TIAS Event: Values in Higher Education

The seminar focuses on exploring the values and science policy ideals in higher education from the perspective of academic careers. Science policy in Finland, as well as in Europe, encourages academics towards excellence and effectiveness by stressing ideals such as interdisciplinarity, impact and internationalisation. Within the academy, these ideals are filtered by academic values and take different forms and emphases. What makes these ideals concrete for academics is the variety of research evaluation practices. Such practices influence on our understandings of what is valued in academia and what the characteristics of good research are. They also play a major role in academics’ career progression. Nevertheless, just as the ideals of science policy - such as research excellence and impact - can sometimes be fundamentally contradictory, it is not uncommon for evaluators to have conflicting views. In this seminar, the speakers will draw upon their insights from their own experiences of academic life and discuss the interplay of values, science policy ideals, research evaluation and careers.

Please register by 27 April via Webropol.

Programme

12:30-13:30   
Keynote: Trying to find meaning and purpose in a twisted academic career, Professor Tristram Hooley, Inland Norway University of Applied Sciences
13:30-14:00   
Values in Higher Education – Reflections on Research Evaluation and Characteristics of Good Research, Collegium Researcher Reetta Muhonen, Turku Institute for Advanced Studies
14:00-14:30   
Coffee
14:30-15:30   
Panel: Reflections on Values in Higher Education
Chair: Professor Martin Cloonan, Turku Institute for Advanced Studies,
Professor Emeritus Simon Frith, University of Edinburgh
Professor Tristram Hooley, Inland Norway University of Applied Sciences
Professor Ulrika Maude, University of Bristol, University of Turku
Professor Taina Saarinen, University of Jyväskylä

Keynote: Trying to find meaning and purpose in a twisted academic career

Professor Tristram Hooley, Inland Norway University of Applied Sciences

Trying to find meaning and purpose in a twisted academic career Academia is seen by many as a ‘good job’ with a strong career path. Many young researchers hope the journey that starts with their PhD will end with a Nobel Prize. Along the way they assume that they will have job security, respect from their students and peers and a good, if not great, salary. While those looking in on the profession from outside evoke the imagery of the ‘ivory tower’ in which academics are free to pursue their lofty, idiosyncratic and at times impractical interests. Yet neither the career narrative of elevation to superstar professor nor that of the idealistic dreamer prove to be very useful in guiding the careers of academics. The reality is more complex and twisted.
In this presentation Professor Tristram Hooley will reflect on his own twisted career and ask where it all went wrong (and right). He will use career theory to examine different models of career and explore how the neoliberal university differs from the Humboldtian ideal. He will explore his own engagement with policy and practice and ask what kind of useful role a researcher can play in informing the wider world. Finally, he will ask the question as to whether being an academic is a help or a hinderance in becoming an intellectual.

Along the way there will be tips and anecdotes about effective careership and a consideration of the possibilities that are open to researchers at all stages of their career both within and without the university.