TY - JOUR
T1 - Invisible hierarchies in academic work and career-building in an interdisciplinary landscape
AU - Ylijoki, Oili-Helena
N1 - Funding Information:
The Finnish higher education system is rooted in the Nordic Welfare State model regarding higher education as a public good, but over recent decades it has witnessed a series of neoliberal transformations, making Finland one of the most output-oriented higher education systems among the OECD countries (Kivistö et al., , 42). In 2010, the new University Act separated Finnish universities from the state administration and turned them into independent legal entities with financial autonomy and liability. Accordingly, academic staff lost their civil servant status. The system has also undergone structural reforms as several mergers between and within universities have taken place. Furthermore, the core funding from the Ministry of Education and Culture to universities has become performance-based, determined by outputs in education, research, and other policy considerations. Apart from this core budget funding, universities are dependent on external funding. Currently, half of their research funding comes from competitive external sources, mostly from Research Councils, industry, European Union and several foundations ().
Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.
PY - 2022
Y1 - 2022
N2 - Interdisciplinarity has become one of the catchwords in current higher education and science policies, with the underlying rationale being that scientific breakthroughs and solutions to today’s global challenges require collaboration across scientific fields. However, several empirical studies have shown that interdisciplinary promises are not necessarily realised in research practices, due to manifold cognitive, epistemic, cultural and organisational barriers. Drawing on interviews with women academics working in health technology in Finland, this paper traces subtle obstacles, hidden power relations and invisible hierarchies in interdisciplinary research work. A special emphasis is placed on understanding intersections of gender and interdisciplinarity, pointing to gendered implications of the current policy rhetoric of interdisciplinarity.
AB - Interdisciplinarity has become one of the catchwords in current higher education and science policies, with the underlying rationale being that scientific breakthroughs and solutions to today’s global challenges require collaboration across scientific fields. However, several empirical studies have shown that interdisciplinary promises are not necessarily realised in research practices, due to manifold cognitive, epistemic, cultural and organisational barriers. Drawing on interviews with women academics working in health technology in Finland, this paper traces subtle obstacles, hidden power relations and invisible hierarchies in interdisciplinary research work. A special emphasis is placed on understanding intersections of gender and interdisciplinarity, pointing to gendered implications of the current policy rhetoric of interdisciplinarity.
KW - academic reward system
KW - Academic work
KW - gender
KW - interdisciplinary research
KW - power relations
U2 - 10.1080/21568235.2022.2049335
DO - 10.1080/21568235.2022.2049335
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85126723704
SN - 2156-8235
VL - 12
SP - 356
EP - 372
JO - EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF HIGHER EDUCATION
JF - EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF HIGHER EDUCATION
IS - 4
ER -