Dynamic hybrids and the geographies of technoscience: discussing conceptual resources beyond the human/non-human binary

This paper discusses the nature of (post)-human and (post)-natural worlds by examining the types of entities responsible for knowledge production in contemporary technoscience. Based upon a case study in high-energy physics and a constructive critical engagement with actor-network thought in science studies and geography, a complex trinity of geographically relevant actants is developed and discussed as a conceptual resource for studying geographies of human–environment relations beyond reductionist dualisms such as subject/object, nature/society and human/non-human. At the heart of the suggested trinity of actants lies the notion of ‘dynamic hybrids’ that identifies humans, other organisms and certain machines as decisive nodes between material and immaterial spaces of scientific network-building. The paper concludes by assessing how the suggested conceptual moves may affect the analysis and critique of scientific practice. It is pointed out that the proposed conceptual resources are not trying to establish new boundaries in order to contribute to a better understanding of science and its varying geographies, but to keep the categories we use in motion

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Australian university ranking

The University of Cambridge, academic expertise and the British empire, 1885-1962

This paper examines how imperial travel of British academics shaped the production of knowledge and colonial policy from the 1880s to the 1960s. It employs an innovative, archive based methodology that examines the changing geographies of all recorded academic travel from the University of Cambridge in conjunction with the extensive overseas journeys of Sir Frank Leonard Engledow, Drapers’ Professor of Agriculture from 1930 to 1957 and a key advisor to the Colonial Office on tropical agriculture. Drawing on recent work in geography and science studies, this study outlines how scientific expertise was increasingly sought by colonial governments at the eve of decolonisation due to a lack of scientific infrastructure and growing social upheavals in the colonies. The analysis discusses related geographical shifts in the engagement of British academics with the colonial world and identifies a profound deepening of the uneven integration of different areas of empire into academic networks after 1945. Based on Engledow’s contribution to the Moyne Commission on theWest Indies (1938–1939) and ensuing colonial reform, it is argued that he represented, like many other late colonial British academic experts, a distinctively post- Victorian imperialist, whose strong belief in Christian faith, racial differences, colonial networks, humanitarianism, science and planning created an ambivalent positionality that explains why his expertise both supported and undermined colonial rule

Geographies of international scientific exchange in their political context: the case of visiting scholars to Germany in the second half of the 20th century

This paper examines the history and geography of international academic mobility to Germany in the second half of the 20th century by using the example of the Fellowship Programme of the German-based Alexander von Humboldt Foundation. Drawing upon recent writings on international scientific relations and the geography of science, the essay explores how the number of visiting scientists and scholars as well as the related geographic and disciplinary patterns have developed over time, and how potential variations in numbers, regional patterns and disciplines are related to world politics, different national political agendas, socio-economic conditions and the international attractiveness of research in Germany. The focus is on a discussion of three interrelated developments in their political, economic and scientific contexts: Firstly, a growth in number and change in profile of applicants and Humboldt Fellows in the first four decades of sponsorship, followed by a decline in the number of applications and fellows since the end of the Cold War. Secondly, a shift in subjects from an emphasis on the humanities to a dominance of the natural sciences and engineering. Thirdly, a growing number of the researchers’ home countries and a shift in regional patterns of origin. Based on a particular focus on the development of scientific relations with Russia and East Central Europe, it is illustrated that international scientific interaction is strongly mediated by varying political, economic, cultural and scientific contexts in the home and the host country as well as by subject-related collaborative cultures, thus lacking an inherent international or global dimension. It is pointed out, however, that the relationship between international scientific exchange and politics is not a simple one. The essay concludes by discussing its findings in regard to the spatial dimension of scientific work and interaction

Transnational mobility and the spaces of knowledge production: a comparison of global patterns, motivations and collaborations in different academic fields

Transnational movements of academics shape the production and dissemination of knowledge and thus the geographies of contemporary knowledge economies. In this paper, I investigate the complex relationship between knowledge production and spatial movement by examining three key aspects of academic mobility to Germany in the period 1981 to 2000: first, global patterns of interaction, second, motivations to work in Germany for a limited period of time and, third, resulting publications and collaborations. The study is based on two sets of statistical data and a postal survey involving about 1200 respondents from 90 countries. I argue that the motivations for and outcomes of transnational academic mobility are not only shaped by a great variety of influences that constitute society, academia and the individual but also by varying spatial relations of different research practices, which help to explain typical cultures of academic mobility and collaboration. Drawing upon an actor-network based understanding of both the natural and technical sciences and the arts and humanities, a three-dimensional matrix is developed that conceptualises varying spatial relations of scientific practice and interaction in different fields and at different stages of knowledge production

The international transfer of human geographical knowledge in the context of shifting academic hegemonies

This commentary reflects critically on two key challenges of human geographical research—the relationship between academic mobility and international knowledge transfer, and the limitations and opportunities of bi- and multilingualism. Based on a historiographic and (auto)biographic approach, I develop a multidimensional concept of mobility and knowledge transfer between hegemonic and non-hegemonic contexts, and argue that national academic communities remain important in human geography because of different path-dependencies, languages, and time restrictions

Award winners as mediators between worlds: new findings on German-American relations

Since 1972 more than 2,000 academics from the USA have been granted Humboldt research awards. What motivates internationally-renowned researchers to accept the invitation to spend a longer period of time researching in Germany? What do they do during their stay and what are its most important consequences? What conclusions can be drawn from this for Germany’s attractiveness as a place to pursue science and research? These questions are examined in a doctoral thesis recently submitted to the Department of Geography at the Heidelberg University. The assessment was based on anonymously-given Humboldt data on all the American award winners from 1972-1996 (n=1,719), a complete postal survey (return rate: 65%, i.e., 1,020 questionnaires), and 61 personal, semi-structured interviews with award winners from the Boston and San Francisco areas..

Talent mobility and the shifting geographies of Latourian knowledge hubs

This paper outlines how the mobility of academic talent as a significant dimension of highly skilled migration has impacted on the formation and shifting of global knowledge centres. By conceptualising talent mobility as an integral part of multifold mobilisation processes in Latourian centres of calculation, the paper aims to contribute to an ongoing development of the theoretical resources underpinning migration studies. Using Latour's concept, it examines two case studies on the global circulation of researchers and academics in the 20th century to discuss what their insights imply for future geographies of knowledge production. The analysis shows how academic mobility from and to Europe has contributed to the emergence and reinforcement of an Anglo-American hegemony in science and higher education since the early 20th century. Based on these historical experiences, it is argued that the recent increase in transnational academic mobility from and to Asia-Pacific indicates future changes in the global geographies of knowledge production by shifting the emphasis from transatlantic to transpacific knowledge flows. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd

‘Brain circulation’ and transnational knowledge networks: studying long-term effects of academic mobility to Germany, 1954–2000

‘Brain circulation’ has become a buzzword for describing the increasingly networked character of highly skilled migration. In this article, the concept is linked to academics’ work on circular mobility to explore the long-term effects of their research stays in Germany during the second half of the twentieth century. Based on original survey data on more than 1800 former visiting academics from 93 countries, it is argued that this type of brain circulation launched a cumulative process of subsequent academic mobility and collaboration that contributed significantly to the reintegration of Germany into the international scientific community after the Second World War and enabled the country’s rise to the most important source for international co-authors of US scientists and engineers in the twenty-first century. In this article I discuss regional and disciplinary specificities in the formation of transnational knowledge networks through circulating academics and suggest that the long-term effects can be fruitfully conceptualized as accumulation processes in ‘centres of calculation’

Academic mobility and collaboration across the Atlantic: experiences in the humanities and the social sciences

In times of what is assumed to be a growing international ‘knowledge economy,’ international circulation of scientists and scholars is of topical interest to modern nation states and individual academic institutions. This has been true for European countries and institutions in particular which increasingly have to compete for highly qualified researchers, academic reputation, research funds, and infrastructure on an international level. All of these play a key role in the long-term development of international relations, economic competitiveness, and social development (see, e.g., Altbach 1989, OECD 1996, Jöns 2003a)...