Research Groups, Networking and the Knowledge Society (REGNETS)

Developed industrialised societies are often characterised as knowledge societies. The knowledge society discourse emphasises the importance of knowledge production and knowledgeable workforce as the most important competitive factor. In the context of higher education policy, it calls for a new way of organising knowledge production through collaboration and networks, societal relevance of education and research, as well as quality, internationalisation and competitiveness.

The REGNETS study takes the thematic of the CINHEKS project to the grass-roots level. The aim of this project is to study how research groups working in a given research field but in different organisational contexts organise their work and perceive their contribution to the knowledge society. Are the modes of organisation of knowledge production and networking; as well as self-understandings of the research groups different in different organisational contexts; or do they converge regardless of the institutional context?

The REGNETS study compares research groups in Finland, Austria and Portugal.

Principal Investigator: Terhi Nokkala