The study addresses: (1) changes in Canada's science-policy climate over the past two decades; (2)
impacts o f such changes on the conduct and organization of academic science; and (3) publicinterest
implications of promoting, in public institutions, research 'relevant' to private sector needs.
Working within the interdisciplinary traditions of science studies, the conceptual framework draws
on the cross-cutting tensions at the intersection of public and private space, and basic and applied
science. These tensions are articulated in two opposing models: 'open science' and 'overflowing
networks'.
Canada's Networks of Centres of Excellence (NCE) program provides the study's empirical focus.
Founded in 1988, the NCE program rests on dual goals of research excellence and commercial
relevance. It promotes a national research capacity that 'floats across' existing provincial institutions.
The first part of the study investigates the evolution of the NCE program against the background of
Canadian science policy. The second part problematizes the notion of 'network' while investigating
one of the NCEs in depth, examining the scientific, commercial, cultural, and spatial-structural
practices that are the outcomes of policy. Examination of these practices reveals not only the cultural
and commercial shifts sought by policy, but also unintended consequences such as regional
clustering; elitism and exclusion; problems with social and fiscal accountability; tensions with host
institutions; and goal displacement between science and commerce.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:BVAU.2429/13007 |
| Date | 05 1900 |
| Creators | Atkinson-Grosjean, Janet |
| Source Sets | Library and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Relation | UBC Retrospective Theses Digitization Project [http://www.library.ubc.ca/archives/retro_theses/] |
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