10th February 2006 - It is widely acknowledged that the UK is a global leader in social scientific research. Sustaining that position requires the maintenance of a vibrant, high quality research base. Yet recently a number of questions have been raised over the long term health of the UK social science research base. Of particular concern has been the demographic profile of the academic workforce and a growing fear that the current level of retirement is not being matched by new recruitment and retention within the sector.
In 2005 the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) commissioned a multidisciplinary research team, led by Dr David Mills of the University of Birmingham, to undertake a systematic analysis of the demographic profile of the UK social science community. The report, Demographic Review of the UK Social Sciences (PDF), published today, sets out the detailed findings of that review.
It reveals that the UK social science community is generally older than that of the natural and physical sciences. An investigation of the age distribution across the social sciences indicates that this presents a challenge to the long term health of the social science research base. However, the report stresses that there is considerable variation within this picture, with some disciplines facing particularly acute problems and others being in a healthy state demographically which suggests that discipline-specific capacity building strategies are necessary.
Seven key priority areas have been identified which need the greatest attention. These are Economics, Management and Business studies, Socio-Legal studies, Social Work, Language Based Area studies, Advanced Quantitative Methods and Education.
ESRC Chief Executive, Professor Ian Diamond, commented that "This report highlights fundamental problems for the health of social science in the long term. We have already started to respond to these findings by developing a targeted strategy for building new research capacity and concentrating extra support in those disciplines whose long term health is most in question"
Some of the flexible strategies that the ESRC will adopt address the particular needs of and challenges faced by individual social science disciplines. These include:
- support for additional studentships and fellowships and higher stipends and salaries in priority areas;
- the development of strategic initiatives with other funding agencies in priority areas;
- an increase in support for postdoctoral and junior researchers through the postdoctoral fellowship scheme and new early career fellowship initiatives;
- the introduction of a First Grants scheme to help new researchers;
- support for doctoral studentships linked to larger grants;
- providing training and development throughout the academic lifecourse.
"We see these as initial steps, and will continue to draw upon the findings arising from the report to develop targeted strategies to meet the diverse needs of the social science community. In doing so we are confident that the ESRC will contribute to the sustained development of a world class social science research base within the UK", says Professor Diamond.
The quality of the UK's postgraduate training in the social sciences has just been underlined by the results of the recent ESRC 'recognition' (accreditation) exercise which saw 92 per cent of the departments that applied being deemed eligible to receive funding for ESRC studentships.
Also announced this month is the allocation of quota studentships to institutions which includes the targeting of additional studentships in the key priority areas.
In order to be truly successful, efforts to address the problems discussed in the Demographic Review of the UK Social Sciences will need full participation from every area of the social sciences. In publishing and distributing this report the ESRC hopes to encourage the wider academic community to engage with this debate and work together to ensure that all of the disciplines that make up the social sciences face a healthy future.
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Notes for editors
- The Demographic Review of the UK Social Sciences draws upon a range of national statistical data sources along with a major survey of heads of social science departments, to establish their views on the health of the UK social science research base. The review also included discussions with human resource managers at various institutions, ESRC Centre Directors and postdoctoral fellows. The research team was lead by Dr David Mills from the University of Birmingham, and included Dr Anne Jepson, Professor Tony Coxon, Phil Hawkins and Professor Jonathan Spencer from University of Edinburgh, and Professor Mark Easterby-Smith from University of Lancaster. The report can be accessed at www.esrcsocietytoday.ac.uk/demographic If you require a hard copy please e-mail alexandra.saxon@esrc.ac.uk
- The ESRC is the UK's largest funding agency for research and postgraduate training relating to social and economic issues. It provides independent, high quality, relevant research to business, the public sector and Government. The ESRC total expenditure in 2005/6 is £135million. At any time the ESRC supports over 4,000 researchers and postgraduate students in academic institutions and research policy institutes. More at http://www.esrcsocietytoday.ac.uk
- ESRC Society Today offers free access to a broad range of social science research and presents it in a way that makes it easy to navigate and saves users valuable time. As well as bringing together all ESRC-funded research (formerly accessible via the Regard website) and key online resources such as the Social Science Information Gateway and the UK Data Archive, non-ESRC resources are included, for example the Office for National Statistics. The portal provides access to early findings and research summaries, as well as full texts and original datasets through integrated search facilities. More at http://www.esrcsocietytoday.ac.uk