Engaged scientists or public intellectuals: the disputed public role of SSH researchers within the French Community of Belgium

Marc Vanholsbeeck

Chapter 6 in Accountability in Academic Life, 2023, pp 67-80 from Edward Elgar Publishing

Abstract: In French-speaking Belgium there is no institutionally structured impact agenda. Nevertheless, SSH researchers find pathways to create public value, notably through the public communication of their research and the opportunities offered by Open Access. This chapter presents the limited funding and policy tools that support impact creation and the current rather low level of acceptance of the SSH expertise in the Belgian political sphere. It focuses on the challenges SSH scholars face when communicating their research to the public, such as a lack of career incentives, a lower degree of epistemological prestige in the media or the need to be particularly proactive in pushing their research in the news. Furthermore, the COVID-19 pandemic brought to the forefront questionings about the nature of the SSH scholars’ contribution to the public debate: should they act as engaged but specialised scientists, or as broader public intellectuals?

Keywords: Business and Management; Education; Politics and Public Policy Sociology and Social Policy; General Academic Interest (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
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