Cross-University Multidisciplinary Science and Research Teams. The road that the UHK wants to take
Author: Jakub Novák
Meeting the 2016 – 2020 UHK Long-term Plan and perhaps making efforts to come closer to the practice in place at advanced and renowned science and research and university workplaces. Those are but a few of the many motifs that led the management board of the University of Hradec Králové to develop a university-wide concept focusing on research directions.
“Another argument that has convinced us that we are moving in the right direction is, of course, the emergence of Methodology 17+ and the optics of its perception of universities and the research they engage in,” explains Vice-Rector for Creative Activities, Leona Stašová; she presented the university-wide research directions to the members of the Academic Community.
By taking this step the University of Hradec Králové expresses its research priorities and makes it known that it is excellence-driven. The advantage of working within the framework of university-wide research directions is then also the possibility to interconnect and enhance the potential of the individual faculties and to involve the widest possible range of academic workers from the University of Hradec Králové. Multidisciplinarity and transdisciplinarity were also factors that affected topic selection. Further topic selection determinants included a follow-up on open topics and the hitherto publication activities of UHK workers, according to OBD (Personal Bibliographic Database) records, and the ability to react to topical societal aspects and priorities that are of particular concern to the European Union and the Czech Republic. “Determining the proper university-wide research directions was preceded by a very thorough analysis of a countless number of the strategic documents of various institutions, including institutions of the European Union and the Czech Republic, and documents at the regional and urban level. We also focused very closely on the development within individual scientific disciplines and we analysed current trends that correspond with the activities pursued by the University of Hradec Králové,” Vice-Rector for Creative Activities, Leona Stašová, explains the background of the selection of the research directions. Important was also the possibility to make use of external grant opportunities and to create international teams.
In view of the above, the University of Hradec Králové presents the following university-wide research directions: Healthy Ageing and Quality of Life (Stárnutí ve zdraví a kvalita života), Security and Sustainable Development in Digital Society (Bezpečnost a udržitelný rozvoj v digitální společnosti) and New Challenges in Education (Nové výzvy ve výchově a vzdělávání).
The first big step will be to anchor university-wide research topics and to describe them along with their objectives and links to other fields of interest so as to enable generally-oriented as well as very specific multidisciplinary science and research teams to form. “That is exactly the road that we want to take. Moreover, the European University Association also views multidisciplinarity and transdisciplinarity as the road to university innovation and development. The representatives of the European University Association recently discussed these topics at a meeting in Paris. It will be necessary to find and appoint coordinators that will focus on the individual fields of interest and we are going to have to find out how to make entire teams work. We would like these teams to gradually become a part of various national and international associations and specialist associations. A huge but not inconsiderable challenge will be the inclusion of the bonus for researching these topics within the framework of internal schemes”, Vice-Rector for Creative Activities, Leona Stašová, describes the first steps that need to be taken.
The topic Healthy Ageing and Quality of Life is an area that UHK scientists have been successfully focusing on for a long time; all four UHK faculties relate to this topic.
Contrary thereto, Security and Sustainable Development in Digital Society is a very topical and European-friendly topic that interconnects both technology and IT areas with scientific and humanitarian areas of education at the University of Hradec Králové. New Challenges in Education then logically copies the history and specifics of education at the University of Hradec Králové in view of the history of the Faculty of Education, even though the current challenges in education and training undoubtedly affect the entire university.
And so, UHK scientists now get the unique opportunity to apply their research topic within a much wider multidisciplinary context. The essential precondition is to actively participate and to react to challenges in addressing the topic. “Of course, this new system does not mean that we will no longer support and address topics not associated with university-wide research directions. Should this be the case, everyone at our University can opt for one of two options – either they will consider edging towards a university-wide topic, or, they will continue to address their topic as a faculty-only theme,” Vice-Rector for Creative Activities, Leona Stašová, concludes the presentation of the research directions of the University of Hradec Králové.
"I believe that the change in creative thinking will pose a great challenge to us. It, unfortunately, has much to do with the so-called shredding production system, when quantity output only is important. In order for this mode of operation to be eliminated, we need to identify a working and meaningful motivation and appraisal system,” said Pavlína Springerová, Dean of the Philosophical Faculty, during closing discussions.
