In this talk, I want to explore: The new research landscape

1. Brokers and boundary-spanners: the changing role of the social sciences in the UK research landscape James Wilsdon @jameswilsdon Launch of UCL’s Collaborative Social Science Domain (CSSD) 12 December 2017

2. In this talk, I want to explore: The new research landscape Shakers, boosters or solution-brokers? One significant concern Eight opportunities for social science

3. THE NEW LANDSCAPE

4. 1. Making UKRI

5. 2. All the Fs

6. 3. Changes in knowledge production & dissemination

7. 4. Changes in knowledge uptake & use

8. 5. A growing cast of intermediaries, policy shops & para-academics… Campaign for Social Science

9. 6. International collaboration more important than ever – both within & outside EU

10. SHAKERS, BOOSTERS OR SOLUTION-BROKERS?

12. “Never before in the history of humanity have so many written so much while having so little to say to so few”

13. Campaign for Social Science

14. “There is a wide open goal for timely, relevant, rigorous and readable qualitative and quantitative social science addressing practical questions in policymaking […] social sciences punch well below their weight in policy, and in my experience this is more a supply-side than a demand-side problem.” Professor Chris Whitty, Chief Scientific Adviser, DH

17. Response 1: Complicate, count, critique

18. Response 2: Engage & instrumentalize…

19. Response 3: Create our own economies of promise….

20. Response 4: Keep it complex & embrace messiness

21. BUT: ARE WE STRETCHING PEOPLE IN TOO MANY DIRECTIONS? ARE INCENTIVES MISALIGNED – ESP FOR ECRs? MORE RFORMS NEEDED TO: REF; DOCTORAL TRAINING; CRITERIA FOR CAREER ADVANCEMENT

22. EIGHT OPPORTUNITIES FOR SOCIAL SCIENCE

23. 1. Be critical, collaborative transdisciplinarians A multidisciplinary approach draws upon the strengths or expertise of different disciplines, and more effectively joins up their findings, but leaves disciplinary boundaries (and sometimes hierarchies) intact. An interdisciplinary approach involves the fuller integration of disciplines, to develop potentially novel ways of approaching research questions, recognising that there is a diversity of ways to understand and address particular problems. Transdisciplinary research not only integrates expertise from across academic disciplines, but also involves societal stakeholders in the design stage, and throughout the research process. In transdisciplinary research, knowledge can come from beyond academic disciplines, and insights are often provided through other kinds of tacit knowledge – as held by local communities, businesses, social movements or practitioners.

24. 2. Become fluent in the SDGs: the lingua franca of interdisciplinary global challenges research Roadmap research Innovate responsibly Become knowledge brokers Build collective intelligence Strengthen the science of scientific advice Foster humility in providing advice www.ingsa.org

25. 3. Get serious about ‘team social science’

26. 4. Seize commercial opportunities & golden threads in industrial strategy (place, productivity etc)

27. 5. Invest in new spaces for collaboration & knowledge exchange

28. 6. Expand notions of social science leadership & the criteria we use for hiring, promotion & assessment

29. 7. Develop the social science offer for post-Brexit collaborative partnerships & networks

30. 8. Get involved in UKRI: contribute to its ‘collective intelligence’ & influence debates re: balance & 2.4% GDP

31. @jameswilsdon @cfsocialscience