Article
Sustainable Professional Career in Science and Technology: Interdisciplinary Perspective and the Russian Context
We are faced with a contradiction in the approach to professional careers of scientists and engineers. On the one hand, we have an emerging environment, characterized by uncertainty, instability in regard to the status and the prospects of various groups employed in this sphere, growing mobility and diversity of career types, as well as bases for differentiation of their typology. On the other hand, the integrity and biography of a career as a process of accumulating knowledge, professional experience, resources of social networks and statuses remains an important requirement. And, from this viewpoint, it can only be long-term and consistent. Establishing a favorable professional environment remains the main task in resolving this contradiction. The impact of various external factors on professional careers, including the science and technology sector, is becoming an urgent problem within the framework of various concepts and disciplines. Conceptual accuracy and thoroughness in the examination of external career factors distinguishes primarily the approaches to social psychology, sociology, management and organizational studies. This allows us to pose the question of infrastructure of professional careers in the field of science and technology. The conceptual framework from the viewpoint of various disciplines enriches our perceptions of it. This presentation offers an attempt to raise the problem of interdisciplinary interaction in relation to the study of the potential for regulating professional careers in the field of science and technology. In the Russian context, its various aspects may need to be emphasized. We must take into account the specifics of the Russian situation, which during the recent decades was differentiated by the radical disruption of continuity, as well as the erosion of previous models of the work force regeneration in the field of science and technology; substantiation and establishment of new ones for more effective organization of activities in this field. In general, the analysis helps identify three levels of such infrastructure: a macro level (state policy in regard to science); middle level (on the level of a particular institution and organizations) and family level. This report utilizes data based on research projects supported by The Russian Foundation for Humanities grant № 16–03–50220)
The article contains the results of the cognitive mapping procedure applied to a series of interviews with the reviewers of the Russian Foundation for Basic Research. The procedure can be qualified as a qualitative research method, which allows to produce a graphic representation of the cognitive content of the respondents’ speech. The interviews touched upon the criteria and methods used by the reviewers in evaluating research proposals, as well as the value basis of the Russian scientific community. Cognitive mapping was applied to 15 interviews, which allowed to conclude that the examined group possessed coincident beliefs in regard to the criteria used in the review of proposals, to the separation between basic science and development, and to the ways to improve the current state of science in Russia.
In the article the author points out that career growth possibility in the modern world is one of the extremely motivating factors for young people, an indicator of human success. It is necessary to take into account that career building in state organizations depends on various factors: striving to combining responsibilities, power concentration, constant realization of own abilities in all situations, adaptiveness to changing conditions and good relations with management, etc.
Over the past 20 years, changes in the status, position of the scientists professional group in Russia, under the influence of market reforms and the crisis were so profound in their consequences for the occupational structure and development of society as a whole that they deserve serious attention and study of their various aspects. In this particular case, I will focus on the analysis of work stories of researchers at the Moscow Research Institute of natural sciences profile with the Russian Academy of Sciences in context of changes in government policies in relation to science for the duration of over last 10 years. This data was obtained within the framework of a wider longitudinal study, which was conducted in two phases: 1999-2001 and 2010 (INTAS, RCSF, LSE, the head of S. Ashwin).
This is the second volume in a series of five books bringing together the results of intensive research on the national systems of innovation (NSI) in the BRICS countries – Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa. This book analyses the co-evolution of inequality and NSI across the BRICS economies. Inequality and Development Challenges argues that inequalities (assets, access to basic services, infrastructure, knowledge, race, gender, ethnicity, and geographic location) that go beyond the aspects of income, must be factored into development strategies since the benefits of innovation are not distributed equally. It combines original and detailed data, making this book an invaluable resource for researchers and scholars in economics, development studies and political science, as well as policymakers and development practitioners interested in the BRICS countries.
Research evaluation recently became a widely disseminated exercise aimed in the end of the day at improving the cost efficiency of public funding of national R&D sectors. In November 2013, the Government of the Russian Federation initiated a national evaluation exercise of public research institutions (PRIs) to provide information basis for development of S&T policies aimed at increasing effectiveness and strengthening the role of R&D performing institutions in economic and social development. The aim of this paper is that of providing an approach for multidimensional assessment of R&D performance based on quantitative data derived from the national evaluation exercise, specifically looking at its applicability and limitations for further analysis and preliminary differentiation of PRIs as well as for use in policymaking.
Developed countries of the 20th Century remain a strong influence worldwide and are being joined by new comers. This, is an opportunity for researchers, scholars, and businessmen to tackle new problems in a variety of technology fields.
The IAMOT 2013 conference is about Science, Technology and Innovation in the Emerging Markets Economy and it is intended to address these problems, discuss its various challenges and experiences as well as point to some possible solutions.
Emerging markets are playing an important role in the global economic system. For investors, these countries have been offering excellent returns, what also means increasing investments in R&D. Moreover, Science, Technology and Innovation have definitely been incorporated in their policy agendas and business strategies. From traditional commodity sectors to new fast-growing high-tech industries, challenges claim for new competitive endeavors. Innovation through new technology, new organizational issues, and new products are the shortest way to generate wealth and development.
Innovation is crucial for competitiveness, both in the national economy and in the firm level. In emerging economies, innovation is an important driver for economic transformation and for accelerating the process of catching up with the global technology frontier.
This illuminating book combines theory and practice to analyze the experiences and impacts of foresight activities in various European countries. It includes case studies with a focus on different societal issues including national development, science and technology, and sustainable development.
Several approaches to the concept of fatherhood present in Western sociological tradition are analyzed and compared: biological determinism, social constructivism and biosocial theory. The problematics of fatherhood and men’s parental practices is marginalized in modern Russian social research devoted to family and this fact makes the traditional inequality in family relations, when the father’s role is considered secondary compared to that of mother, even stronger. However, in Western critical men’s studies several stages can be outlined: the development of “sex roles” paradigm (biological determinism), the emergence of the hegemonic masculinity concept, inter-disciplinary stage (biosocial theory). According to the approach of biological determinism, the role of a father is that of the patriarch, he continues the family line and serves as a model for his ascendants. Social constructivism looks into man’s functions in the family from the point of view of masculine pressure and establishing hegemony over a woman and children. Biosocial theory aims to unite the biological determinacy of fatherhood with social, cultural and personal context. It is shown that these approaches are directly connected with the level of the society development, marriage and family perceptions, the level of egality of gender order.