Professional knowledge as a driver of socio-economic change

ProSoc introduces a new scholarly concept of professional research combining disciplines, institutions and expertise. ProSoc will introduce an internationally unique data set that makes it an attractive resource for winning international competitive funding. Strong method expertise and data management will ensure that the research team is an international forerunner in open data solutions.

 

The team emphasises valorisation of knowledge and expertise. Results and methods of societal interaction will be available to all units and research teams at the University of Lapland.

The interests and preferences of the professions, and the social norms that are considered important, will mediate and influence the effects that professions have in society. In addition, more insight is needed into how far these factors play a similar or different role globally and particularly in the Arctic area. Our approach will thus follow a non-deterministic and cross-national comparative stream of thinking and analysis. Our starting point is that institutional change matters and is interrelated with professional attitudes and practices, but not necessarily due to a universal and direct causality between institutional change and professional change.

ProSoc aims to establish how the key professions in the North perceive, interpret and interact with changes in the socio-economic environment and in the organisational fabric of society. In particular ProSoc explores professions in higher education, health and social work. The professions in these sectors have strong collective identities and are aware of the significance of their knowledge and skills in society.

ProSoc addresses the ways in which professions perceive and handle these major societal challenges. It will explore how they respond to changes in the organisational fabric of the higher education system. Focus is placed on how professions relate to these societal changes, and how they are more clearly visible in the daily life of higher education. Three thematic areas of the institutional fabric will be addressed as Governance, Management and Evaluation. The move of governments away from comprehensive control of publicly-funded institutions, the growing strength of managerial power within universities, new governance modes of social and health services, the rise of evaluative mechanisms, and the increasing use of incentives and sanctions are expected to affect the status, role and conditions of professions profoundly.

 

Read more about the research themes of ProSoc >

The research team's work will be based on a new multidisciplinary premise. It aims to strengthen the University's research profile particularly in the strategic profiles of Northern well-being, education and work, culture-centred service design, and sustainable development, law and justice. ProSoc is based on its multidisciplinary character, strong research data and genuinely new research initiatives. The strength of ProSoc is open data and project expertise based on strong skills and knowledge within the group, as well as broad and diverse national and international networks.

The work mode of the ProSoc research team is based on three principles. First, all members will collect empirical data and shares analysing responsibilities based on the principle of joint scholarly writing. This principle creates the capacity for the research infrastructure.

Second, every researcher is also involved in applying for competitive research funding, both domestic and from abroad. This principle will allow all members of the team to create knowledge and skills to manage the new scientific openings and enable financial instruments. The goal is that every post-doc level researcher will have the capacity to master the skills required to set up a research team. The third principle is to take into account of the impact aspect in all the activities of the research team. This principle will enable close collaboration between the researchers and stakeholders at all stages of the research. Interaction with users of knowledge in the planning phases of the research and promoting open data are key actions.

Timo Aarrevaara

Tel. +358 40 4844 267
Email. firstname.lastname@ulapland.fi