A new Handbook published today includes a chapter on research management by Julie Bayley (LILI, University of Lincoln) and Kieran Fenby-Hulse (Teesside University).
Edited by Alis Oancea (University of Oxford), Gemma E. Derrick (University of Bristol), Nuzha Nuseibeh (Independent Researcher) and Xin Xu (University of Oxford), the Handbook of Meta-Research acts as a working guide to the rapidly-evolving interdisciplinary field of meta-research. Bringing together cutting-edge multidisciplinary scholarship, it offers systematic, critical and reflexive inquiry into the realities of research, and covers issues such as public value, policy and governance of research, knowledge dynamics, and research cultures and careers.
Bayley and Fenby-Hulse’s chapter explores the (in)visibility of research managers with the research landscape, drawing on their experiences within impact and wider research oversight. As their chapter summary outlines:
“Research management and administration (RMA) is a core, but oftentimes peripheralized part of the research ecosystem. Whilst research outcomes, particularly in terms of output metrics and journal quality, have been hallmarks of excellence for many years, the institutional environment has arguably lagged in terms of scrutiny. However, a comprehensive understanding of research is incomplete without fuller consideration of the contribution and growth of RMA, and its importance to the international research landscape”.
The chapter concludes with commentary on ‘next steps’ for RMA research, and a call to ensure such research reflects the expertise and specialism inherent to RMA practice.
Details of the book are below, and for more information on the ‘Hiding in Plain Sight’ chapter, please contact us via the Contact page.
Handbook of Meta-Research; Alis Oancea, Gemma Derrick, Nuzha Nuseibeh and Xin Xu (Eds)
Publication Date: February 2024 ISBN: 978 1 83910 571 5 Extent: 390 pp