The humanities value chain: a framework for knowledge transfer in the modern university

<p>The research described in this thesis presents a body of material generated over four years of closeobservation of research and knowledge transfer practices in one Russell Group university institution. Itattempts to contextualise knowledge transfer (hereafter KT) within the arts and humanitiesenvironment, as well as situate learning about the reception and adoption of KT with reference to theindividual scholar and the organisation in which they operate. Within this context, little has beenwritten explicitly about the character of the arts and humanities, and particularly the historicalantecedence of the disciplines and their close relationship to current KT challenges.In the early chapters of the thesis we address the growing interest in KT specific language, the keywords that have become landmarks in the extension of the ‘Two Cultures’ debate. In defining some ofthe parameters by which KT has come to be recognised, we also begin to signal changes in both thelexicon and landscape in which KT has evolved. We suggest that both the institution and theiracademic inhabitants play an intrinsic part in this evolution, framed by both the political and scholarlytensions of the time.In the latter part of the thesis there is a distinct shift in emphasis from the foundations of the KT debate,to its current inflections at a more grass roots level within the academic institution. We frame this shiftin the context of the key investor in research within these disciplines and suggest that the Arts andHumanities Research Council is equally challenged to articulate and underpin the adoption of KT andits impacts at the heart of academic practice. In order that we might better animate how these practicesare emerging, we observe one particular case study that lays down a possible framework for closerobservation of KT in what we term the ‘Humanities Value Chain’. In focusing on a collection ofplayers connected in the successful pursuit of collaborative research, we attempt to uncover a theperspective of individuals within the institution and the way in which organisations might support orhinder their pursuit of KT based research.In concluding the thesis we suggest that the culmination of this knowledge might offer a usefulframework for considering how KT occurs in arts and humanities led teams, and at the same time how3it might act as a possible tool from which KT players and practices might be better observed. Inpresenting a possible framework for consideration, we suggest that the current preoccupation withimpacts might at the same time be better understood by observing more closely the roles researchersplay during the collaborative research process.</p>