European Knowledge Research Articles

Knowledge Management Education in Europe

Abstract: The European knowledge management (KM) education landscape is characterized by diversity and interdisciplinarity, a characteristic facet that is briefly scoped in this article, with references to educational programs across the continent. While there seems to have been a relative decline in dedicated programs titled “knowledge management,” the topic is increasingly taught in the context of a broad variety of degrees, from health care to innovation management, education, and information studies. In higher education, knowledge management is still struggling as a recognized discipline, and it is often taught in the context of technical and engineering education and in business schools as a part of management programs. As a result, the earlier criticisms that knowledge management training does not comprehensively mirror the cross-disciplinary nature of the field and the uneasy relation of knowledge management as a theoretical and practical discipline persist.

Sea Level Rise in Europe: Summary for Policymakers

Abstract. Sea level rise (SLR) is a global concern for low-lying coastal areas, including many European coasts. The European Knowledge Hub on Sea Level Rise (KH-SLR), a collaborative effort by the Joint Programming Initiatives for “Connecting Climate Knowledge for Europe” (JPI Climate) and for “Healthy and Productive Seas and Oceans” (JPI Oceans), has developed the 1st Assessment Report (SLRE1) to address the challenges posed by SLR in Europe. The report's target audience includes national and subnational bodies focused on research and policy advice for coastal management and climate adaptation, as well as European experts who contribute to shaping policy frameworks and collecting information at a pan-European scale. This report, preceded by a series of targeted surveys and workshops with researchers and stakeholders (e.g. coastal decision-makers), has synthesized the current scientific knowledge on SLR drivers, impacts, and policies at local, national, and European basin scales. It provides in-depth and basin-specific analyses on local sea level changes, compared with relevant global assessments of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). In addition, it identified critical knowledge gaps needed to support the development of actionable information. The Summary for Policymakers (SPM) distils the key findings of the SLRE1, presenting information specific to the six European basins: Mediterranean Sea, Black Sea, North Sea, Baltic Sea, Atlantic, and Arctic. The SPM highlights basin-specific trends, vulnerabilities, and potential impacts, while also orienting future requirements.​​​​​​​

How Did Early Modern Scholars Study Early Maps?

The two standard Anglophone historiographies of the history of cartography (Skelton 1972, Harley 1987) situated the field’s origins in the early modern era, or even in the later Middle Ages. Yet “history” and “cartography” are both products of the profound changes in the intellectual foundations and institutions of European knowledge practices in the decades to either side of 1800. By contrast, this essay explores how early modern scholars variously engaged with maps from the past in terms of contemporary knowledge practices. [Part 1] It first outlines the early modern meanings of “history” and “geography” and then reviews how early modern scholars engaged with early maps in three distinct ways. Classical scholars used the Peutinger map and Ptolemy’s Geography to identify locations of ancient places in order to improve their comprehension of Classical texts. [Part 2] Some geographers wrote histories of voyages and travels that related past routes to contemporary maps, and others wrote historical narratives of the compilation of encyclopedic texts and maps of regional and world knowledge. [Part 3] Antiquaries opportunistically described and at times reproduced a variety of maps, charts, and plans that came to their attention, but without active searches for early maps. Overall, I demonstrate that before 1775 there was neither a systematic approach taken to the study of maps from the past nor any hint of the core methodology that would be adopted by the first historiographical mode of map history as it developed after 1830.

Foraging Educators as Vectors of Environmental Knowledge in Europe

Widely accessible education on edible wild plants is increasingly in demand as more people search for ways to explore wild culinary uses. Despite this growing trend of nature exploration, few scholars have investigated the contribution of this new mode of engagement to human–nature connection and pro-environmental attitudes. Therefore, this research aims to explore the societal role of such foraging educators. Through convenience and snowball sampling, we recruited 31 foraging educators across Europe. Through semi-structured interviews, we inquired about their sources of knowledge, modalities of transmission and their roles as educators. The interviews revealed individuals who convey ethnobotanical knowledge to improve human–nature connection through experiences within nature. The educators gained their knowledge through written sources, vertical and horizontal sharing. Finally, foraging educators consider themselves social bridges of ecological knowledge, bringing scientific ethnobotanical information to a varied audience in an experiential way. Foraging stimulates the sharing of ecological knowledge, and it could be seen as a broader agroecological practice, enhancing the benefits of nature's contribution to people. There is great potential for emerging environmental education platforms and, correspondingly, for rethinking the food system.

Moral Education and Heaven–Human Relationship in Jesuit Translations of Chinese Poetry (17th–18th Centuries)

The 17th and 18th centuries were a period of extensive cultural interaction between China and the West, and also the beginning of Chinese poetry translation in the West. Jesuit missionaries were pioneers in introducing Chinese poetry to Europe. Influenced by the Confucian poetic thought of Siwuxie 思無邪 (no depraved thoughts) and Ricci’s accommodation strategy, the Jesuits translated poems from the Shangshu 尚書, the Shijing 詩經, and the Emperor Qianlong’s Imperial Odes on Shengjing 禦制盛京賦, as well as works by Fan Zhongyan 范仲淹, Du Fu 杜甫, Shao Yong 绍雍, and even the poems in the exhortations of the Ming and Qing dynasties into European languages. These poems predominantly dealt with themes of moral education, the image of virtuous monarchs, and the Chinese concept of the Heaven–human relationship. Through intentional omissions and rewriting, the Jesuits incorporated their religious and political views into the Chinese poetry. Their translated works not only enriched European knowledge of Chinese culture but also demonstrated the complexity of Chinese–Western cultural exchange.

Between Active Matter and Letters: Kabbalah, Natural Knowledge, and Jewish How-To Books in Early Modern East-Central Europe

Abstract This essay focuses on Jewish practical kabbalistic books of recipes that were produced in early modern East-Central Europe. These handwritten sources document the Jewish engagement with practical forms of expertise, which were informed by the theoretical foundations of kabbalistic knowledge. Through two case studies, the article highlights Jewish vernacular ideas about nature and matter, and the techniques used to transform these ideas into practical things during the early modern period. It also explores the phenomenon of recording these ideas and methods in the form of practical kabbalistic books of recipes, which serve as a prime example of practical episteme. In so doing, the article sheds light on the significance of kabbalistic theosophy and practical kabbalistic traditions, particularly those developed in East-Central Europe, in the broader history of Western European knowledge production.

Legitimizing the interventions recommended in “European Research Area Policy Agenda 2022–2024”

Abstract The EU Directorate General for Research and Innovation’s “European Research Area Policy Agenda: Overview of Actions for the Period 2022–2024” outlines twenty actions to boost research excellence, investment and reform, coordination and support, or green and digital transformation of the academia, in an attempt to create a truly common “European knowledge market.” Filled with strategic planning jargon, the policy specifies the recommended interventions for years to come and with billions of Euros of funding to follow. Using a qualitative critical discourse approach, this study explores policy-making from a linguistic perspective to capture the characteristics of current EU R&I discourse. Language choices have a constitutive role in policy papers due to the discursive capacity for legitimization and subsequent persuasion. The analysis focuses on the persuasive presuppositions induced by certain lexico-grammatical choices, including evaluative and rhetorical devices, and shows how the ERA policy fosters acceptance of a European vision of R&I values.

Players or Pawns? University Response to the Introduction of Plan S

The European Plan S initiative intending to transform the field of academic publishing towards open access has been received with both enthusiasm and criticism. This article reflects on this case as an example of how policymaking in ‘the Europe of Knowledge’ – characterized by increasing complexity caused by problems of multi-level coordination, combined with multi-actor divergence of norms, ideas, and interests − affects and triggers university responses. The analysis of response to this initiative for reform of scientific publishing takes the concept of normative match and mismatch as its theoretical point of departure, and the article provides an overview of how Plan S has been implemented in Norwegian higher education, where the challenge for universities has been to find a balance between responding to political expectations and expectations from societal and academic stakeholders. Our findings suggest a normative mismatch related to the Plan S initiative. The article argues that the university level was left with the task of defending the academic freedom of the individual scholar, while also being delegated the responsibility of controlling the rising costs of publishing services. As a result, issues relating to academic publishing are currently of strategic interest to universities.

Practical Information on European VAT

As is traditional in the first issue of each year, this overview presents the key features of the VAT systems of most European countries (both EU and non-EU), including standard and reduced VAT rates, various thresholds, the format of the VAT identification numbers and contact details of the offices of the national tax administration which process VAT refund applications or provide information to non-resident businesses on national VAT rules. The overview is compiled by the editor on the basis of information provided by the members of the European Knowledge Group of IBFD at the beginning of 2024.

Enchanting restaurants: innovation based on traditional food in Belém (Pará, Brazil)

The city of Belém, capital of the state of Pará (PA), located in northern Brazil, was recognized in 2015 as a Creative City of Gastronomy by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). This recognition is due to the richness of the intangible cultural heritage of the cuisine of Pará, based on traditional and indigenous ways of making, allied to African and European knowledge. At the same time, participation in the Creative Cities Network presupposes cooperation between member cities, where city planning, creativity, sustainability and the encouragement of a socially fairer society are the principles that guide each one of them. In this sense, the objective of the article is to think about the act of enchantment, based on the communicative process, that restaurants promote in their customers, particularly in the city of Belém. In methodological terms, it is a qualitative and dialectical research that seeks to question and deepen knowledge, based on data collected in field research during participant observation. To conclude, we understand that the taste and mastery of traditional Pará cuisine can be restrictive as a tourist offer given the use of local products, unknown to the general public. Thus, gourmetization, the preparation of new dishes with known products and international dishes seek to complement this gastronomic offer.. However, the enchantment is not only produced from the food itself, but also from the referents and channels used by the different restaurants.

Engaging with Ethnographic Museum Objects from Erstwhile Naga Hills: From Imperial, Colonial and Postcolonial Eras to Contemporary Reimagining

The colonial monographs on Naga peoples and the colonial appropriation of artefacts in north-east India enhanced anthropological knowledge in Europe. This paper asks how far the ‘decolonising the museum’ approach can be applied in studying Naga collections in European museums and in facilitating critical engagement with ethnographic objects from Naga communities in both Western and Indian museums. There has been a regeneration of interest in the colonial history of Naga collections among European/New World academics and in ethnographic museums in the late 1980s, mid 2000s and currently in Humboldt Lab (2015) and Forum (2022), and among Naga communities themselves. The paper examines how the contrasting historical trajectories, positions and modern consequences play out 1 .

PERCEPTION OF POLAND'S TOURISM BRAND IN THE OPINION OF STUDENTS IN SELECTED COUNTRIES

The aim of the undertaken research is to determine the knowledge of future specialists in tourism geography, tourist values and the tourist brand of Poland. A research hypothesis was also established according to which, the influence of Europeanization in the Russian-Soviet version, may influence greater knowledge about Poland. The work uses the classic method of survey research in the social sciences with the use of a standardized questionnaire. The study involved students of tourism and geography from universities in Astana (35), Bishkek (32) and Karabük (43). The results of the research allow us to define the awareness of Poland as a tourist brand as moderately good in Astana, weaker in Bishkek, and poor in Karabük. The largest number of correct answers concerned the capital of Poland and well-known Poles (Copernicus, John Paul II, Chopin), and among athletes, footballers (Lewandowski) and ski jumpers (Stoch, Małysz). The fewest correct answers concerned Poland's tourist attractions. In the perception of the students participating in the study, Poland is one of the countries of Central Europe that are attractive in terms of tourism. It can also be concluded that the influence of the heritage of Russian Europeanization on students' knowledge of Europe is still visible.

F.W. von Bauer and Russian Mapping of Moldavia and Wallachia

Abstract During the Russo-Turkish War of 1768–1774 the advance of G.A. Rumiantsev’s First Army after its great victories at Riabaia Mogila, Larga, and Kagul was slowed by several factors, including the lack of adequate maps of southern Moldavia and Wallachia and the Turkish fortress line along the Danube. This problem was finally addressed by Lt General Friedrich Wilhelm von Bauer (1731–1783), a talented engineer in Russian service, a hero of the Riabaia Mogila and Larga battles, and author of a project to organize a Russian General Staff along Prussian lines. Bauer’s surveying work facilitated the Russians’ successful drive across the Danube in 1773 and this surveying work informed the remarkably detailed map of Moldavia he published in 1775 and 1781. The data he gathered for a similar map of Wallachia was published in his Mémoires historiques et géographiques sur la Valachie, avec un prospectus d’un Atlas géographique et militaire de la derniére guerre entre la Russie et la Porte Ottomanne (1778). Bauer’s work as a geographer and cartographer contributed to European knowledge of the geography and chorography of the Danubian region and illustrated the increasing impact of technicalism upon Russian military development in the eighteenth century.

The role of immigrants, emigrants and locals in the historical formation of European knowledge agglomerations

ABSTRACT Did migrants make Paris a mecca for the arts and Vienna a beacon of classical music? Or was their rise a pure consequence of local actors? We use data on more than 22,000 historical individuals born between the years 1000 and 2000 to estimate the contribution of famous immigrants, emigrants and locals to the knowledge specialisations of European regions. We find that the probability that a region develops or keeps specialisation in an activity (based on the birth of famous physicists, painters, etc.) grows with both the presence of immigrants with knowledge about that activity and immigrants with knowledge in related activities. In contrast, we do not find robust evidence that the presence of locals with related knowledge explains entries and/or exits. We address some endogeneity concerns using fixed-effects models considering any location–period–activity-specific factors (e.g., the presence of a new university attracting scientists).

The Management of Innovation Processes in Higher Education Institutions of Ukraine on the Way to the Formation and Development of the European Knowledge Market

Ukraine as an independent state with a European vector of development and an orientation towards European values, despite the war and the economic difficulties caused by it, continues to move towards the implementation of European educational standards, cooperation within various educational projects, and the development of modern educational programs for the needs of the European market. At the same time, in addition to the awareness of the need for a single economic space, there are certain urgent issues that need improvement, namely: the management of innovation processes in higher education institutions. Objective of the article is a sociological study of the style of management of innovative processes of higher education institutions of Ukraine in the context of the actualization of social and innovative resources. The research was conducted in two stages. At the first stage, a questionnaire was organized and conducted among 1,200 scientific and pedagogical workers of higher education institutions in Kyiv, Kharkiv, Lviv, Odesa, and Dnipro. At the second stage, in order to obtain more detailed information and a deeper understanding of the research problem, the collection and analysis of expert opinions was carried out by the method of semi-structured interviews, 20 rectors of state-owned higher education institutions acted as experts. So, the concept of the style of management of the innovation process is formed at the intersection of interests in the context of the situational approach to management and social innovation. Activities related to the improvement of management styles in the context of the implementation of social innovative resources will be productive if program-oriented management methods are used to ensure the sustainability of innovative management styles.

The value of doctoral education in the intersection of the multiple purposes of higher education

In the knowledge society, conceptions about the value of DE have been challenged by transformations in its characteristics and finalities fostered by global drivers of change, including widening the purposes of higher education. This study explores the perceived value of DE in social and health sciences within the intersection of the purposes of higher education in the European knowledge society. Data were collected using 25 focus groups with members of scientific and monitoring commissions, supervisors, PhD candidates and holders from one Portuguese university's doctoral programmes in social and health sciences. The study identified three dimensions of the value of DE: personal, academic and career agency and development; knowledge and knowledge outputs and outcomes; and socioeconomic impact. These multiple dimensions of value coexist and interact in ways that may reinforce or hinder each other. Our findings reflect an ecological university constantly re-organising in the context of the knowledge society. The study stresses the need to strive for a better balance between the ecosystems involved in DE to foster its potential contribution to understanding and (re)creating a knowledge society that effectively strives for the betterment of the world.

Find the river: Discovering the Tsangpo-Brahmaputra in the age of empire

AbstractDespite the enormous size and economic and scientific significance of the Tsangpo-Brahmaputra River, questions ofwhereandwhatit was generated successive waves of dispute from the mid-eighteenth to early twentieth centuries. Geographical discovery in the eastern Himalayan borderlands neither entailed the application of fixed theories and techniques, nor resulted from consistent flows of information along established channels. Europeans instead understood the region’s rivers in many different ways, influenced by sporadic deluges of data, competing forms of expertise, shifting imperatives of colonial political economy, unsettling encounters with various bodies of water, and heterogeneous Asian knowledge structures. Informants, infrastructures, and cosmologies of often-overlooked communities at imperial margins fundamentally reshaped European knowledge. Under these conditions, practitioners of spatial sciences came to thrive on the proliferation of models and objects of discovery rather than seeking definitive closure.

Europe, the MENA region and knowledge production

ABSTRACT Knowledge production is one of the most important elements of human interaction. It shapes identities, determines policies, and reflects the understanding of borders and geographies. For instance, how Europe and the MENA region perceive one another depends largely on who creates the discourse, and under which disciplines these discourses are elaborated. For centuries, however, discourse creation has been regulated by neoliberal and patriarchal interests. Such (super-)structures frame how these regions are represented, leading to colonial assumptions, biased knowledge and objectifying research. We argue that knowledge of Europe and the MENA, its creation and diffusion should be critical and horizontal practices, moving towards deterritorialization and decolonisation. Not to succumb to a ‘regional’ hierarchy of global North/South, we need to reflect on the positioning of researchers, acknowledging the liminality of identities, to appreciate the dynamic nature of boundaries, and to revisit various elements of knowledge production as language, freedom of movement, and funding.

A Latin Alphabet for the Arabic Language: Romanizing Arabic in Late Nineteenth-Century Egypt and Beyond

AbstractThis article explores early attempts to romanize the Arabic language in late nineteenth and early twentieth-century Egypt and situates them within a global history of script reforms in the modern period. I focus on the models to write Arabic in the Latin script developed by the Cairo-based magazine al-Muqtataf between 1889 and 1897 (which, to the extent of my knowledge, have never been examined before), relating them to the responses they elicited from the magazine's readers and some of the romanization practices found in advertising, commercial displays in the streets, and governance at the time. I demonstrate that, in this period, romanized Arabic was envisioned as an original way to pursue financial profit and technological efficiency, confront European knowledge production, and redefine the standing of Arabic within transregional publishing networks that encompassed different languages and alphabets. This analysis thus offers an alternative geography of script reform that supersedes the national framework.

Park features that encourage park visitation among older adults: A qualitative study

BackgroundParks provide many opportunities for promoting physical, social, and mental wellbeing among older adults and are therefore considered a good setting to promote healthy ageing. However, older adults are the age group least frequently observed visiting parks. To attract more older adults to parks, it is important to understand their needs and preferences for park design. The aim of this qualitative study was to gain in-depth information about older adults’ preferred park features for park visitation. MethodsSemi-structured interviews were conducted with 25 older adults aged > 60 years who visited a recently renewed urban park in Ghent, Belgium at least once since its renewal. The interviews were conducted in-park or in the nursing home adjacent to the park until saturation of information was obtained. All interviews were transcribed verbatim, pseudonymised, and analysed by inductive content analysis using NVivo 12 software. ResultsThe most preferred park activities were walking, sitting, and watching the environment. The park features liked by older adults were good quality and accessible walking paths, nature and vegetation, openness and structural layout of the park, and sufficient and good quality sitting areas. The park features that they did not like mostly related to poor park maintenance. ConclusionsThis study provides an overview of park features that older adults perceive as important for park visitation. It is the first qualitative study in Belgium to assess which park features entice older adults to visit parks, and it contributes to the limited European knowledge on this topic. The evidence can help urban planners, landscape architects, and policymakers to (re)design attractive local parks that promote healthy ageing.