focuses on social work practice in the employment area through analyses of how political reforms are turned into concrete reality in Danish municipalities. For instance, what happens in the contact between professionals in the employment area and unemployed citizens with complex problems, how are these citizens involved, and how do they experience their situation? Professional practice at job centres and the political development in the employment area are key elements in SAB's research, including frontline organisations’ framing and organisation, employment and social work perspectives, and the complex citizen group in the area.
Descriptions and analyses of policy and organisational framework conditions and consequences are important and necessary, but professional everyday practice constitutes a decisive facilitating link between political and organisational frameworks and vulnerable citizens. Figure 10.A illustrates this contextual understanding of social work practice at the frontline of employment policy.
Figure 10.A. The context of social work at the frontline of employment policy. SHOCResearch in the group is based on a common set of core values:
Policy and implementatio n
Social work at Organisation Profession the frontline
Clients
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• Social work in the employment area requires a professional approach in order to meet the needs of vulnerable citizens and increase meaningful labour market participation. • If meaningful labour market participation (ordinary or on special terms) can be achieved, it may create possibilities for access to a community and/or to resources (in a broad sense) that can be beneficial for citizens • Citizens' perspectives of their own case and the job creation effort in more general terms are key elements in the establishment of meaningful labour market attachment
SAB wishes to deliver applicable research of high quality, both on and with social work in the employment area. Our research must be of a high international quality, and at the same time, we strive to make research-based knowledge accessible and relevant to social work in the field of employment policy. SAB's research draws on a wide range of social science methodology (quantitative, qualitative and mixed), but the main focus is on contextually rooted and empirically varied knowledge. The research focus on concrete practice often entails close collaboration between research and practice. SAB maintains dialectics between critical and constructive perspectives with a particular focus on developing critical research that is reparative rather than deconstructive.
In order to pursue these aims, SAB is strategically oriented towards four research fields. Within each area, the group has an overall agenda for research and other activities, but all four areas are interconnected and reflect various aspects of the group’s overall aim to conduct research that meets the highest international standards and is relevant and applicable to the social work practices we research. In SAB we:
• seek to further the recognition of social work within the field of unemployment and employment policy as a professional activity • aim to contribute to the professional development of the practice field of employment- oriented social work by developing research and theory that inform professional skills and practice • aim to advance a research perspective based in a critical constructive approach to research and knowledge mobilisation • have been key actors in advancing an orientation within the field of street-level research, towards the role of organisation and professional practice in the implementation of policy, as well as an orientation to the active role of unemployed clients • aim to contribute to international policy research concerning welfare-to-work and specifically to collaborations around welfare-conditionality • aim to be inclusive of a broad range of methodological and theoretical perspectives that can inform our focus on employment-oriented social work and policy implementation as non-linear, contextual and on-going processes • find inspiration in works on phronetic research, reparative critique and relational sociology
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10.3 THE RESEARCH GROUP’S ORGANISATION, COMPOSITION AND FINANCING
Research Staff as of 31 December 2017
Associate Professor Dorte Caswell (Head of Research Group) Merete Monrad Søren Peter Olesen Tina Bømler
Teaching associate professor Berit Heien Vivi Imer
Postdoc Sophie Danneris
PhD Student Tanja Dall Helle Bendix Kleif Karen Dahl-Nielsen Nuri Cayuelas Mateu Line Thoft Carlsen Sabine Jørgensen Vibeke Bak Nielsen
SAB collaborates closely with colleagues from Department of Political Science, AAU (mainly professor Flemming Larsen, associate professor Karen Breidahl, postdoctoral researcher Mathias Herup and PhD student Niklas Andersen). The collaboration includes continuous interdisciplinary seminars, research projects, publications and teaching activities. As of spring 2018, SAB has initiated strategic collaboration, including biannual meetings, with the research group on the employment area at University College Copenhagen, headed by PhD Mikkel Bo Madsen. Furthermore, SAB has a number of associate members from inside and outside the department.
As the list of members demonstrates, SAB is a fairly young research group with an overweight of temporarily employed PhD students and postdoctoral researchers, which is a continuous focus area in terms of providing funds to secure their future employment at the department. SAB meets for half-day meetings approx. every two months either at AAU's campus in Sydhavnen (Copenhagen) or in Aalborg. Most meetings are held as video conferences. Fixed items on the agenda include research progression, presentation of papers, constructive critique and an opponent structure. The ambition is that whoever presents their research leaves the meeting enriched. This is also part of SAB's talent management approach.
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Figure 10.B. Staff development 2013-2017 16 14 12 10 8 6
number of staff 4 2 0 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017
RESEARCH COLLABORATIONS, NATIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL PRESENCE Research collaborations with national and international actors are a core part of SAB’s activities and strategy. Through interactions with leading scholars in the field, SAB seeks to ensure the highest international standard of our own research and to influence and be an active contributor to the continued development of the respective research fields. Our specific collaborations and strategies are related to the strategic focus area (see above) to which the collaboration is relevant.
In the following, we focus only on the field of street-level bureaucracy, as this is an area in which SAB has been particularly successful in establishing research collaborations and an international presence. SAB researchers have been catalysts of an international revival of street-level research and literature. This work has been facilitated by strong relations and close collaborations with core scholars in the field, including Michael Lipsky, Evelyn Brodkin, Rik van Berkel and others. The collaborations have resulted in shared publications, collaborations on PhD courses, as well as employment of Evelyn Brodkin as visiting professor at the department and Michael Lipsky as honorary professor at the Faculty of Social Science, AAU.
At the national level, much of the above-mentioned work has been conducted in collaboration with the Centre for Labour Market Research (known by its Danish acronym, CARMA) at Political Science, AAU. This collaboration is an active community with joint interdisciplinary projects, publication collaboration, dissemination and teaching activities. The collaboration has resulted in the LISES centre (read more here), managed by Dorte Caswell, SAB and Flemming Larsen, CARMA. SAB has been a key player in organising an international conference on Street-Level Bureaucracy in collaboration with CARMA. The conference is held every second year and has from the beginning attracted broad interest from national and international researchers and key international profiles in the field have participated actively. The continued organisation of this conference is a key strategic goal for SAB, see http://www.streetlevelconference.aau.dk/.
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We collaborate with distinguished international scholars (Evelyn Brodkin, University of Chicago; Michael Lipsky, Georgetown University; Rik van Berkel, Utrecht University; Sharon Wright, University of Glasgow) in SLB research, on PhD courses, etc.
10.4 RESEARCH GROUP ACTIVITIES AND OUTPUT
PUBLICATIONS
SAB has a broad publishing profile, which includes reports, books, anthologies/book chapters, national and international articles, and PhD dissertations. The complete publication list for SAB can be found here.
We publish our research in international journals (both BFI level 1 and level 2). As a part of our research strategy, we aim to deliver research of a high international quality, which is submitted to and qualified by peer-review by our international colleagues around the world. Figure 10.D presents an overview of the total publication count per year. SAB has gradually increased the number of publications and aims to uphold a high number of publications in the coming years. Considering the size of the research group, SAB has a fairly strong output in the number of peer-reviewed publications and the share of BFI points (cf. figure 10.C) of the department total.
Figure 10.C. BFI points 2013-2017 50 45 40 35 30 25 20 15 10 5 0 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 Total 1 and 2
Level 1 Level 2
As described above, it is our ambition to contribute to knowledge mobilisation within the field of employment and social policy and services in the Danish welfare state. This ambition affects our publication strategy. We produce publications that are legitimised and strengthened by peer-reviewing. Simultaneously, we work to ensure that research is available for a broader audience. The latter means also writing in Danish and through non-peer- reviewed channels. When selecting relevant channels of publication, we focus on the quality of the given publication as well as channels that contain interesting and forward-thinking discussion about our four strategic focus areas. This is reflected in the group’s publications in a varied list of journals and publishers.
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Figure 10.D. Publications by language 2013- 2017 35 30 25 English 20 Danish 15 Other 10 Total 5 0 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017
We consider the production of knowledge to be a collective concern and effort, and find it relevant to encourage and facilitate collaboration on publications within the research group and with external researchers. This is reflected in a high number of co-authored publications.
We are equally oriented towards publication of research in channels that are accessible to the practice we are researching. That means publications in Danish that target practitioners and decision makers. Some of these publications are peer-reviewed according to scientific standards, and some are more general research communication. In the coming years, we wish to uphold a strong publication activity in terms of number of publications and level of journals and publications. We aim to produce international peer-reviewed publications within all four strategic focus areas.
RESEARCH TRAINING (PHD) An important lifeline of SAB is its PhD programme with PhDs financed in collaborations between Aalborg University and important actors in the field; University College Denmark, Vaeksthuset and a selection of municipalities, as well as through our ongoing research projects. Figure 10.E provides an overview of our PhD enrolments and graduations between 2013 and 2017. The PhD students have different backgrounds. Some are former social workers with experiences from the practice field combined with a master in Social Work, others are masters in sociology and others again come from a job as lecturer at University College Denmark.
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Figure 10.E. PhD enrolment and graduation 2013-2017 3
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New enrolment Graduated 1
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The young talents in the research group are very active participants and contribute greatly to the dynamic and productive orientation in the group. SAB aims to support these talents by ensuring that the research group delivers constructive criticism when research in progress is presented, and by creating possibilities of retaining young employees in new projects and through external funding. We have been successful in creating possibilities for retaining a number of promising candidates via PhD grants, and we have managed to secure external funding for postdoc projects for a number of our talented PhD students after they have completed their dissertation work. In addition, Merete Monrad, who is part of SAB, has received funding from the Faculty of Social Science's talent management programme.
EXTERNAL FUNDING External funding is crucial for many of SAB’s research activities and has been important for the development of the research group. External funding has contributed to five co-financed PhDs as well as two postdoc positions in the SAB group since 2013. It is a sustained and explicit focus to apply for external funding to develop the group, including grants from private and public research funds and research collaborations with public and private actors within the practice field. SAB has obtained funding from, e.g., Innovation Fund Denmark and several municipalities.
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Figure 10.F provides an overview of funding from external sources 2013-2017.
Figure 10.F. New grants and sources 2013 - 2017 6.000.000 DKK
5.000.000 DKK Nordic funds 4.000.000 DKK Internal funding
3.000.000 DKK EU funds Other government funds 2.000.000 DKK Private funds 1.000.000 DKK Danish research councils - DKK 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017
As SAB is a new research group, established in 2013, and applying for and obtaining external funding is often a long process, it is natural that the early years produced little external funding. From 2015 and onwards, however, SAB has obtained substantial external funding, contributing 24 per cent of the external funding in the FoSo network over the full period.
THIRD MISSION ACTIVITIES AND COLLABORATION OUTSIDE RESEARCH It is SAB’s strategy to disseminate our research across a range of alternative platforms to ensure that our research-based knowledge reaches core actors in the broader field of employment policy and social work. We work with oral and written communication to practitioners at job centres and organisations, to municipal managers and central administration, to consultants, unions and stakeholders in the field, to educators outside AAU, and to politicians locally and nationally. We also use social media in our dissemination strategy, primarily websites, blogs and Linked-In (see examples here and here). A large part of SAB's research activities are conducted in close collaboration with organisations and core actors in the field of employment policy, such as municipalities, KL (Local Government Denmark) and university colleges. This is reflected in the substantial external funding obtained from these types of organisations, including co-funded postdoc positions and PhD projects.
Strategically, SAB wishes to maintain and further existing external collaborations and to develop new collaborations. For example, while maintaining and extending our comprehensive collaborations with many Danish municipalities, we will in the coming years focus on developing our collaborations in local and national politics, e.g., by presenting our research to the national council of employment policy and address local politicians through our partner municipalities. Similarly, we wish to extend our network and collaboration with NGOs and other important actors like citizens’ interest groups in order to expand the reach of our research, challenge our own perspectives and gain new insight and ideas for future research projects.
SAB's research is applied in many different contexts, such as education of practitioners and managers in the area, and development courses in the municipalities. A complete list of the SAB group's activities can be found here.
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Besides stable and continuous activities in terms of memberships (of committees, commissions, boards, councils, associations, expert panels etc.), talks and presentations, SAB has a strategy to always respond to inquiries from journalists and media and either participate or refer them to relevant colleagues. This strategy is reflected in our press clippings (including participation in TV-programmes, interviews, radio programmes etc.). For example, in the beginning of 2018, four articles were written in connection with the LISES project in Videnskab.dk, presenting the background for the project, initial findings as well as future challenges in the field.
10.5 RESEARCH AND TEACHING COHERENCE
SAB’s dissemination strategy is an extension of our ambition to make our research accessible to and applicable in practice. This includes contributing to the curriculum in educational programmes in the social field (social work programs, Master's in social work, social sciences etc.), teaching future workers in the field and developing new ways of facilitating knowledge- exchange between students, practitioners and researchers.
SAB’s members all teach a range of courses relevant to the practice field and methodological approaches of the group, e.g., bachelor and master programmes in Sociology at Aalborg University and Copenhagen University; master programmes in Knowledge-based Social Work and Public Governance at Aalborg University; social work programmes and courses for social workers at Aalborg University, University College Copenhagen, University College Lillebaelt and VIA University College. In the social work programme at Aalborg University, SAB researchers have developed a module based on the research project LISES (see impact case below) that has been integrated in the elective specialisation in employment-oriented social work. We are in dialogue with other social work educations about integrating the module in their specialisations in other parts of the country.
Overwhelmingly, though, SAB’s members teach courses in the master in Social Work at the department. This includes the elective specialisation in ‘Social Work in the Employment Political Frontline’, introductions to theory on social work and methodological courses on narrative and discourse analysis, evaluation, quantitative analyses and more. Each year, a number of students choose to write their master’s thesis within the area of employment- oriented social work, and SAB’s researchers supervise the majority of these theses. Furthermore, students have been included in research projects as part of their master’s thesis or in internships.
In addition to teaching activities of SAB’s members, SAB’s research is present in many Danish schools of social work through our contribution to curricula through book chapters, articles in Danish and English and research reports.
In the coming years, we aim to strengthen our presence further in teaching and education, by recruiting (even) more students to the elective specialisation in the master of social work; develop and disseminate the LISES module for social work programs; and continue an active publishing profile in communicating research-based knowledge to (future) practitioners.
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10.6 SOCIETAL IMPACT
Since the establishment of SAB in 2013, we have had a strong focus on societal impact. Our impact strategy is three-fold: 1) develop formats for dialogic knowledge collaborations between research and practice, 2) impact through collaboration with the practice field, and 3) impact through publications targeted towards practitioners and decision makers.
1. As a part of our impact strategy our aim is to develop theoretical and methodological research approaches that offer an alternative to the dominant knowledge used as evidence base for deciding what works in ALMP (a-contextual, RCT-based, focused on short-term effects and excluding knowledge from users and professionals). Theoretically, we have conceptualised this approach as relational causality, based on the idea that policies (or events/programmes/interventions, etc.) gain their effects in relational processes in which different (human and non-human) actors continuously perform, (re)produce and enact given practices across various contexts (Dall & Danneris forthcoming). Methodologically, we have applied this in the LISES-project (see impact case) by using the MILP-method, which is a mutual innovation and learning platform to support co-reflections between researchers and practitioners in order to develop the ongoing research findings. Together, relational causality and MILP contribute to our aim to deliver societal impact by producing knowledge that is relevant, local and implementable in the field and our wish to improve ALMP for vulnerable welfare claimants. 2. Our problem-based orientation and practice-rooted starting point of the majority of our activities enjoins us to continuously interact with our external stakeholders and (through this) create societal impact. The direct beneficiaries of our research and outreach are the municipalities and their staff, but our activities also produce positive spillover effects in the form of influencing policy development and the education of future frontline workers. For example, based on her PhD thesis, one SAB researcher was invited to share her insights and reflections to the officials responsible for KL’s suggestions for a new legal framework in the employment field. The later published KL report shows that many of these insights and reflections played a direct and important role in the final suggestions to a revision of the current ALMP (find the report here). In addition, we engage in social impact activities both locally and nationally and through the institutions with which our researchers collaborate. Examples of such impact are courses for all rehabilitation professionals in two Danish municipalities based on two SAB research projects. Over two days of presentations, workshops and dialogue with professionals, the researchers aimed to foster reflection with professionals to enable them to make adjustments to their shared practices on the basis of generalised research and analyses of their practices. 3. Besides publishing in international journals, SAB researchers prioritise publishing in media aimed at practitioners and decision-makers. Some of these publications are peer-reviewed according to scientific standards, and some are more general research communication like feature articles in newspapers, open access reports etc. For example, SAB researchers have published and been interviewed to professional magazines such as VejlederForum (for educational counsellors) and SUF Magasinet (for social- pedagogical professionals). We have contributed widely to the magazine Essens. These types of publications have often lead to numerous invitations from actors outside academia to do talks and presentations in their organisations. For example, three SAB researchers were invited to do keynote presentations at five conferences arranged by Ligeværd, an NGO for people with special needs.
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PANEL EVALUATION SAB
Observations SAB – Social Work at the Frontline of Employment Policy emerged from the FoSo unit, which since 2013 has been an interdisciplinary social science research unit at the Department of Sociology and Social Work. SAB describe themselves as a young and new research group. It focuses on employment policies and practices, especially how they affect vulnerable adults. SAB’s analyses seek to understand “how political reforms are turned into concrete reality in Danish municipalities.” The research is shaped by Michael Lipsky’s theory of street-level bureaucracy (SLB), and Lipsky is a key research collaborator. The group also cites collaboration with other leading scholars in the development of SLB theory, including Evelyn Brodkin (University of Chicago), Rik van Berkel, (Utrecht University), and Sharon Wright (University of Glasgow). The research group deploys the SLB framework in a broad range of research practices to critically analyse and develop social work at the frontline of employment policy, particularly seeking to theorise and improve interactions between social workers and service users/clients, the profession of social work, and the organisation of employment services.
The research group is led by Associate Professor Dorte Caswell and comprises three associate professors in teaching and research roles (Merete Monrad Søren, Peter Olesen, Tina Bømler), two teaching associate professors (Berit Heien, Vivi Imer), one postdoc (Sophie Danneris), and seven PhD students. The group describes the reliance on temporarily employed PhD students and postdoctoral researchers “as a continuous focus area in terms of providing funds to secure their future employment at the department.” The research group has strong collaborative partnership with the Department of Political Science, AAU and with the research group in the employment area at University College Copenhagen. SAB meets for half-day video-conference meetings approximately every two months either at AAU's campus in Sydhavnen (Copenhagen) or in Aalborg.
SAB’s ambitions include producing high international quality research. The team asserts that they use a broad range of social science methodologies (quantitative, qualitative and mixed), though the examples of research provided during the research were qualitative. There appeared to be a strong emphasis on building theory through local analysis of practices and policy implementation and/or resistance. Another ambition is to influence employment policy and practice and recognition of this field by the social work profession as a legitimate field of practice and policy work. The research group identifies six key aims: contribute to the professional development of the practice field of employment-oriented social work by developing research and theory that inform professional skills and practice; advance a research perspective based in a critical, constructive approach to research and knowledge mobilisation; be key actors in advancing an orientation within the field of street-level research towards the role of organisation and professional practice in the implementation of policy, as well as an orientation towards the active role of unemployed clients; contribute to international policy research concerning welfare-to-work and specifically to collaborations around welfare conditionality; be inclusive of a broad range of methodological and theoretical perspectives that can inform our focus on employment-oriented social work and policy implementation as non-linear, contextual and ongoing processes;
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find inspiration in works on phronetic research, reparative critique and relational sociology.
According Aalborg University’s web-page for this research group, the group achieved 79 research outputs between 2012 and 2016. Although it is outside the time frame of the review, it is worth noting that the research output continues to grow to 50 research outputs between 2018 and 2019. The BF1 research publications continued to develop through the review period as did the proportion of English-language publications. In 2017, two-thirds of the group’s publications were in English.
The research group provides a good training ground with six PhD students joining the group during the review period and three PhD graduations during this time. During the review period, the research group attracted DKK 12,647,795 from a variety of sources. In 2015, the group attracted a large grant of almost DKK 4,000,000 from Innovation Fund Denmark, which was the only funding from this source during the research period. In addition, the group attracted approximately one third of its research income from government funds, specifically Innovation Fund Denmark, from several municipalities. Other funding came from private sources.
The group is strongly focused on influencing policy and practice. For instance, the group reported on the LISES project, which was financed by the Danish Innovation Fund and included partners from six Danish municipalities and Local Government Denmark. The project operated 2016-2020 and included members from both SAB and CARMA. The objective was to develop innovative welfare solutions to increase labour market participation among vulnerable unemployed. Practical influences of the project include recognition by the partners of the fiscal and social value of participant engagement in employment program development and consequent policy and practical changes in how employment services are organised within the municipalities.
Recommendations The research group is to be commended for its many strengths, including a strong and well- defined theoretical framework for their research; utilisation of diverse research methodologies; focus on a topic – employment services for vulnerable adults – that is of immense theoretical and practical significance; development of a broad range of collaborations across the University of Aalborg, with other universities, with international research partners, and with industry groups. The group’s enthusiasm for research that makes a positive difference for the partners and participants was clearly articulated. To enhance the national and international profile of its research, the group should consider first focusing on attracting funds from competitive academic research sources, particularly the Danish Research Council. While the strong support from industry and private sources is to be commended, the group is now in a good position to attract more academically prestigious funds. A goal is to increase research funding from the Research Fund Denmark– and possibly EU funding – to supplement the research group’s funding from other sources.
Second, the group should continue to focus on BF1 research outputs. The self-evaluation showed an increased proportion of BF1 research outputs in the final year of the review period, and it is important that this trend continue in order to build national and international influence of the research. The group should continue to increase the proportion publications in English, as it did over the course of the review period, in order to achieve international influence.
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Third, we note the heavy reliance on PhD and postdoctoral researchers. The research group might consider how it can develop a critical mass of research capacity, for instance define a strategy for increasing the proportion of mid-career and senior researchers in the group.
Overall, this research group appears to have a clear focus on influencing local, national and international policies on employment services for the most vulnerable adults; the engagement of the profession of social work with the areas of practice and policy; and, finally, on developing the theory of street-level bureaucracy.
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APPENDIX 10.1. IMPACT CASES
Local Innovations in Social and Employment Services (LISES)
From 2016-2020 members of SAB and CARMA engage in a collaborative research project, LISES, financed by the Danish Innovation Fund and including partners from six Danish municipalities and KL (Local Government Denmark). The main focus of the project is to develop innovative welfare solutions aimed at increasing the labour market participation among vulnerable unemployed. By integrating perspectives from political and organisational research disciplines with perspectives from the frontline of ALMP, the project aims to develop the potentials of 1) political and organisational strategy planning, 2) integrated services across departments and involved actors, 3) institutional interaction between frontline staff and clients, 4) client participation and co-creation, and 5) employer engagement. This is done through extensive field work (interviews, observations and document studies) based on a mutual learning approach, where the researchers meet with managers and frontline staff in mutual innovation and learning platforms (MILP) to co-reflect on and develop the ongoing research findings. During the research process, it has become clear that these platforms as such are – in terms of the ongoing organisational developments – innovative. Besides generating relevant and useful knowledge to the research group, the MILP-method provides an alternative and valuable innovation- and development tool, which enables the municipalities to focus on long-term effects and organisationally integrated solutions.
Most importantly, LISES contributes with value for the municipal organisations in their effort to deliver meaningful activities to support labour market participation for vulnerable unemployed. One of the most recent results from LISES, which has had direct impact in the involved municipalities, is the finding that client involvement can lead to actual fiscal gains but requires parallel development of the other areas (strategy, integrated services, qualifying institutional interaction and collaboration with employers). Based on this finding, the municipalities have taken a critical look at the way they communicate with clients and have tried to limit the number of case worker replacements, which has a direct, negative impact on client involvement.
Looking beyond the societal impact in the involved municipalities, LISES has had direct impact on the education of future frontline workers in the job centres by establishing a unique four- day seminar in the social work education at Aalborg University. Parts of the teaching take place in one of the municipalities, and students meet job centre managers and staff and root their learning in a practice environment. The establishment of a similar course in the other two social worker educations (University College Copenhagen and VIA in Aarhus) is currently being discussed. We also plan to draw on LISES for teaching in the public management programme (MPG) in 2019 and in the employment specialisation in the Master's programme in social work at AAU.
Further, the LISES project group has held three highly successful international research conferences, 'Conference on Street Level Research in the Employment and Social Policy Area', attended by almost 100 researchers and practitioners from across the world; most recently in June 2019. The project has also been introduced at conferences/seminars in the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, Norway, Sweden, Singapore, Australia and Portugal. Finally, LISES has a Norwegian sister project, INNOWEL, that was launched in September 2016. The Norwegian research council funds INNOWEL with NOK 12 million.
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Spot on the conversation (SPS) Another example of the objective to combine research and societal impacts is the SPS-project, which ran 2016-17. The project was funded by the private research centre Vaeksthuset, which engaged with four researchers from SAB to analyse institutional communication between vulnerable unemployed and frontline professionals through empirical observations of such encounters in municipal job centres. The background was, first, that these meetings are without comparison the most used tool in current ALMP, and, second, that both policy and research emphasises conversations between clients and frontline professionals as effective in terms of increasing labour market participation for all groups of unemployed. However, there has been surprisingly limited focus on what actually goes on in these meetings: what do they talk about, and how do they talk about it?
Based on empirical data from 12 meetings collected by an SAB PhD student as part of their project (Danneris 2016), the analysis focused on four themes: meaningfulness, self-efficacy, agency and labour market perspective. These themes were investigated via sociological conversation analysis (SCA). Communication concerning these themes was found in all meetings.
The analysis was disseminated as an open access report including an introduction to SCA, a chapter analysing each of the four themes and a final chapter about frontline practice. This final chapter addressed the relevance of such perspective in the actual meetings between clients and social work professionals in the municipal job centres and offered ideas and inspiration to professionals wishing to engage in and develop the potential of this perspective in their work. Thus, the format of the publication supported its application in practice. After the publication of the report, all four researchers have received invitations from a variety of actors in the field – from institutions educating future social workers to municipal job centre managers – to give presentations, organise workshops, seminars and longer teaching modules based on the approach and findings from the analysis. For example, one of the researchers has taught a three-hour seminar including introduction to SCA and specific practice cases from the SPS report to social worker students at VIA University in Aarhus. Another researcher did a half-day seminar for 200 frontline professionals at Job centre Aalborg, introducing them to SCA, the findings from the analysis, and engaged them in discussions by presenting raw empirical data for them to analyse and reflect upon in smaller groups.
What started out with a (primarily PBL-inspired) research analysis of an underexposed field developed into a product that found relevance and inspiration in practice and resonated very well with the actual work of frontline professionals.
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11. MIS O
11.1 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY AND FUTURE PLANS
The research group MIS O conducts research concerning target groups in the areas of social pedagogy, socially vulnerable children and young people, people with mental and physical disabilities, and groups of people living in vulnerable circumstances, such as homeless and other poor and vulnerable people. We focus on research-related clarification of measures and methods within social pedagogy.
During the period of evaluation (2013-2017), the members have primarily conducted large and long-lasting research projects, especially PhD studies and externally funded projects, which is reflected in and affects the output. These long-lasting projects have given the members the opportunity to follow and discuss the research processes, and the projects thus affect the focus and discussions of the group meetings.
The research projects concern with the characteristics of foster families, experiences of young people who have been in out-of-home care, young people with complex needs, and the social pedagogical methods applied in the work with the target groups. In the coming years, the group will focus on developing and improving research in the following areas:
• Children and young people placed in foster care and in residential institutions, placement of children with an ethnic minority background, after-care issues, and the social pedagogical knowledge applied in the work with children and young people in out-of-home care. • People with mental and physical disabilities, in particular research on social pedagogical issues in relation to inclusion in social communities and other societal contexts.
The objective of the research is to contribute to knowledge in a number of either undocumented areas or very poorly documented areas. The aim is also to contribute to improvements in policy, organisation and execution of social pedagogical work with socially vulnerable children, young people and adults.
The research group primarily consists of associate professors and PhD students, so in the coming years there is a focus on helping PhD students advance in their academic career and on recruiting new members.
11.2 RESEARCH PROFILE AND STRATEGY OF THE RESEARCH GROUP
MIS O is a research group within The Social Work Research Network (FoSo) and was formed in 2013. MIS O focuses on social pedagogy and its target groups. In recent decades, social policy and societal developments in Denmark and Western Europe have caused changes within the social areas, which means that a growing number of more specialised target groups are being added, and notions of normality are changing. This has decisive influence on the measures and methods that are needed and developed within the social pedagogical field.
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The target groups in the field of social pedagogy have traditionally been divided into three groups – children and young people, people with mental and physical disabilities, and groups of people living in vulnerable circumstances, e.g., homeless and drug addicts. MIS O’s research focuses primarily on the first two target groups. Social pedagogical measures and methods have been the object of exploration and clarification to a limited extent only, and there are no studies across the field of social pedagogy that show connected or unconnected trends in methods development among the approx. 40,000 social pedagogues in Denmark. The training to become a social pedagogue includes a number of knowledge forms concerning methods, care, ethics etc. that cut across the field of social pedagogy.
More than 11,000 children and young people are placed in various forms of out-of-home care. Additionally, approx. 30,000 families are receiving early intervention via different types of day- care measures and preventive initiatives. However, the social pedagogical methods, especially the politically prioritised efforts in out-of-home placement as well as different types of early intervention, have only been documented sporadically by research. The same goes for the future prospects of young people who have been placed in out-of-home care.
There is a need for both research on and development of measures in relation to the everyday lives of children with minority background, their reception of instruction and other social pedagogical measures that support development. Traumatising experiences often mark unaccompanied refugee children, children in asylum-seeking families, and asylum seekers in general. They often need social pedagogical support, not only while they wait for a decision on their residence application, but also for a short or long period afterwards. There is a need for increased research about the need for and quality of societal and social pedagogical measures in relation to these particularly vulnerable asylum seekers and refugees.
The other large social pedagogical area, which according to Statistics Denmark contains more than 15,000 adults with disabilities, including mental disabilities and mental illnesses, is also very sporadically documented in research. This applies to measures, methodological approaches, reflections and discussions about the definition of target groups. The removal of the institution concept in legislation and the subsequently changed measures and methodological approaches is also an area that calls for clarification by research. So do the consequences of the municipal reform in 2007 and inclusion processes for people who need specialised services and counselling.
The methodological approaches used in the study of target groups and measures within the field of social pedagogy are wide-ranging and depend on the specific issue and research question. The members of the research group have experience in quantitative methods in the form of register analyses, questionnaire surveys, and mappings. Furthermore, a wide spectrum of qualitative methods are used, ranging from biographical, narrative interviews over various types of observations to more traditional, qualitative interview forms. The group's competences also include document analyses and historical research.
11.3 THE RESEARCH GROUP’S ORGANISATION, COMPOSITION AND FINANCING
Research Staff as of 31 December 2017
Professor Inge M. Bryderup, research group leader
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Associate Professor Marianne Skytte
PhD student Anne-Kirstine Mølholt Anthon Sand Jørgensen
Affiliated member – Post Doc Randi Riis Michelsen (CISKO as main affiliation)
External affiliated members Britta Nørgaard, PhD, Associate Professor, UCN Holger Kjærgaard, Associate Professor, UCN Tanja Miller, Associate Professor, UCN
The group leader is Professor Inge Bryderup, who organises the meetings, handles strategic management, has the final say on the agenda, and functions as chair at meetings. Additionally, the group leader invites and maintains contact to (new) members, including externally affiliated members from research collaborations and networks. Through the involvement by external members, various plans for collaboration have developed across organisations, including applications for external funding. Two to three external members from University College North (UCN) participate in the research group's activities. Besides the members from UCN, PhD students are funded in collaboration with external institutions, and the affiliated postdoc is also co-funded with a municipality. The rest of the group members are department-funded.
The research group holds 5-6 one-day meetings per year, which supplement informal day-to- day interactions between members in relation to teaching and research. The meetings are primarily structured around discussions of written academic material, such as project descriptions, articles, and book chapters. The purpose of these discussions is to nuance and advance the research perspectives to secure research quality, insight into each member’s academic work, and academic sharing of knowledge through feedback. The group also discusses relevant information concerning employment at the Department of Sociology and Social Work, such as internal relations at the department, research management, and inquiries from external partners. Finally, the research group's strategic plans are up for discussion each year.
Between 2013 and 2017, the research group primarily includes PhD students and associate professors, which means that there is a gap in terms of assistant professors and postdocs. This will hopefully change as the PhDs complete their dissertations. Looking back, the experience is that some PhDs have changed academic status to assistant professors. Two PhD students are by 2018 assistant professors at the department. However, it is a focus point of the research group to invite new members and to help younger academic staff advance in their academic positions. These initiatives are necessary to secure the membership of the research group and its existence in the years to come.
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Figure 11.A. Staff development 2013-2017 14
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11.4 RESEARCH GROUP ACTIVITIES AND OUTPUT
Two things characterise the activities and output of the research group within the period 2013- 2017. First, a fairly large number of PhD studies are being conducted, which has been discussed at meetings and characterises the group’s output. During a PhD project, the student has a particular advantage of presenting and discussing research material, methodologies, and the theoretical frame. This is also an important part of the researcher training. Presentations and discussions of dissertation material have thus been prioritised at the group meetings. Second, members have conducted comprehensive long-term studies, and group meetings have often involved discussions of studies where the research group members have been able to follow the research processes on the side. This has resulted in many more general methodological and theoretical discussions following research processes.
Especially towards the end of 2017, a number of large projects were completed. However, data and analyses from these projects will continue to form the basis for new projects in the coming years. Emphasis in the near future is to work on the large empirical material gathered in the different projects and to create and start new projects on the basis of external funding. Additionally, it is the strategy to consolidate the research group by ensuring investments in the current young scholars to further their academic careers.
In the next five years, MIS O will work actively on the following objectives:
Initiate and qualify research within the area of social pedagogy, especially within the field of children and young people in out-of-home care, after care and people with mental and physical disabilities Increase collaborations with national as well as international research institutes Maintain its close contact to international networks within MIS O’s field of research Exploit the vast empirical data Ensure scientific output through feedback support and collaborations, for example in relation to writing articles to journals Generate external funding to start new projects and maintain/create scientific positions Collaborate around and increase research-teaching coherence
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PUBLICATIONS The publications produced by the members within the period 2013-2017 have especially focused on dissemination of research knowledge and findings, such as PhD theses, journal articles, books and reports oriented towards informing and translating research into practice. Additionally, research findings have been disseminated through national and international presentations and conference participations.
The publications have earned 20.49 BFI point in the period 2013-2017 (cf. figure 11.B)
Figure 11.B. BFI points 2013-2017 25
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Level 1 Level 2
As mentioned, many of the publications are as PhD theses written as Danish monographs, as literature oriented towards social work practice or educational programmes relevant for the Department of Sociology and Social Work. In addition, there are publications every year in English (cf. figure 11.C)
Figure 11.C. Publications by language 2013- 2017 12
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There is also a high level of collaboration with national and international networks in the research group, which nourishes and furthers the discussion of research knowledge. These networks are:
Institutional – based at Aalborg University • The network focuses on narrative methods
National • The Danish Network for Younger Researchers Working with Child Protection (NCP) • FORSA – The association for research in social work
International • European Social Work Research Association • The Nordic Network: Social Work and migration • International Inter-Centre Network for Evaluation of Social Work Practice • CUSP – Centre for Understanding Social Pedagogy • Special Interest Group Gerontological Social Work • International Research Group – Care and Treatment of offenders with intellectual Disabilities • International Research Network on Transitions to Adulthood from Care • Nordic research Network on Care Leavers’ Transition to Adulthood
Both national and international collaboration involves several activities that aim to develop networks to initiate and qualify research within the area of social pedagogy. Some networks are developing research methods, for instance the network on narrative methods and the International Inter-Centre Network for Evaluation of Social Work Practice. Other networks work to generate external funding to start new projects, for instance CUSP – Centre for Understanding Social Pedagogy and the Nordic Research Network on Care Leavers’ Transition to Adulthood.
Three researchers from MIS O were members of the Conference Committee to arrange the conference of the European Social Work Research Association in Aalborg in 2017 with participation of more than 400 European researchers. Also young researchers were invited to participate in the planning to give them experience and develop their international networks.
Participation in national and international collaboration has meant a lot to the development of MIS O during the years establishing networks to initiate and qualify research within the area of social pedagogy. Contributions from MIS O members include theoretical debates, empirical studies, and country perspectives.
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RESEARCH TRAINING (PH.D.)
Figure 11.D. PhD enrolment and graduation 2013-2017 3
2
New enrolment Graduated 1
0 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017
In the period 2013-2017, five PhD students enrolled. Their academic work, academic considerations and need for feedback have been a significant task within the research group and at group meetings. Talent management has been carried out in a number of ways and at several levels. Chapters from the PhD dissertations have continually been discussed at the research group's meetings. Senior researchers in the group have 'shared' their national and international networks with young researchers. Applications have been prepared for external funding in collaboration between Senior and young researchers have worked together on successful applications for external funding. Senior researchers have also supported the PhD students in planning their studies abroad. Finally, young researchers have been invited to participate in the planning of international and national conferences.
EXTERNAL FUNDING Many of the group’s research projects are externally funded, especially by foundations, professional unions, regions and municipalities. Many projects are co-funded by different organisations. Acquiring external funding has thus always been a focus in the group, and applications have been commented and discussed.
In the period 2013-2017, external funding reached 5,360,000 kr. This covers mainly one large projects about foster care in Denmark, and one large project about inclusion in local communities.
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RESEARCH EVALUATION 2013 – 2017
Figure 11.E. New grants and sources 2013- 2017 6.000.000 DKK
5.000.000 DKK Nordic funds 4.000.000 DKK Internal funding
3.000.000 DKK EU funds Other government funds 2.000.000 DKK Private funds 1.000.000 DKK Danish research councils - DKK 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017
In the future, there will be an even greater focus on how to support each other through application processes and where to seek funding. However, many projects are supported by external funding within the research group, but it is also the researchers’ experience that many resources are used on applications that fail, and that the number of applications and rejections are increasing due to increased competition for external funds.
Since many of the group’s research projects end by 2017, it is especially important to get funding for new projects, to ensure that research is kept up-to-date and to ensure positions for younger researchers. This requires greater focus at group meetings on external funding and how to increase the rate of success. We will especially focus on funding from national organisations, but we will also be aware of international organisations with relevant calls for applications, potentially in collaboration with international research partners.
THIRD MISSION ACTIVITIES AND COLLABORATION OUTSIDE RESEARCH The group has many and broad collaborations outside academia. Several members are board members in institutions and political organisations within the field and serve as experts for the National Board of Social Services, ministries, municipalities as well as NGOs. For example, during the evaluation period, the Ministry of Social Affairs asked for several meetings and research-based advice concerning out-of-home care in general and more specific advice concerning changes in the legislation within this area. Also the Norwegian Ministry of Social Affairs has asked for advice concerning changes in their legislation with reference to our foster care project.
The NGO ‘Egmontfonden’ has asked for research-based advice before establishing their huge signature schooling project “Lær for Livet” (Learning for life) for children placed outside their homes. The leader from MIS O has been a member of the Advisory Board for the project “Lær for Livet” from the beginning.
In addition, the union of social pedagogues has asked for advice about establishing a digital platform of knowledge and research within the area of social pedagogy.
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Several private organisations in out-of-home care, for instance trade organisations for residential care centres, group homes and foster families, have also frequently asked for meetings, advice and expert knowledge.
11.5 RESEARCH AND TEACHING COHERENCE
There is high coherence between the group’s research subject and the members’ teaching. Members teach theories about social problems and a specialisation in vulnerable children and young people offered in the Master of Social Work programme; they teach different subject areas in the Master in Vulnerable Children and Young People, and they teach in the Social Work programme.
In addition, senior researchers teach national and international PhD courses. Moreover, the cohesion applies to teaching methodologies with which the researchers have practical experience, and supervision of students and PhD students.
11.6 SOCIETAL IMPACT
The research concerns issues that are debated in the media and among professionals and politicians, and it often contributes to discussions in the media, numerous presentations at conferences, supplementary education and courses for social workers and social educators, and other forms of impact, for example extra government grants awarded to different areas . In connection with the conclusion of the foster care project, dissemination has been a priority, e.g., a press release and a concluding conference to which many actors within the field of foster care were invited. This has subsequently led to extensive communication across all media as well as a political decision about a pool of DKK 74 million for the areas where the research project reveals critical conditions.
In addition, the research and the results from the foster care project have contributed to discussions for several years in television, radio, newspapers and trade journals. Knowledge from the project was disseminated in numerous presentations at conferences in more than 20 municipalities, ministries, several unions and other trade organisations within the area.
It is the intention to develop these dissemination and impact strategies further and more systematically in the years to come.
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PANEL EVALUATION MIS O
Observations MIS O focuses on social pedagogy in relation to children and young people, and people living with intellectual and physical disabilities. The group is committed to developing knowledge about the measures and methods of social pedagogy, especially in relation to the two target groups. The RG notes that although there are 40,000 social pedagogues in Denmark, the theoretical and knowledge base of this group within the social work profession is under-developed.
The RG is relatively small. In December 2017, it comprised eight members, three of whom were externally affiliated, and one was primarily affiliated with CISKO. During the evaluation period, MIS O was led by Professor Inge Bryderup and comprised one associate professor, Marianne Skytte, and two PhD students, in addition to other affiliates previously described. The group sees itself as having an important role in PhD education on social pedagogy. The group recognised the gap in membership at post-PhD level and had hoped that the two PhD students would graduate to be members of the Department and continue the development of the research group. The RG held 5-6 one-day meetings per year, which were primarily structured around discussions of written academic material, such as project descriptions, articles, and book chapters.
The research output is adequate considering the small size of the research group. In the review period, 36 BF1 points were achieved, 50% in 2017. A more significant problem was the lack of publications in English (a total of six in this period), which limits the group’s capacity to achieve international influence.
In the review period, DKK 5,360,000 in external funding were achieved. The funding was almost entirely associated with two projects: one on foster care, particularly related to education and support for foster carers, and one on social inclusion. Funding for both projects ran from 2014 to 2017. The RG is committed to influencing social pedagogy in practice, and members serve on practice and policy boards and advise the Danish National Board of Social Services, ministries, municipalities as well as NGOs in the field of out-of- home care. Also the Norwegian Ministry of Social Affairs has sought advice from RG concerning changes in foster care legislation.
Recommendations By the time of the review, MIS O has ceased operation. The research leader, Inge Bryderup, continues as adjunct professor at the Department of Sociology and Social Work and leads a large externally funded research project in the same field as the research group. The other members of the research group have either left the University or found other research groups. Given the significance of social pedagogy in the social services sector, the department should consider how it can absorb this important field of research into other RGs. The themes concerning practice responses to children and young people in out-of- home care and engaging with people living with intellectual and physical disabilities are also relevant to continuing RGs at the Department, including CISKO and P&B.
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