Paradoxical research funding: Affective dilemmas among academic leaders in Finnish universities

This chapter dives into the affective politics of how academic leaders give meaning to, challenge, and justify competitive research funding systems and resulting precarity in the context of Finland. It analyses the affective dilemmas that form when leaders aim to find a balance between value contradictions via affective practices that produce social order and both construct and challenge power relations. Thirty-two academic leaders in three Finnish universities were interviewed regarding organisational strategies, research funding, and leadership. Interviewees had been leaders or vice leaders in rectorate or faculties and departments in social science and humanities fields. The leaders face dilemmas between scientific freedom and science governance as well as individualistic competition and collegiality. Strategic leadership that guides funding practices is done via rationalisation and appraisal of collaboration receiving large external funding. When resisting these ideals, leaders express affect, such as anxiety, anger, frustration, sadness, cynicism, and worry while empathising with researchers, who struggle with precarious careers and funding competition. It is apparent that the closer to the researchers the leaders are, the more intensely these affective dilemmas are expressed. Meanwhile, the further the leaders are from the researchers’ everyday life, the more strategic they can become in relation to the dilemmas.