vetenskapsrådets kartläggning, utvärdering och rekommendationer ...

2 KARTLÄGGNING OCH UTVÄRDERING AV SVENSK VÅRDFORSKNING – HUVUDRAPPORT OCH UNDERLAG FÖR VETENSKAPSRÅDETS REKOMMENDATIONER
Future plans and potential
The future plans for care science research at the University of Gothenburg
are realistic and strategic. They relate to the recruitment of high quality
research staff and early career researchers and further development of their
four areas of research. There is also the aim of expanding the GPCC as a
unique research centre. This will involve more and larger studies evaluating
person-centred care, E-health research, the relation between symptoms and
signs and effects of interventions to alleviate symptoms. There is also a desire
to extend research on environmental issues. However, they admit that
the research in this area is premature. They also plan to expand their national
collaborations not only with other universities but with companies and
social groups. Finally, they wish to encourage European collaborations and
they point out that they have existing collaborations with care science researchers
in China (Fudan University), Vietnam (Hanoi University) and the
U.S. (Duke University, North Carolina). Unfortunately, the future plans are
phrased in generic terms across the University and the reader does not get a
good feel for plans relating to specific aspects of the Care Sciences.
Overall assessment of strong and weak research areas
Well-written self-assessment document which engages critically and reflexively
with the ‘Care Sciences’ challenge. The four research areas are all addressed
in an explicitly interdisciplinary way. The publications are focused
on the four areas of research and many in good international peer reviewed
and in many cases high impact factored journals. There has also been significant
grant income. The research selectivity in this university is impressive.
Its strength lies in its focus on the four areas where they are making a
substantial contribution to generating, challenging and testing new knowledge.
Their culture of multidisciplinary collaboration is excellent and they
have plans to expand the national and international collaborations. There
are a large number of PhD students affiliated with these research areas. The
weaknesses in the paperwork are the lack of any reference to gaining international
funding for their research (e.g. EU FP7 or NIH) and there was very
little detail on international research collaborations. There are a large number
of staff in the ‘other’ category and it is difficult to know what discipline
they belong to. In addition, many of the professors are in the 60+ age range
and an emphasis on succession planning and sustainable is lacking. Nonetheless,
the assessment for Gothenburg University is internationally excellent (B).
VETENSKAPSRÅDETS KARTLÄGGNING, UTVÄRDERING OCH REKOMMENDATIONER ANGÅENDE SVENSK VÅRDFORSKNING 37