| dc.description.abstract | Academic freedom has been a salient topic in both academic study and public policy in Norway in recent years, with several high profile reports and public reviews released since 2020. While the recent studies have given important insights to certain aspects of academic freedom in Norway, a review of the international literature shows that there are many potential challenges that remain unexplored.
Notably, the influence of marketization in the university sector and increased collaboration with the private sector is only superficially addressed. The Norwegian university sector is often assumed to be relatively well protected against pressure from the private sector, yet, the Norwegian export economy is highly reliant on a few research intensive off-shore industries. With these important research areas left almost entirely unaddressed in the recent literature it is possible that there are fundamental developments that remain poorly understood.
Through interviews with researchers in marine research fields, this masters thesis investigates whether scientists in these fields report similar challenges as those found in the international theory, and which factors of research collaboration, strengthen or challenge their autonomy and quality of research.
The findings shed further light on academic freedom in the contemporary research sector, and provides clear examples of the benefits and challenges of research collaboration from an academic freedom perspective. These findings are valuable as they provide insight into a topic that has been largely unaddressed in the contemporary academic freedom literature in Norway and provides a basis for better understanding the nature of research collaboration and industry partnerships. | |
