Seminar
Foundations and futures of scientometrics - a tribute to the legacy of Loet Leydesdorff
- Andrea Scharnhorst, Caroline Wagner, Henry Small, Inga Ivanova, Ismael Rafols, Koen Frenken, Paul Wouters, Peter van den Besselaar, Staša Milojevic.
- Date
- Friday 23 May 2025
- Time
- Series
- CWTS Research Seminars
- Location
-
Willem Einthoven
Kolffpad 1
2333 BN Leiden - Room
- CWTS Common Rooms & online
About the seminar
At the occasion of the publication of a special issue of Scientometrics devoted to the legacy and enduring intellectual influence of Loet Leydesdorff, CWTS hosts a Friday seminar on foundations and futures of scientometrics. Nine speakers will discuss what they learned in their collaboration with Leydesdorff and how they see the further development of the research agendas in information science and scientometrics.
This special 2-hour seminar will be chaired by Paul Wouters, who will introduce the special issue and the speakers.
About Loet Leydesdorff
A towering intellect combining knowledge from a huge variety of scientific fields, Loet Leydesdorff developed a unique approach in which he combined communication and information theory and empirical philosophy of science with a keen interest in innovation and measurement. His research programma, which he summarised near the end of his career in the open access publication "The Evolutionary Dynamics of Discursive Knowledge" (Leydesdorff 2021), consisted of three themes: 1) the dynamics of science, technology, and innovation; 2) the scientometric operationalisation and measurement of these dynamics; and 3) the Triple Helix of university-industry-government relationships. He was a distinguished scholar, teacher, and professor at the University of Amsterdam, renowned for his groundbreaking research.
Throughout his career, Leydesdorff was recognised for his contributions to the field of communications sciences and scientometrics. He received numerous awards and honors, including the Derek de Solla Price Medal from the International Society for Scientometrics and Informetrics (2003), and the Award of Merit from the American Society for Information Science and Technology for his outstanding contributions to the field of information science (2016).
In addition to his many accomplishments, Leydesdorff remained deeply humble and approachable, always willing to share his knowledge and expertise with colleagues and students alike. Google Scholar registers more than a hundred co-authors, but his influence reached much wider through his tireless participation in hundreds of conferences, seminars, and his generous supervising new generations of scholars and scientists (four of his PhD students became professors in their own right). In this way, he made connections with hundreds of colleagues and students around the world. He will be remembered not only for his groundbreaking research, but also for his generosity, kindness, openness, and unwavering commitment to the pursuit of knowledge.
Speakers
- Andrea Scharnhorst (DANS KNAW)
- Caroline Wagner (Ohio State University)
- Henry Small (SciTech Strategies)
- Inga Ivanova (HSE University)
- Ismael Rafols (Leiden University)
- Koen Frenken (Utrecht University)
- Paul Wouters (Leiden University)
- Peter van den Besselaar (Free University Amsterdam)
- Staša Milojevic (Indiana University)