Centre for Decent Work and Industry presents Professor Mats Benner, Lund University on the topic of Global Perspectives in Academic Work.

Abstract

Academic work has been thoroughly changed in the last decades, from vertical hierarchy to conditional flexibility. This in turn is part of the rise of a neoliberal university governance regime, which centres around accountability and input-output efficacy rather than on classical academic virtues such as independence and communalism. I will explore how this transformation has evolved in different parts of the world (Asia, North America, Europe and Australia), and how it has enabled but also constrained academic work when it comes to its constituent parts: content, identity and relations. I will also explore the potential transition to a post-neoliberal trust-based work model, including how this would affect the governance of academic work, communication and collegiality.

Mats Benner is a sociologist and Professor of Science Policy Studies in the School of Economics and Management in Sweden. He is a visiting professor at KTH-Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm, NIFU, Oslo, and King’s College, London. He is a permanent member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering Sciences, a board member of Mid Sweden University and has been a member of the Swedish Government’s Research Advisory Board (2009-2010, 2015-2016). He is also an Adjunct Professor of Centre for Decent Work and Industry.

Professor Benner is engaged in studies of research policy formation and implementation, and university policy. He works primarily with issues of research policy, university governance and state-industry relations. He teaches and supervises primarily in the area of organization and leadership, and his recent scholarship focusses on the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic and its influence on university governance and power relations affected by the pandemic, geopolitical tensions, and other broader forces.