Organisms under Tension: Funding Councils and Science Policies

Funding councils have the peculiarity of being situated at the meeting point of two interests or fields: politics & science. An intermediate position of this kind produces tensions. In fact, the councils must reconcile the autonomy that characterizes the scientific field with the socioeconomic demands that result from science policies. This double allegiance presents an exemplary case for observing the effect of new political discourses & new modes of production of knowledge. This paper sets out to analyze the discourse of funding councils on the one hand, & the funding they make available to university research on the other. It is demonstrated that the majority of funding still remains relatively traditional today & is more in line with what Gibbons et al call "mode 1," whereas the various discourses, for their part, fall directly into "mode 2.". 1 Table, 1 Figure, 3 Graphs, 1 Appendix. Adapted from the source document.