Difference between revisions of "Geographical Mobility"
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Revision as of 18:08, 5 March 2018
Contents
Main
Literature on the mobility of scientists focuses on how scientific mobility contributes to the development of aspects of a professional research career. Researchers who are mobile can build trans-national networks that sustain productive international collaborations (Woolley et al 2008) and can gain access to key postdoctoral labour market entry points (Melin, 2004[1]; Lancio-Morandat & Nohara, 2002[2]; Marceau & Preston, 1997[3]), among other benefits.
Conceptualizations
Scientific mobility
“Scientific mobility” is defined by Mahroum (2000, p. 367)[4] as “cross-border physical and geographic movement that comprises a stay in another country of no less than one year.” Mahroum argues that such scientific mobility “goes through channels of institutions that enjoy a high reputation for excellence and expertise” (2000, p. 367[4]). The universities, research institutes, and laboratories that are the principal sites of research degrees and post-doctoral positions (Melin, 2004[1]), along with the government-funding programs underpinning these arrangements, provide the organizational and institutional contexts for these movements. The movement of scientists to foreign institutions for postgraduate research degrees and/or early-career postdoctoral positions sits within this definition of “scientific mobility through channels of institutions. In terms of the STHC framework (above) mobility can be seen as another career dimension contributing to scientists’ “sustained ability to contribute and enhance their capabilities” (Bozeman et al., 2001, p. 718[5]). In terms of the institutional framework mobility provides access to researchers, teams and infrastructure necessary for pursuing cognitive questions and facilitated by organizational support mechanisms or job changes.
Productivity returns to mobility
According to some studies there is also a productivity return to mobility. Franzoni and colleagues (2012)[6] found that migrant scientists who had been mobile for work or study outperformed their domestic colleagues, who had not been mobile, on the basis of the impact factor of focal publications. However, the study does not calculate whether any career benefits can be associated with such superior performance. However, another study of researcher mobility, productivity and tenure in Spain found there was not return to careers – in terms of earlier time to tenure – from mobility (Cruz-Castro & Sanz-Menendez, 2010[7]). In fact, due to the institutional conditions under which employment in research organisations (CSIC and national institutes) and universities occurs, those who remain within their department of PhD graduation may have an advantage in terms of productivity (through shared papers) and lower transaction costs associated with attempting to gain employment. Productivity is more likely to be linked to staying within an academic department and ‘queueing’ for permanency. This paper contains a very good description of the institutional and organisational conditions of of research careers in Spain. It is clear that mobility should not be considered unproblematically as beneficial to scientific careers. (See also Sanz-Menendez et al., 2013[8], mobility associated with longer time to tenure). (There may be some connection here with the mixed outcomes of highly skilled migration (HSM)). One additional factor perhaps worth considering in the Spanish context is the emergence of regional research systems that do not conform to the traditional Spanish model in terms of employment and, in all likelihood, potential career patterns. The regional systems in Catalonia (ICREA) and the Basque Country (Ikerbasque) are funded with regional government money and have different recruitment and hiring profiles than the public sector funcionario model that characterises the Spanish state. A potentially important research question is whether such regional models, and the alternate career paths they offer, can be found in other European Member States?
Mobility in Economics of Science
Stephan and colleagues (2014)[9] examine the factors contributing to decisions to do postgraduate studies abroad. The most highly rated factors are scientific factors (benefit career, faculty, prestige, networks, infrastructure and funds), whilst non-scientific factors (lifestyle, life quality, family, fringe benefits) are less highly rated. The decision to do PhDs and Postdocs abroad are often linked to a desire to establish a career in the destination country subsequent to training. The study compares ratings for the US against the UK, France, Canada, Australia, Switzerland and Germany. These comparisons show that different countries are competitive in the global market for talent according to different baskets of perceived qualities.
Sources
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Melin, G. (2004). International ties. Postdoc abroad: inherited scientific contacts or establishment of new networks? Research Evaluation 13(2), 95-102. https://doi.org/10.3152/147154404781776455
- ↑ Lancio-Morandat, C., & Nohara, H. (2002). The scientific labour market in international perspective: A “bridging institution” between academia and industry for the co-production and transfer of knowledge and competences. Paper presented at the SASE Conference on Work and Labor in the Global Economy, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, June 27–30.
- ↑ Marceau, J., & Preston, H. (1997). Nurturing National Talent: The Australian Research Council's Fellowship Scheme. Prometheus, 15(1), 41–53. https://doi.org/10.1080/08109029708632049
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Mahroum, S. (2000). Scientific mobility. Science Communication, 21(4), 367–378.
- ↑ Bozeman, B., Dietz, J. S. & Gaughan, M. (2001). Scientific and Technical Human Capital: An Alternative Model for Research Evaluation. International Journal of Technology Management 22(7/8), 716. https://doi.org/10.1504/IJTM.2001.002988
- ↑ Franzoni, C., Scellato, G. & Stephan, P. (2012). Foreign-born scientists: mobility patterns for 16 countries. Nature Biotechnology, 30 (12), pp. 1250-1253. https://doi.org/10.1038/nbt.2449
- ↑ Cruz-Castro, L. & Sanz-Menéndez, L. (2010). Mobility versus Job Stability: Assessing Tenure and Productivity Outcomes. Research Policy 39, 27–38.
- ↑ Sanz-Menéndez, L., Cruz-Castro, L. & Alva, K. (2013). Time to Tenure in Spanish Universities: An Event History Analysis. PLoS ONE 8(10), 1–18.
- ↑ Stephan, P., Franzoni, C. & Scellato, G. (2014). International Competition for PhDs and Postdoctoral Scholars: What Does (and Does Not) Matter. In W. R. Kerr, J. Lerner & S. Stern (Eds.) Innovation Policy and the Economy. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Retrieved from http://www.nber.org/chapters/c13403.pdf.
Lists
Learning Experience
