Evaluation document, KoF11 Part A: Strategic aspects on research ...

Uppsala University 5<strong>KoF11</strong>A3. Describe the most promising research directions for the department in aperspective of 5-10 years. Give an account for how the accomplishment of successfulpursuit of these research directions would be attained, and what indicators would berelevant, e.g. in terms of proportion between different categories of researchers andother personnel.In a five or ten year perspective the department will have developed and strengthened itsresearch base, especially with regard to the fields that were mentioned under A1. Besideskeeping up a wide research agenda that still includes a variety of different subjects, especiallyperhaps development studies, gender relations, the history of economic ideas, studies onagriculture and early industrialization, etc., the department will have further strengthened itsexpertise especially in relation to international research in five different areas. As noted in A1this development with regard to several of these five areas will be enhanced in relation to thecross-disciplinary centres that have been established at the department. The ordering below ofthe five different themes does not imply any order of priority between them.First, the department will continue to develop research in business and financial history with abase in UCBH, which to some extent was a result of the last KOF. Within this field furtherresearch on Swedish big business in the 20 th century as well on the changes taking place in theSwedish financial markets since 1945 – in comparison with other countries – can beenvisaged. So far research within UCBH and at the department has mainly concentrated onSwedish topics. However, at the moment there is a strong emphasis on increasingcollaboration with international research mileus, including the Nordic countries, Switzerland,Italy and the UK. This will be further developed in the coming years.Secondly, the department will enhance its research activities concerning working life and thelabour market. Also in this field attempts will be made to establish a cross-disciplinaryresearch seminar as well as projects together with other disciplines within the Faculty ofSocial Sciences as well as with researchers within the Faculties of Medicine andPharmacology. The department’s continued research expertise concerning the effects of EUregulations and international trends for the development of labour markets and welfaresystems will be strengthened. Here research activities can also build on different crossdisciplinaryprojects and programs that have existed at the department since the late 1990’s,especially within the SALTSA-programme and the doctoral school “Swedish model intransition”. The department hosts one of the major international journals concerning workinglife and work organization, Economic and Industrial Economy. In the future this will providea stable foundation for our own activities at the department. In connection with this, one canalso note the collaboration developed between Uppsala University and other Swedish majorresearch centres with the University of Tokyo on the Ageing Society which the departmenthosts. The issue of ageing includes <strong>aspects</strong> such as the future of the present welfare systemsboth in Sweden and globally, as well as how the labour market will be organised in the futuregiven the dramatic demographic changes that will occur.2011-02-28 Dept of Economic History v 1.0