Re-thinking and re-scaling science?

Perry, BG

Abstract

This Ph.D. by Published Works examines the dynamic interaction between a
re-thinking and a re-scaling of science. The ten Published Works are located at the
intersection between debates on the changing governance of science and science
policy governance in the context of a multi-scalar knowledge-based economy. Three
critical themes are examined relating to the relationship between excellence and
relevance, the roles of universities in knowledge-based coalitions and the relative
significance of regional and local knowledge-based developments for science policy
governance. The empirical emphasis is on two case studies of regional and local
science policies in North West England between 2002 and 2008, in international
comparative context.
The Published Works collectively construct a powerful story-line of change
and continuity within contemporary developments, undermining claims that a
paradigm shift has occurred in either the re-thinking or re-scaling of science.
Disembedded understandings of excellence predominate, despite the articulation of
alternative discourses on the roles of different knowledges for sub-national socioeconomic
development. Universities occupy ambiguous roles, with some better able
than others to mobilise institutional power to provide relative shelter from external
pressures. Sub-national interventions emphasise the re-development of physical
spaces and are acquisition-oriented, rather than predicated upon shifts in modes of
knowledge production.
A critical contribution of the Published Works is the forging of an
interdisciplinary agenda around re-thinking and re-scaling science that is both
academically excellent and policy relevant. The Ph.D. illustrates the need for more
integrated theoretical and practical understandings of the relationship between the
governance of science and of science policy governance and both defines and seeks to
populate critical gaps in this agenda.

Citation

Perry, B. Re-thinking and re-scaling science?. (Thesis). Salford : University of Salford

• Thesis Type: Thesis
• Deposit Date: Oct 3, 2012
• Award Date: Jan 1, 2009