Ranking and Governance was the main theme of the UNIKE workshop in Bristol 24 February 2014 – 26 February 2014. The three day PhD course included lectures, panel discussions and meetings with students to discuss their research proposals. This was the second workshop in the PhD training package for the EU Marie Curie Initial Training Network, Universities In the Knowledge Economy (UNIKE).

The UNIKE workshops are subdivided into three different elements: Scientific training, complimentary skills and Aspects of doctoral education.

The UNIKE Bristol Workshop had the following focus:

1. Scientific training: It aims to understand new forms of governance and how their mechanisms (rankings, citations) operate across scales - „world‟, national, institutional and individual.
2. Complementary skills: Publishing in different genres
   This package will take the fellows through the processes of publishing in different formats, with consideration of the audiences they reach. Genres include: book, article, on-line, open access and publishing for the Asian academic market.
3. Aspects of doctoral education: Working for/researching in other organisations
   This package aims to give an insight into arrangements for secondments, using secondments to provide empirical research data, producing an output for the sponsoring organization etc.

Each of the three elements was covered in one or more sessions where formal presentations were made and discussed. In preparation to the scientific training the 3 work groups, consisting of fellows and partners, had met and shared their existing publications on the topic and other references that they found useful in their research. The fellows form each of these work groups made a collective presentation and stimulated discussions on governance and rankings in terms of their three work group themes.

Read the full report from the Bristol Workshop: “Ranking and governance”

Pictures from the workshop