Interactive Syllabus

Ever since the inception of public funding for basic scientific research after WWII the issue of ’what constitutes scientific excellence’ is a heated debate among scholars and policy makers alike. This course will introduce and discuss rationale for the public funding science, as originally proposed in the seminal paper of Vannevar Bush (Science the Endless Frontier, 1945), the build-up of the institution of ’scientific excellence’ the challenges and socio-political consequences thereof. Based on social theory and critique put forward by diverse authors such as Kuhn, Agamben and Fayerabend, we will discuss concepts underpinning the idea of evaluating scientific impact, analyse the genealogy of the ’publish or perish’ system, and institutions that emerged for and by it. Our focus will be the birth and institutionalization of the idea of ’scientific excellence’ via scientometric indicators, citation impact tools and bibliometric references, as well as funding institutions such as the European Research Council (ERC). Discussion will revolve around a critical theory inspired approach to the behemoth of the system of scientific publishing, the neoliberalization of science and higher education as well as an assessment of social consequences, biases and misappropriations of ’scientometrics’ as method and as policy instrument. We will also look at emerging alternatives to evaluate and assess excellence and impact via an ’RRI (Responsible Research and Innovation) eye’, discussing limits to public engagement and science education, emerging distrust in science and the San Francisco Declaration on Research Assessment (DORA) and its recent applications by science funding bodies in the Netherlands and elsewhere.