
Dr Rene Brauer
About
Biography
Rene is interested in the epistemological justification of what makes social science claims reliable.
Research interests
- epistemology
- history of science
- application of evolutionary thinking to understanding social processes
- philosophy of mind
- research impact
- human geography
- science and technology studies
- tourism studies
- rural and urban theory
ResearchResearch interests
Rene's thesis investigated the research impact discourse surrounding the REF’s 2014 (Research Excellence Framework) evaluation of research in the UK. The addressed knowledge gap dealt with critically evaluating the newly introduced disciplinary regime surrounding research impact and what influence it has on academic praxis and the research ecosystem as a whole. The utilised research methodology represented an evaluation of the research impact guidelines, submitted impact claims and interviews with academics. Specifically, a critical discourse analysis of the research impact case studies (in relation to tourism) and impact templates (of the submitting tourism studies faculties) was conducted. This was complemented with semi-structured interviews of tourism academics on all levels of the academic hierarchy.
The key findings are; firstly the research shows empirically that the newly introduced discourse of research impact shapes academic conduct to affiliate itself within the performance measures in a very pragmatic fashion (small scale and easy to reference). Secondly, the research showed that the research impact discourse disciplines behaviour along the entire chain of the social construction, from setting a word to the page all the way to employment decisions and universities budgets. Lastly, the analysis of the interviews showed the different levels of cognitive learning within the researchers’ resulted in that each individual approached the same discourse differently, this multiplicity and the resulting uncertainty represents a force that is shaping the research ecosystem in its own right.
Research projects
The changing UK ecosystem During his PhD Rene developed many ideas relating to the 'research ecosystem' notion that he already worked on in other publications. The research ecosystem idea and its post-postmodernist approach; how scientific knowledge can arise, be structured, disseminated, transformed, refined, narrated, presented and developed within a scientific culture that produces is essentially an evolutionary conceptualisation to the social construction of scientific knowledge. Currently, Rene is aiming to publish this idea in a conceptual paper. The impact of research impact The increasingly competitive climate of academia has made the evaluation of research relevance a staple in current research-related procedures. The REF (Research Excellence Framework) is the UK government’s evaluation of the quality of British research; in 2014 it adopted as a new part of the assessment. The exercise not only provides information in relation to benchmarking funding allocation but also serves as a form of public accountability.
In this research project Rene aims to critically evaluate the extent of the research impact that was reported in relation to tourism and comment upon the implications of this change in the assessment regime. The study analysed materials submitted by universities to the REF, these publically available impact accounts were subjected to a content analysis in relation to the contained type of impact, tourism and research. Furthermore, these were also critically evaluated in terms of the significance of the reported impacts.
The key findings of the study are as follows; firstly the comprehensive account of the types of impact that was claimed primarily focused on small scale comparatively easy to account for type of impacts. Secondly, the study demonstrate the effects of this newly introduced disciplinary regime upon tourism knowledge production, in how it creates a disciplinary force in its own right that is influencing and shaping the tourism research landscape. Lastly, it demonstrated a gap between the impacts that manifests this disciplinary influence of the REF assessment guidelines and what type of significant areas ‘good’ research can now address.research impact
Research interests
Rene's thesis investigated the research impact discourse surrounding the REF’s 2014 (Research Excellence Framework) evaluation of research in the UK. The addressed knowledge gap dealt with critically evaluating the newly introduced disciplinary regime surrounding research impact and what influence it has on academic praxis and the research ecosystem as a whole. The utilised research methodology represented an evaluation of the research impact guidelines, submitted impact claims and interviews with academics. Specifically, a critical discourse analysis of the research impact case studies (in relation to tourism) and impact templates (of the submitting tourism studies faculties) was conducted. This was complemented with semi-structured interviews of tourism academics on all levels of the academic hierarchy.
The key findings are; firstly the research shows empirically that the newly introduced discourse of research impact shapes academic conduct to affiliate itself within the performance measures in a very pragmatic fashion (small scale and easy to reference). Secondly, the research showed that the research impact discourse disciplines behaviour along the entire chain of the social construction, from setting a word to the page all the way to employment decisions and universities budgets. Lastly, the analysis of the interviews showed the different levels of cognitive learning within the researchers’ resulted in that each individual approached the same discourse differently, this multiplicity and the resulting uncertainty represents a force that is shaping the research ecosystem in its own right.