Researching and publishing political economy in the age of Twitter, TED talks and external grant dependence
A roundtable on the occasion of RIPE's move to the University of Amsterdam
In April 2014, the Review of International Political Economy (RIPE) has formally moved from McGill University in Canada to the University of Amsterdam. We embrace this occasion not only to toast and welcome the journal to Amsterdam but also to bring together leading PE scholars from abroad and the Dutch PE community to reflect and debate the professional side of our work as academics.
Over the past years, university departments have developed new metrics to assess academics' 'productivity', focusing in particular on publications in highly ranked journals. Scholars' publication lists have gained additional salience in the fierce and increasingly important competition for external research funding. At the same time, the communication and discussion of PE research has changed fundamentally as researchers have embraced Twitter and blogs and as TED talks have become the new gold standard for 'effective' knowledge dissemination.
Outside the ivory tower or a distraction?
Some welcome these developments as rewarding scholarly excellence and pushing researchers to communicate with the world outside the ivory tower. Skeptics see these trends as distracting from the core of academic work and stimulating not excellence but opportunistic and ultimately time-inefficient and unproductive responses from academics.
Scholars and their view on the changes in Political Economy Research
Wherever we stand on these issues, it is impossible to remain unaffected by such shifts in our working environment. This roundtable features four PE scholars who, as journal editors, have a particularly good view of the changes in PE research as a professional field. Together with the audience, they will take stock of and critically discuss the most important trends that affect our current work.
After the roundtable, there will be ample opportunity to continue debate over drinks kindly offered by the Amsterdam Centre for Contemporary European Studies (ACCESS EUROPE).
Roundtable members
- Brian Burgoon, Dean of Amsterdam Institute for Social Sciences Research (chair)
- Andrew Hindmoor, University of Sheffield, Editor of New Political Economy
- Gregory Jackson, Freie Universität Berlin, Editor of Socioeconomic Review
- Daniel Mügge, UvA, Editor of Review of International Political Economy
- Leonard Seabrooke, Copenhagen Business School, Editor of International Studies Quarterly
Registration
If you would plan to attend, please let us know by 1 November with an email to Daniel Mügge (d.k.muegge@uva.nl) such that we can plan for drinks.
Location
Hortus Botanicus
Laranjazaal
Plantage Middenlaan 2a
Amsterdam