The Dynamics Of Social Science Research Exploitation

Abstract

Research in the natural and social sciences has come to be seen as crucial to economic and social progress across a wide range of fronts, from wealth creation through technological advances and the imputed shift to a Knowledge Economy to the development of more effective, evidence-based public policies (Cabinet Office 1999). These issues have attracted the early attention of the new Scottish government, with wide-ranging reviews and consultations set up in relation to the creation of a Knowledge Economy in Scotland (Scottish Office 1999) and a 'Science Strategy for Scotland' (Scottish Executive 2000). They are also of pressing concern for those bodies responsible for funding research and education, which are charged to ensure not only the quality and value for money of the academic work they support, but also the effectiveness by which it is disseminated and exploited and the benefits it delivers. The Higher Education Funding Councils in the UK for England, Wales and Scotland, which fund teaching and the infrastructure for research, are undertaking fundamental reviews of their policies and methods for the funding and support of research (HEC02/00). The growing emphasis on the economic and social outcomes of research is reflected by the fact that the recent consultation by the Scottish Higher Education Funding Council Research and the Knowledge Age (SHEFC 2000a) was directed separately to both the higher education community and the community of potential research users.