- The School of Business and Economics
Listed researchers 10
- Dept. of Arctic and Marine Biology
Training, recruitment and academic positions 2014 2015 2016 No. of PhD graduated at the institution per year
Male/Female 0/2 0/0 0/1
R&D expenditures and sources of funding (1000 NOK) Total per year 2 0 1 No. of positions announced / No. of qualified applicants per year
Sociology as such is not a field of strategic importance at BFE. Sociological perspectives are nevertheless central in aspects of marine governance and development of marine industries.
Source: The Research Council of Norway, Self-assessment report for the institution, 16/12960
125
17.1 Sociology at the institutional level
UiT The Arctic University of Norway was founded in 1972 as a comprehensive university for Northern Norway. Over the past 10 years, the university has undergone several mergers with university colleges in the region, and it is now the third largest university in Norway. The Faculty of Biosciences, Fisheries and Economics (BFE) was established in 2009 following a reorganisation of the university, and it has an interdisciplinary profile with a broad research portfolio. The faculty employs about 347 academic staff, 10 of whom are listed for the evaluation of Sociology. They are attached to the Norwegian College of Fishery Science and the School of Business and Economics in the faculty.
Organisation, leadership and strategy
BFE seems to be have a clear organisation and leadership. It has undergone frequent changes, however, and the future organisational structure and the role of Sociology within it may be uncertain.
Most of the university’s Sociology is conducted in another faculty. BFE includes three departments:
biology, the business school, and the Norwegian College of Fishery Science (NCFS), which has most of BFE’s sociologists. NCFS seems to have a rather unbalanced distribution of employees in 2016, with few newly hired academic staff. The institution’s goal is to be a leading knowledge and competence institution for marine governance. Its strategy is to achieve this goal by combining disciplines, engaging in extensive national and international collaboration, and producing scientific publications. BFE makes use of external funding from both the RCN and other public and private Norwegian sources. External funding from the EU and other international sources is rather low.
Institutional follow-up of previous evaluations
This institution was not part of the previous evaluation of Sociology in Norway.
Resources and infrastructure
The institution provides a good resource base and infrastructure, though there is variation among research groups. For instance, a lab for economic experiments is mentioned, which shows good infrastructure, but it remains unclear to what extent sociologists make use of or contribute to it.
Research income comprises 23% of UiT’s income in 2016.
Research environment
The institution’s strategy for collaboration with non-academic partners is to engage in public dissemination, participate on boards and committees, and provide courses or seminars for industry, where applicable.
Research personnel
UiT and its departments follow a strategic plan for gender equality, which is reflected in a good gender balance, at both junior and senior levels. International mobility is encouraged through a generous system of sabbaticals for permanent employees, and through short stays and training abroad for temporary employees (PhDs and postdocs). The career path for junior researchers is transparent in the sense that they are informed of the possibility of being promoted to a postdoc or researcher position after their PhD, but with an unlikely chance of a permanent position. However, the recruitment plans for Sociology seem to be limited, although they stated in the interview that they will maintain the size of the sociology group in the future as well.
126
Research production and scientific quality
The contribution of sociologists to BFE’s research is related to governance and management practice, in cooperation with researchers from other disciplines. Half of the most important publications listed in the self-assessment are in Norwegian. This suggests an equal balance between national and international publication, though the overall publication record is rather meagre. Moreover, it is unclear where sociology stands in this picture. The impression is that the contribution to international Sociology is not strong, while the contribution to interdisciplinary marine resources and governance is good.
Assessment of scientific quality: 3 - good
Interplay between research and education
PhD students receive national and international training as part of their education. They are also linked to a research group through their main supervisor. Senior staff have a fair balance between research and teaching.
Societal relevance and impact
BFE’s strategy is to disseminate and exchange knowledge through books and op-eds, as well as through active involvement of researchers in policy processes at the national and international level.
Stakeholders are also involved and express their views on relevant problems. BFE reports difficulties in successfully involving sociologists in the process of translating scientific knowledge into societal relevance. This may have to do with its limited view of the main, and potential, contribution of the discipline. It is namely not just a tool for understanding ongoing processes in a society, but also a tool for influencing them. The research undertaken at NCFS/BFE is centred around UiT’s theme of the ocean, which is one of the thematic areas in the Norwegian Long-term plan for research and higher education
Overall assessment
BFE has an interdisciplinary profile of a reasonable quality, nationally and internationally, and it has good societal impact. There is a tendency, however, to publish in Norwegian and the international publications are not all of high quality. Moreover, the institution has undergone continuous reorganisation, and it is unclear what implications this has for the Sociology group.
Feedback
After a period of constant reorganisation, BFE needs to consider a period of consolidation and stability.
The institution’s SWOT analysis appeared to understand which factors are likely to affect developments in the near future. Although sociological perspectives are considered central to aspects of marine governance and development of marine industries, a clear recruitment and development strategy needs to be developed for the future of Sociology in BFE. A stronger emphasis on international, high-quality journals would be desirable, and more external funding from EU might be aimed for.
127
17.2 Research group: Sociology
Organisation, leadership and strategies
The Sociology group at BFE pursues the same ambitions as the department, which was formed from the Norwegian College of Fishery Science (NCFS), and to which the group belongs. The ambition is to take a multi-disciplinary academic approach to the challenges facing fisheries, drawing on economics, social sciences and natural sciences. By doing so, the group contributes to the overall goals of BFE. The research group is said to have been created for the purpose of the current assessment exercise. This might suggest that it will need time to begin to develop a coherent strategy for the future. External funding is important to the research group, especially for conference participation and networking activities. Two observations: First, the objective of receiving external funding seems to be rather limited. Surprisingly, carrying out research, collecting data etc. are not part of it. Second, external funding primarily comes from the RCN and public and private Norwegian sources. During the period 2012–2016, there has been no external funding from any EU sources.
Research personnel
The group consists of four professors, two associate professors, four PhDs/postdocs, and two guest professors. The group’s recruitment strategy is to attract candidates both nationally and internationally through a transparent procedure. The training and mentoring of PhD candidates and postdocs is adequate. Career development seems to only occur at junior levels, from MA to PhD level and then postdoc. It is unclear how development occurs at more senior levels, from postdoc to associate professor and full professor. The balance among research personnel is uneven in terms of gender and age. The majority of researchers are male; in fact, there is only one female, who is a PhD student. Also, the staff is dominated by older people.
Research production and scientific quality
The group aims to be a leading international group of interdisciplinary researchers in the field of marine governance in a broad context, not only in Norway. However, the publication record within the team varies, in terms of both quality and quantity. Two professors and two guest professors are prolific in publishing, but others are not so. While interdisciplinarity is prominent, it is sometimes hard to see from the selected publications what the sociological contribution is.
Networking
The sociology group at BFE has established a good network, both nationally and internationally, and with both academic and non-academic partners. This network seems to be beneficial in relation to presenting and disseminating the group’s research results, and in the training of PhD students and post-doctoral fellows. It is unclear, however, to what extent networking has contributed to high-quality joint research and publications.
Interplay between research and education
The research group contributes adequately to educational activities by basing them on the group’s own research and by requiring each researcher to devote 50% of his or her time to teaching.
128
Societal relevance and impact
An impact case study was submitted concerning a project with global relevance about small fisheries across the world. It is very difficult to prove that this study – elaborate and apparently of high quality, as it is – changed policy, although it clearly contributed to the understanding of a socially relevant issue.
Overall assessment
This group involves sociologists working almost entirely on interdisciplinary projects. They appear to make a sound and valuable contribution through such endeavours. However, their contribution to sociological research per se is rather limited. Sociology at BFE carries out good research of international standard on themes relating to marine resources. A few individuals in the group contribute in particular to achieving such a standard. It should be noted, however, that, since they are close to retirement, the continuity of the research group may be in danger. Moreover, the continuous reorganisation of BFE has already slowed down the group’s development. More external funding from the EU might be the best strategy to follow if the group aims to strengthen its position within BFE. Finally, a better gender and age balance is needed.
Assessment of research group: 2 - fair
129