The panel consisted of Martin Cloonan, director of the Turku Institute for Advanced Studies, Britta Padberg, director of the New Institute in Hamburg and Richard Taylor, director of the Department of Physics at the University of Oregon. The panel made a site visit here in May 2024, where they interviewed researchers and representatives for Lund University. They got a comprehensive dossier compiled from reports and surveys from the Themes and Advanced Study Groups that were active here in 2018–2021.
Hand on heart: Evaluation processes are rarely welcomed with enthusiasm and almost always come inappropriately in terms of time. The organisation knows how time- and energy-consuming it is to compile material. But this time it felt... different. The more data that was extracted, the clearer the picture became: Despite challenging conditions (to put it mildly), the facts indicated that Pufendorf IAS is indeed something that Lund University both needs and can be proud of.
We really seem to be the catalyst for interdisciplinary research at Lund University that we strive to be. I was surprised by how many interdisciplinary projects that have received large grants actually started here at the Pufendorf Institute
says Pufendorf IAS Director Stacey Ristinmaa Sörensen.
The evaluation panel's report confirms this and highlights many good examples of why the three principles of the Pufendorf IAS are so successful, both for interdisciplinary teams and individual researchers. The report also includes some strategic recommendations to further leverage the work.
In early autumn, the board of Pufendorf IAS decided to proceed with translating those recommendations into action. Our own report, which summarises our own reflections on the evaluation material, is also ready. The first to read it were the more than 60 participants at our symposium on 21 October: Conducting research in interdisciplinary teams. At this symposium, we not only welcomed Martin Cloonan and Britta Padberg back to Lund, but also once again confirmed that the Pufendorf IAS's activities are important, not only locally here in Lund, but also internationally.
Peter Drucker once said:
"Unless strategy evaluation is performed seriously and systematically, and unless strategists are willing to act on the results, energy will be used up defending yesterday."
The Pufendorf Institute for Advanced Studies is coming out of the evaluation process in 2024 strongly, precisely because it was both structured and strategic and that we take care of the results, in more ways than one.
Evaluation report (in English) on the Pufendorf IAS website:
Evaluations | The Pufendorf Institute for Advanced Studies
Fact: The Pufendorf Institute's three principles
- The bottom-up principle means that researchers create their own groups, choose the research topics and set their own goals. Applications are approved based on ingenuity and interdisciplinary significance.
- The no-expected deliverables principle means that groups working at the Institute commit to work together towards set goals but without the requirement to produce specific research output. This encourages the exploration of new ideas.
- The open space and framework principle means that the groups have the freedom to plan and structure their work in the best possible way to enable them to form and develop their ideas. Inspiration should come from all members and new ideas and concepts develop throughout the process.