Lecture
This Week's Discoveries | 4 February 2020
- Simcha Jong Kon Chin
- Emmanuel Villermaux
- Date
- Tuesday 4 February 2020
- Time
- Location
-
Oort
Niels Bohrweg 2
2333 CA Leiden - Room
- De Sitterzaal
First lecture
Title
Addressing Global Challenges through International Scientific Consortia; Case studies in biomedicine, the geosciences, and nuclear fusion research
Speaker
Simcha Jong (LIACS and SBB)
Simcha Jong is a full Professor and Director of Science Based Business at Leiden University. Jong previously held faculty appointments at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health (visiting) and at the UCL School of Management where he still is a Visiting Professor. Jong’s research group examines social, political, and cultural processes governing innovation. Specifically, his group focuses on the following contexts: Innovation in health systems, the organisation of global R&D networks, and the management of pharmaceutical R&D. He received funding for his research from the UK and international funding bodies such as ERC (consolidator), Innovate UK, ESRC, NESTA, NIHR, and BIS, as well as various industry partners. He has a PhD in Social and Political Sciences from the European University Institute in Florence, Italy, an MPhil in Management Studies from the University of Cambridge (first-class honours with distinction level), and a BA in Social Science from Utrecht University’s University College (cum laude). In addition, he was a visiting scholar at the Department of Sociology at UC Berkeley. Jong’s research has been published in leading international scientific and management journals, including Nature Biotechnology, Research Policy, Industrial and Corporate Change, and Journal of Management Studies. PhD and Postdoctoral researchers from Jong’s group moved on to academic positions in management and science policy at top-institutions such as UCL, Warwick Business School, Indian Institute of Management, Georgia Tech, National Taiwan University, SPRU, University of Chicago, Middlesex University, and Bristol University.
Abstract
Jong will present plans for his recently awarded ERC Consolidator grant on International Scientific Consortia (INSCONS). The project will examine the organisational dynamics of international scientific consortia (ISCs) and the interactions of these consortia with broader scientific communities, national bureaucracies, and industry. ISCs are very complex organisations with work being carried out at geographically dispersed sites, and involving international stakeholder groups from across the realms of science, policy, and industry. As these ISCs are becoming more important in efforts to address global challenges in areas such as health, the environment, and clean energy, our understanding of the distinctive organizational dynamics governing these consortia has lagged behind. Accordingly, there is a pressing need for novel organisational theory and frameworks that will advance our understanding of ISCs. INSCONS is an ambitious effort to address this need, using a comparative, interdisciplinary approach. Three case studies of large, international ISCs in nuclear fusion research, biomedicine, and the geosciences are at the core of INSCONS. The INSCONS project will examine four aspects of these ISCs. It will 1) Map the internal organisational dynamics of ISCs using interviews, bibliometric network analyses, and ethnographic field studies on everyday work in ISCs. 2) It will study ISCs’ interactions with the broader scientific community by conducting a survey among researchers in the scholarly fields ISCs operate in, and by analysing these fields’ co-authorship networks. 3) It will examine the (inter)national political processes and bureaucratic wrangling shaping ISCs. 4) It will examine relationships of dependency and influence between ISCs and industry through case studies as well as analyses of patenting and publication activities. Taken together, the project outputs of INSCONS will bring into clear focus the sociology and politics, as well as the operational complexities that govern this important, new organisational form in contemporary science.
Second lecture, Lorentz Center Highlight
Title
Evaporation of dense sprays and disease transmission
Speaker
Emmanuel Villermaux (Aix-Marseille Université)
Emmanuel Villermaux currently works at the Institut de Recherche sur les Phénomènes Hors Equilibre (UMR 7342 IRPHE), Aix-Marseille Université. Emmanuel does research on the Mechanics of Deformable Bodies, from Fluids to Solids, with a particular emphasis on Mixing and Fragmentation. He is one of the participants in the workshop Mixing in Porous Media that is being held in the Lorentz Center from 3 Feb 2020 through 7 Feb 2020.