Workshop 2: Research Groups and Centres

24th & 25th February 2005

Most research centres and groups claim to have distinctive goals and ambitions. In examining the formulation and evolution of these priorities, the second workshop compared the experiences of groups whose work is more and less obviously policy relevant. The intention was to look, in detail, at how research groups and centres (some ESRC funded, some not; some that have a formal institutional location, others that do not), define themselves and how they construct distinctive, cutting-edge programmes of work that also exploits existing concentrations of competence.

This workshop also reviewed and compared the ways in which research centres navigate between disciplinary priorities and the ambitions of different research funders and non-academic constituencies and how they construct and reproduce their 'own' identity in the process. In addressing these themes participants were asked to consider strategic questions of flexibility (how do centres and groups respond to shifts in non-academic priorities or to the sudden emergence of new 'hot' topics), direction and purpose.