Globally, the call for impact of science on society is louder than ever. The Netherlands is no exception. In 2004, valorisation was introduced as a core element of Dutch science policy, aiming to... Show moreGlobally, the call for impact of science on society is louder than ever. The Netherlands is no exception. In 2004, valorisation was introduced as a core element of Dutch science policy, aiming to increase the societal benefits of academic research. In scientific practice, the introduction of valorisation meant scientists got a new task, in addition to teaching and education. This thesis studies the valorisation policy from a principal-agent perspective. It aims to answer two questions. 1) How has the valorisation policy of Dutch government been translated to academic practice in the Netherlands between 2004 and 2014? And 2) How can societal benefits of academic research be evaluated? Scientists from a multitude of disciplines have been interviewed and surveyed and policy documents have been studied. The first key result is that the Dutch science system is in a transition. Scientists are motivated to engage with society and do so in many different ways. However, they have a limited understanding of valorisation policies and feel poorly equipped for the task. The second key result is that valorisation should be evaluated as a process. This facilitates learning among scientists and as such allows for improving valorisation practices. The study ends with policy recommendations. Show less
Digital humanities is an emerging field whose practitioners apply digital technology to humanistic research problems. Its manifestations are diverse: from the use of online annotation tools in the... Show moreDigital humanities is an emerging field whose practitioners apply digital technology to humanistic research problems. Its manifestations are diverse: from the use of online annotation tools in the collaborative study of empirical sources, the computational analysis of large corpora of textual data, to the use of provocative digital performances for exploring the twists and turns of poststructuralist theory. At the same time, such engagement with novel technologies is often full of tension. In contrast to the single-author, monograph-oriented research that characterizes established forms of scholarship, digital humanities is often practiced in collaborative, interdisciplinary projects that produces digital output rather than traditional publications. The use of digital technology thus creates exciting new possibilities to supplement and extend humanistic knowledge production, but it also entails uncommon requirements regarding the epistemic, social, and material organization of research. Drawing on a combination of ethnographic work and theories from Science & Technology Studies, this thesis investigates the conflicts that arise as scholars try to incorporate digital approaches into their established practices. Its main argument is that lasting innovations in the scholarly work process will only be possible if they are informed by a reflexive sensibility for the history and organizational specificities of the humanities. Show less
