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Scientific and expert knowledge on migration is often disregarded in policy making and plays only a minor role in public debates - despite the massive growth and institutionalization of migration research in recent years. This article interrogates the limited impact of migration research(ers) by examining knowledge practices in both policy making and academia. We first look "outwards" at migration policy making. Revisiting and integrating the hitherto separate scholarship on knowledge use and knowledge production, we identify the main mechanisms that characterize knowledge practices of policy actors, such as individual and institutional self-preservation, issue politicization, or unequal power dynamics. We then mobilize these insights to look "inwards" at our own knowledge practices in migration studies, showing that similar mechanisms shape how migration scholars produce and use knowledge. In particular, we identify a fragmentation of migration studies into ever-more fine-grained sub-fields, each with their own knowledge practices and impact strategies - and with little dialogue across them. In fact, rather than acknowledging their complementarity, these sub-fields tend to delegitimize each other's knowledge and efforts to achieve socio-political change. We argue that such "academic tribalism" creates a self-sabotaging dynamic that undermines the field's wider credibility and impact. Ultimately, we hope that this paper empowers migration researchers to act upon this diagnosis and inspires a collective discussion on how to foster more mutually-reinforcing knowledge practices that strengthen the field's role in political debates and public life. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article introduces a special section comprising papers examining the evolution, current state and potential futures of the subdiscipline of health geography. Geographers' engagement with 'health' has transformed from a strict rooting in the '(bio)medical', coinciding with, and contributing to, a paradigm shift emphasising a recognition of health as multifaceted and shaped by everyday experiential spatial practices, rhythms and identities. The development of this area of geographic scholarship, we argue, has been inextricably linked to the simultaneous growth of the Geographies of Health and Wellbeing Research Group (GHWRG) of the Royal Geographical Society (with the Institute of British Geographers), founded in 1972. Celebrating this golden jubilee, the Research Group initiated a project reflecting on how geographical knowledge on health has been produced and the networks that have influenced thinking. This coincided with an additional anniversary, the twentieth iteration of the 'Emerging and New Researchers in the Geographies of Health & Impairment', a conference developed to support new conversations relating to geographical scholarship around 'health', playing an important role in the development of ideas, scholarship and community since its inception in 1994. In introducing this special section, we underscore the importance of geographic interrogations of health for addressing contemporary challenges and providing interdisciplinary contributions. The articles in the collection delve into conceptual, theoretical and methodological developments that have shaped health geography, featuring work showcasing the breadth and depth of research within the subdiscipline. Complementing these empirical pieces, the special section traces the history of the GHWRG and its contributions, alongside interviews and conversations with scholars who have played pivotal roles in shaping the evolution of the subdiscipline. Overall, we are keen to celebrate health geography scholarship, question how academic networks shape thinking about interrelationships between health and place, and reflect on potential future directions for geographical scholarship on health and wellbeing. This article introduces a special section comprising papers examining the evolution, current state, and potential futures of the subdiscipline of health geography. The development of this area of geographic scholarship, we argue, has been inextricably linked to the simultaneous growth of the Geographies of Health and Wellbeing Research Group (GHWRG) of the Royal Geographical Society (with the Institute of British Geographers). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Money plays a crucial role in science in many ways. Aspects of content in the context of everyday practice and scientific activity are also significantly influenced by financial means as well as funding conditions. The associated structures play a crucial role and can have a significant impact on work ethic and academic freedom of scientists. This particularly affects young researchers, as they are inferior to it in terms of both financial resources and decision-making power due to academic structures. Therefore, it is important to shed light on the role of money in academia and to reflect on the relation of conditions of financing, current academic structures, scientific work and knowledge production. To this end, a critical look at the related aspects will be taken. First, the question of why money is so important for scientific work and who is funded in the first place will be explored. Related to this is the question of how the exguidelines and existing circumstances contribute to the persistence of hierarchical structures in science and how this influences academic freedom and freedom of thinking. Finally, consequences for scientific practice will be discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper delves into the evolving academic and educational dynamics between Singapore and China, highlighting their mutually reinforcing relationship. It examines both historical connections and current academic linkages, focusing on the key factors driving Chinese international student migration to Singapore. The paper details diplomatic and economic connections that have led to educational exchanges and migration, emphasising how early interactions laid the groundwork for robust training and educational cooperation. Furthermore, it underscores the substantial presence of Chinese students in Singapore's tertiary education and the distinctive attributes that make Singapore a sought-after study destination in Southeast Asia—such as the city-state’s approach to higher education prioritising human capital development over tuition revenue generation, the global reputation of its higher education institutions, English-speaking environment, and promising career prospects due to the presence of multinational companies. Finally, the paper explores cross-border academic mobility and joint knowledge production between the two countries. In doing so, it seeks to augment the existing understanding of regional student mobility and knowledge production, shedding light on the evolving dynamics between China and Singapore within the domain of higher education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the interwoven history of hydrological studies and water infrastructure development on the Mekong floodplains. On the basis of an extensive literature review, archival work, and key informant interviews, we unravel the making of an expert-led understanding of the Mekong floodplains – from the detailed reports written by colonial engineers during the French protectorate in the late 19th century to the development of the first computational models, developed in the 1960s on punch-cards and in Fortran. We show how these studies not only reflect the objectives of successive powers and their relationships to local communities but also shaped the landscape and hydrology of the Mekong floodplains and continue to do so through a variety of water infrastructure development projects. This serves as a call to conceive of hydrological knowledge as contingent rather than as a neutral depiction of physical processes that exists independently from the conditions of its production. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Driven by concern with the quintessentially political decisions made in the interest of “the economy”—and the widely disparate outcomes produced in the process—the project of public economic geography is interested in how knowledge production in economic geography can be imagined to produce more just outcomes. This is an introduction to a Focus section in which four interlocutors reflect on what economic geography could look like if it engaged more directly with the politics of knowledge production. A public economic geography seeks to dislocate, spatially and figuratively, conventional academic considerations of expertise and audience, while also explicitly locating itself in a public purpose for publics both inside and outside the academy. Three themes informing this project emerge from the contributors’ reflections: revealing (making public) economic knowledges, reimagining economic relations, and reeducating ourselves and our publics about normative economic concepts and the performance of academic authority. Together, these contributions point to some fundamental moves toward a more “public” orientation within the subdiscipline. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The demographic change calls for the creation of age-friendly environments that result from the collaboration between several fields. Previous initiatives fostering age-friendly environments often had less-than-desired impact or reach due to financial and bureaucratic constraints. Additionally, territory-specific standards and needs hinder the replication of good practices. Based on a mixed-methods approach combining a narrative review of knowledge models followed by expert consultation, we propose a framework to maximise the sustainability of Smart Healthy Age-friendly Environment (SHAFE) initiatives by connecting local ecosystems and stakeholders, including underrepresented entities, and thus promote sustainable business models, to ensure the replicability, scalability, and sustainability - the Transnational Local-sphere Model. This social innovation framework goes beyond previously established helix frameworks, by incorporating fresh ideas on democratic policy making, transnational spanning, and inter-ecosystem collaboration, as well as emphasising the role of institutions, stakeholders, networks, and principles. The collaboration and competition between the different stakeholders ensure a value-driven, cost-effective, and inclusive intervention, maximising impact. The Transnational Local-Sphere Model can also be applied in the development of other social innovation initiatives that benefit a user-centred multi-stakeholder inter-ecosystem approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article uses movements against police brutality as a starting point to rethink our theorizations of police power, asking how the police maintain their dominance over oppressed groups, and what it takes to challenge it. I argue that an important, but undertheorized dimension of police power is epistemic power, the ability to control what is known and what remains unknown about policing practices. Epistemic power derives from (1) the police's control over the production and non-production of data about crime and policing; (2) the assumption that police officers are more credible than their targets; and (3) their privileged access to the media. Using France as a case study, I show how the police draw on epistemic power to produce 'truth' and manufacture ignorance about their practices, and I examine activist strategies to challenge and disrupt this power. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In our increasingly digital world, cyberconflict poses a significant challenge to global security, prompting the emergence of an academic field dedicated to its study. Understanding the trajectory, evolution and dominant characteristics of cyberconflict studies is vital for scholars and policy-makers alike. By means of a thorough analysis of articles from the 125 top political science and International Relations journals, we illuminate the field's conceptual and methodological landscape. Our findings uncover a notable Europeanization of the field and a shift towards more rigorous methodologies, particularly experimental designs. While early research focused primarily on conceptual development and strategic topics, the contemporary field of studies exhibits a broader scope and greater diversity of scholarship. While the field has progressed beyond its nascent stages, it has yet to reach its full potential. We address several potential issues facing its growth and relevance. Firstly, there is a lack of global representation among researchers and in the incidents studied. Secondly, embracing interdisciplinary approaches is crucial for addressing newly emerging issues effectively. Thirdly, the diversification of research identities within the field of cyberconflict studies in the US and Europe must be bridged to foster collaboration and exchange of ideas. To overcome these challenges, adopting a pragmatic middle-ground approach is essential. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article contributes to the emerging literature on decolonial research capacity-sharing (the process of strengthening individual/organisational capacity to shape research agendas, assess, design, produce, disseminate, and apply evidence). It provides a discussion of a participatory research capacity-sharing initiative led by Joint Learning Initiative on Faith and Local Communities (JLI), which was aimed at practitioners, activists, and researchers, with valuable experience as professionals and activists but little to no prior research experience, from various parts of Africa, Asia, Europe, and the Middle East. While existing literature (including publications on decolonial research capacity-sharing) often assumes that research capacity-sharing is led by and aimed at academics, our article reflects on the question of how decolonial research capacity-sharing can be implemented in interventions led by and aimed at non-academics. It therefore makes an important contribution to existing literature on research capacity-sharing, pointing to the important role practitioners, activists, and community members can play, especially in interventions informed by decolonial principles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores how the OECD acts a broker of knowledge-making in the development of PISA, the most widely known International Large-Scale Assessment. Drawing on the work of Bandola-Gill, Grek, and Tichenor (2022) and analysing empirical data gathered through interviews with OECD staff and PISA contractors and experts, the paper analyses how the OECD brokers the making of comparative knowledge on learning outcomes. The paper does this by unpacking what counts as expertise in the making of PISA, and how the OECD manages and uses this expertise. Exploring the ways that international organizations broker experts and utilize expertise reveals how IOs first select experts and then delegate their expert-brokering role; they then seek to share the delegated process; and finally, take back expert-brokering and knowledge-production by creating, or decreeing, consensus. The paper also shows how expertise – beyond informing on a technical level – is used to shift scientific responsibilities and build global consensus. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this interview, we explore the innovative research that earned Soomi Kim the Best Paper Award at DRUID 2024. As a partner of DRUID, Industry and Innovation presents an exclusive view into the research journey behind Kim's celebrated work. Her study 'Shortcuts to Innovation: The Use of Analogies in Knowledge Production' examines how innovators venture into uncharted territories, using analogies to transfer knowledge from related domains. Using structural biology as the empirical setting, her findings highlight both the advantages and limitations of employing analogy-based technologies, such as machine learning, to speed up discovery. In this conversation, Kim reveals the inspiration, challenges, and breakthroughs that defined her research, providing a unique perspective on the paths leading to her pioneering work. Just as her paper examines how analogical reasoning and its technological automation serve as shortcuts in knowledge production, this conversation offers a unique lens on the pathways that shape groundbreaking research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the impact of COVID-19 on teachers’ relationships with students, parents, and other teachers as well as on the knowledge which they produce as their teaching and learning spaces are reconceptualised and their workplace relationships are redefined. The study adopted bricolage as a research approach and single-group case study as a research design, and used data obtained from a range of individual semi-structured interviews with elementary teachers which were supported by a series of naturally occurring data. The findings reinforce the conclusions that have been drawn in previous studies in terms of the significance of the social and relational aspects of educational settings and of the view of teachers as legitimate knowledge producers. Additionally, however, the results expand on our current understanding of teacher relationships and professional knowledge production by illustrating how participants collaboratively addressed the unprecedented challenges which the pandemic posed in order to strengthen their workplace relationships with significant others and enhance student educational experiences. The diversity of the strategies the teachers used provides evidence of growth in multiple dimensions of teacher knowledge and of different forms of agency, and has implications for teaching, teacher education, and future research in this area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this commentary, I pull out the threads that weave through the eight papers included in this special issue. Key themes untangled include: 1) how researchers maneuver through times of turbulence, 2) the ways in which research is peopled and practiced, 3) the emotional discomforts and ethical dilemmas that come with doing engaged scholarship, 4) the epistemological implications of these messy struggles, and 5) the short-term and long-term strategies offered by the contributors moving forward. I then offer a potentially transformative intervention designed to address systematic barriers related to knowledge production that can create more engaged, impactful scholarship. I conclude with a call to stay with the trouble to ensure more promising futures. The knottiness of knowledge production is present throughout the discussion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates publication strategies of the most distinguished local government researchers in eight European countries. Drawing upon dependency theory, accumulative advantage theory and 'utility maximizing' theory, we compare publication strategies of scholars from countries that vary in terms of the distance from the core of academic knowledge production, also taking into consideration their career length (academic age). The two publication strategies compared are international visibility and domestic visibility. The analysis confirmed the hypothesis that younger scholars are more prone to adopt internationalization strategy which has been institutionally incentivized by NPM reforms. However, the difference among core, catching‐up and peripheral countries is not as sizeable as expected. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the role of rejection in scholarly knowledge production, emphasizing its importance in filtering out less credible scientific works. It explores how rejection helps reduce entropy and increase the dissemination of valuable knowledge, despite the subjectivity involved in the process. The text also highlights the necessity of intellectual humility among editors and reviewers to enhance the efficiency of knowledge production and ensure that valuable scientific contributions are not overlooked. [Extracted from the article]

This article focuses on rights politics in most of the world and on knowledge production 'after rights'. It assembles a few key elements of anti-imperial epistemic justice which it argues is a necessary lens for producing knowledges on rights politics in most of the world 'after rights'. Its key argument is that knowledge production on rights politics 'after rights' is one that is invested in challenging existing coloniality, structural injustice, exploitation, oppression and methodological nationalism. It is also one that is invested in producing conceptual descriptions of rights politics in most of the world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Located within feminist scholarship on sport, leisure and physical cultures, this article explores our attempts to understand what conducting 'research with responsibility' means as White, settler-coloniser, immigrant women researching surfing, place and community in Aotearoa New Zealand. Taking inspiration from Hamilton's 'intersectional reflexivity' and Māori feminist scholars' discussion of (de)colonizing methodologies, we discuss the development of our intersectional, collaborative methodology to understand our relationships to place, community and surfing. This co-ethnographic approach helped us navigate the ethics and challenges of knowledge production in Aotearoa New Zealand, and enabled us to be aware of, and open to, different worldviews and ways of knowing. We argue this methodology has value in developing better recognition of our own privileges; understanding of the intersectional politics-of-place we are part of as researchers, and as community members; and of the assumptions, motivations and values that inform our research practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The urban knowledge network in China has undergone in-depth development in recent decades, intimately connecting the position characteristics of cities in the knowledge network to their knowledge production performance. While existing research focuses predominantly on the unidirectional relationship between network position and the knowledge production of cities, there is a notable dearth of studies exploring the bidirectional relationship between the two constructs. By proposing a conceptual framework, this paper empirically examines the interplay between network position and knowledge production of cities through simultaneous equation models. The results revealed a mutually reinforcing relationship between network position and knowledge production, and this relationship exhibits heterogeneous characteristics and spillover effects. Specifically, cities in the periphery block and the central-western region benefit more from the effect of network position on knowledge production, while cities in the core block and the eastern region benefit more from the effect of knowledge production on network position. Moreover, the interactive effect between network position and knowledge production of cities is significantly affected by the network position characteristics and knowledge production performance of their neighboring cities in geographically adjacent regions and relationally adjacent regions. These findings enhance the understanding of urban network externalities and the connotations of the knowledge production function. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aiming to broaden and diversify knowledge about the origins of journalism studies, this article proposes a longitudinal examination of research on the press and journalists produced in Brazil, from the 1840s to the 1940s. It is shown that the first intellectuals interested in investigating the subject were doctors, engineers, jurists and theologians, as well as self-taught. Instead of simply classifying the production of this dilettante group under the label of "Whig history," the study intends to understand the meaning and role that they, in common, attributed to journalism: the beacon of a young nation in progress. The analysis of the set of historical accounts identifies an approach that is at the same time liberal — as it frames absolutist Portugal as the main obstacle to the introduction of the press in Colonial Brazil — and nativist — as it overestimates the development of Brazilian journalism during the period of the Empire, equating it with the British and French cases. Ultimately, these reactions to colonial powers could be seen as early impulses to current efforts to decolonize the field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper highlights how researchers are subjugated through hegemonic academic norms and how they simultaneously recognize the privileges attached to their subject positions. I illustrate difficulties in negotiating my privileges, particularly of caste, and my experiences of marginalisation as a ‘third world woman’ in the European academy. Such competitive insecurity is illustrative of both neoliberal logics of enterprise and responsibility as well as caste-based logics of merit and deservingness. Academia as a field of knowledge production historically consolidates power in the hands of a shrinking set of elites. Attitudes of competition and uncertainty produce subjects that turn to selfinterested modes of acquiring and analysing data, thereby producing hegemonic knowledges, which ignores the situatedness and politics of the research context. Caste is addressed together with gender, coloniality, ability, sexuality and ethnicity (among other subjectivities) as an intersectional co-producer of exclusion. Invoking caste-based imperialist logics is essential for unpacking the privileged subjectivities that produce elitism and exclusion in academia and in knowledge production.

There is a reciprocity between architecture production and urban publics, especially clear in times of professional crisis. For O.M.Ungers, Berlin served as a model for novel themes in a period when representations and demands of social groups were appearing in the urban realm. These challenged the Welfare State and the architecture production enmeshed with it. In a fragmented urban landscape, the urban villa introduced customized objects as “prototypes for inner city residences” (Ungers at al., 1978). Together with the more notorious Green Archipelago in the same year, the urban villa was the product of a Cornell Summer Academy that was premised on the manifest shortcomings of mass housing. Its participants in 1978 were avid observers of the material evidence that contemporary Berlin presented. Ungers was himself eager to re-legitimize his architectural practice after the crisis of mass housing in the same city during the late 1960s. The accompanying text, The Urban Villa, refers to a “personalization of lifestyle” and the “shift from the dependant tenant to the independant home owner”: a suburbanization of the already insular, provincial city? an early vehicle for Postmodernism? The interpretation of Berlin’s distressed urban condition certainly owes to experiences that Ungers had made in a geographical and a professional distance over the past decade. His gaze was conditioned by a distinctly different professional, social and cultural context that Cornell University and New York City had exposed him to since leaving Berlin to teach abroad. Yet structural changes affected cities and urban governance on both sides of the North Atlantic. In Ungers’s case, the ‘American’ experience can be argued as informing a novel reading of the fragmented Berlin. Which architectural agency can be related to knowledge derived from an urban realm that is itself changing? If anything, the two Summer Academies organized by Ungers and his colleagues from Cornell University offer a lens to look at how external forces condition the knowledge acquired by architects.

This omnibus paper brings together a number of esteemed editors and associate editors in order to share a variety of perspectives on academic publishing within the marketing discipline. Together, they provide glimpses into current thinking on some of the most pressing and current debates which we are struggling with, for example: impact, originality, bias, alienation, and the need for communities of thought. Polyvocally, this omnibus reflects on the many failures of our discipline and provides some routes forward in reframing our field's epistemic assumptions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Participants in open collaboration communities coproduce knowledge despite minimal explicit communication to coordinate the efforts. Studying how participants coordinate around the knowledge artifact and its impacts are critical for understanding the open knowledge production model. This study builds on the theory of stigmergy, wherein actions performed by a participant leave traces on a knowledge artifact and stimulate succeeding actions. We find that stigmergy involves two intertwined processes: collective modification and collective excitation. We propose a new measure of stigmergy based on the spatial and temporal clustering of contributions. By analyzing thousands of Wikipedia articles, we find that the degree of stigmergy is positively associated with community members' participation and the quality of the knowledge produced. This study contributes to the understanding of open collaboration by characterizing the spatial-temporal clustering of contributions and providing new insights into the relationship between stigmergy and knowledge production outcomes. These findings can help practitioners increase user engagement in knowledge production processes in order to create more sustainable open collaboration communities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract This paper examines how forced migrants integrate individual perception, interpersonal exchange, and extended networks to navigate the naturalization process. By bringing together these three methods of knowledge creation and exchange, we aim to clarify how these strategies interact and overlap to manage uncertainties stemming from naturalization bureaucracy, a complex and often opaque process. Drawing on personal accounts of 30 Syrians in Berlin and analysis of approximately 100 social media posts, our findings illustrate that these methods could be employed concurrently or interchangeably and on the whole in a symbiotic manner, offering migrants multiple pathways to acquire and (in)validate crucial information. Although this synthesis of knowledge production methods is not necessarily conducive to accessing the right in question, in our case naturalization, it becomes necessary to arrive at “informed” decision-making in uncertain environments characterized by low level of trust and asymmetrical power relations. The paper therefore contributes to broader discussions on migrants’ navigation of legal systems and coping mechanisms in the face of bureaucratic hurdles.

Disaster scholarship purportedly promotes disaster risk reduction and resists disaster risk creation, thereby deeply engaging with transboundary existential risks, justice, and political power. It is thus a commitment to humanity, and for it to become truly equitable and just, solidarity must lie at its heart. In this paper we connect solidarity with knowledge production and assess the implications of disaster scholarship and the relationships on which it is built. We offer a critique of the kind of research produced by neoliberal academic institutions and provocations for resistance through solidarity. We call on disaster scholars to use these prompts to reflect on their practice, research ethics, and their commitment to other human beings, inside and outside of the academy. Solidarity can help scholars to avoid the saviourism, self‐congratulation, and paternalism that are common in academia. Solidarity in disaster scholarship is a worthy endeavour precisely because it yields a concrete alternative vision of resisting disaster risk creation through knowledge production. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines how forced migrants integrate individual perception, interpersonal exchange, and extended networks to navigate the naturalization process. By bringing together these three methods of knowledge creation and exchange, we aim to clarify how these strategies interact and overlap to manage uncertainties stemming from naturalization bureaucracy, a complex and often opaque process. Drawing on personal accounts of 30 Syrians in Berlin and analysis of approximately 100 social media posts, our findings illustrate that these methods could be employed concurrently or interchangeably and on the whole in a symbiotic manner, offering migrants multiple pathways to acquire and (in)validate crucial information. Although this synthesis of knowledge production methods is not necessarily conducive to accessing the right in question, in our case naturalization, it becomes necessary to arrive at "informed" decision-making in uncertain environments characterized by low level of trust and asymmetrical power relations. The paper therefore contributes to broader discussions on migrants' navigation of legal systems and coping mechanisms in the face of bureaucratic hurdles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores the case of the migration studies industry in Turkey, which has flourished over the past decade, through an examination of knowledge production on refugee labour. Focusing on research about Syrian refugees' labour and employment in Turkey between 2012 and 2018, the article discusses the ways in which refugee labour is articulated and studied to provide ground for a wider critique of migration-related knowledge production. This study aims to reflexively question academic outputs by (1) exploring the conceptual frames used broadly in research on refugee labour, and (2) developing an overview of the literature on Turkey with a focus on this topic. Through the case of the literature on refugee labour in Turkey, we explore the underlying political economy premises of migration research. This case serves as an example to argue that knowledge produced in a Southern context is mainly incorporated as case studies despite attempts to advance theoretical discussions, highlighting a North–South hierarchization of knowledge. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reflexive Migration Studies has emerged as a subfield of Migration Studies. Drawing on moral economy perspectives, we explore how the entanglement of, and tensions between, moral and economic rationalities shape the development of a field of knowledge production in which we ourselves partake. Clearly, Reflexive Migration Studies has not emerged in a vacuum but through socio-material practices and in a specific scientific context and community. Using the case of the Migration Studies landscape in Germany, we suggest that a moral economies perspective allows us to examine the production of knowledge infrastructures, scholarly identities, and research outputs that are key in creating a new academic field. By scrutinizing these infrastructures, identities, and outputs, we point to tensions between some of the morally charged claims and the material conditions and labour contexts of doing Reflexive Migration Studies. With our contribution, we want to raise questions regarding the direction that we, as scholars participating in the field, are taking. We see the risk that the critique brought forward in Reflexive Migration Studies falters in light of prevailing economies of scientific knowledge production and academic labour. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As a pandemic‐era collaborative writing project undertaken amid rising geopolitical tensions, this article demonstrates understanding humor in contemporary China as an ethnographic project leading toward deep, empathetic knowledge at a time when in‐person fieldwork became difficult. Through deciphering and translating layered meanings "encrypted" in and intentions signaled by humor in a new comedy program launched in 2021, we dive deep into the lively social life in contemporary China. Humor, via "thick description," offers valuable insights into life in "fieldsites" that were hard to access during the pandemic time, amid political tensions. It provides a unique lens to examine the unspoken but shared sentiments in societies where humor has become a fundamental mode of public expression. It alerts us to existential anxieties in social life, the subtle voices of social critique, and the yearning for empathy. Humor is not only a valuable object for anthropological inquiry but also a vantage point to reflect on ethnographic methodology and epistemology. We examine humor, with its sentimental and ethical potentialities, and through spontaneous collaboration of mutual support, envision new possibilities in anthropological knowledge production. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China has a rich Central Asia studies literature and in recent years, it has seen an expansion in the number of research institutions with a regional focus. We apply a Structural Topic Model, a quantitative method that estimates thematic prevalence through machine learning, to analyse publications on Central Asia in Chinese academic and specialist journals to show how the field has evolved over time. Aside from the methodological contribution we offer an original dataset of 10,563 publications scraped from China's CNKI database. We test our strategy on two assumptions in Western literature on Chinese academics' understanding of Central Asia: (1) China's research institutes are primarily concerned with economics and (2) China's thinking on strategic regions is lacking in local context, unique cultural concepts and insights. We argue that while China's scholarship on the region is often Sinocentric, some research shows diversity and nuance, with more analytical depth that has been traditionally understood. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper contributes to a better understanding of a system of pandemic knowledge exchanges. Therefore, three different case studies conducted in Germany, Greece, and Turkiye and executed in multiple countries were analyzed in the context of Mode 3 knowledge production and the Quintuple Helix system. While the Quintuple Helix system describes the knowledge exchange processes between the systems of science, economy, politics, public, and natural environment of societies for sustainable innovation processes, Mode 3 emphasizes the importance of a creative environment for research and innovation. The COVID-19 pandemic revealed that the need for knowledge exchange with the media-based public increased dramatically. In both models, Mode 3 and the Quintuple Helix but also in the Design Thinking approach, the creative environment incorporates the knowledge of the media-based public. Nonetheless, the reality of the public is constructed as media reality. Therefore, a mix of evidence-based and opinion-based knowledge is produced and transferred during knowledge exchange in the context of innovation processes including public engagement. It could be understood that the mediating entities media and general practitioners have a similar double function in the context of knowledge exchange with the public during the pandemic times. The results reveal the big need for knowledge communication and exchange platforms which on the one hand strengthen citizen participation by transforming opinion-based into evidence-based content. On the other hand, reach the status of a global standard medium for the pandemic knowledge exchange accepted by all stakeholders of the Quintuple Helix. This generates a shared-knowledge environment with a gain for all systems of the Quintuple Helix during the sustainable innovation processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Based on a bibliometric analysis of Scopus‐indexed articles on decolonial research on migration from Social Science disciplines this article outlines the main topics covered by the sampled literature, namely: (1) the academic migration as framed by the internationalization discourse in higher education; (2) migrants' social movements and their transnational dimension; (3) gender and age in decolonial studies of migration; (4) the ways in which intersectionality shapes migrants' experiences through their class, race, gender and sexual orientation; and (5) critique of humanitarian discourse regarding refugees and asylum seekers. The article shows that type of literature first emerged in 2010 and significantly increased after 2020. Likewise, the geographic distribution of the knowledge production in this field highlights the uneven contributions by various countries and regions. Moreover, this picture is further complicated by the biographies of authors who, in many instances, are academic migrants coming from different national backgrounds in the Global South to work in higher education institutions in the Global North. The article ends with suggestions for further developments of the decolonial approach in the study of migration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Transdisciplinarity is an integrative approach that includes different scientific disciplines as well as stakeholders and researchers to tackle both societal and scientific challenges. Since standards are jointly developed by science, business, and other stakeholders, standardization can be perceived as a specific mode of transdisciplinarity. In the discussion on knowledge transfer as a further performance dimension for researchers, participation in standardization procedures is now also being considered as a further channel, albeit without a sound conceptual and empirical basis. The paper thus aims to provide a conceptual base of standardization as a transdisciplinary knowledge production mode and transfer channel but also gives an outlook on its empirical implementation. The literature review on transdisciplinarity helps us to put standardization into the context of transdisciplinary research and to present a conceptual model of standardization as transdisciplinary knowledge production and transfer. Further, we present the first methodological approaches for the empirical analysis of the transdisciplinary character of standardization. Finally, we conclude with a summary, a number of recommendations derived from transdisciplinary research for standardization, and an outlook toward future research to be tackled with the proposed methodologies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There are prominent stories in the media, as well as countless personal stories in the greater Muslim community, of white people whose response to Islamophobia, for varying reasons, has been not to reject Islam but to embrace it. The contradictory nature of this response reinforces the complexity of knowledge production and the critical subject in the post 9-11 world. The rejection of the media narratives both undermines the perceived power of Islamophobia, as well as highlighting the tendency of Islamophobic representations of Islam and Muslims to drive people towards Islam rather than away from it. Using a case series, this article seeks to explore the connection between Islamophobia as a media and societal narrative and the conversion stories of white converts post 9-11. The hypothesis of the article is that the violence of Islamophobic rhetoric is a form of knowledge production that regularly produces the opposite effect that it intends in white people, due to its tendency towards misinformation and misrepresentation of Islam and Muslims. As part of the discussion of the case series, the article seeks to illuminate connections between anti-racism and the stories of white converts to further clarify the nature of their path of conversion to Islam and the impact of Islamophobia on white converts self-understanding. The article also explores the consequence of anti-racist white converts producing pro-Islamic narratives following their rejection of Islamophobic tropes, memes, and disinformation as a form of knowledge production functioning as resistance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The 2006 Turkish Seed Law prohibited the selling of uncertified heirloom seeds, triggering heated debates on and around seeds. This paper examines the construction of discourses on heirloom seeds in Türkiye, focusing on the arguments of the key social actors in the field with a view to understand how knowledge production is taking place on seed. Conducting interviews with key state and non-state actors and analyzing their published documents related to heirloom seed through discourse-historical approach, we examined the argumentative perspectives shaping the discourse on seed. The results revealed a discursive dichotomy constructed between "heirloom seed" and "certified hybrid seeds". In particular, built on commercial and food security concerns, the state discourse frames heirloom seeds as low-yield and unable to feed the nation in comparison to certified hybrid seeds, whereas non-state discourse using the perspectives of agrobiodiversity and farmers' sovereignty construct heirloom seeds with superior features, qualifying them as compatible with biodiversity and the current global and regional economic, environmental and climate problems. The study concludes that different perspectives and interests produced contradictory knowledge about seed (hence food) and caused different realities to exist simultaneously within this knowledge. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Language shapes diverse cultures and creates natural barriers between human societies. The landscape of nonprofit and philanthropic studies in non-English languages is barely charted, impeding the globalization of this research field. This project (a) describes the topics shared between English and Chinese scholarship on nonprofits and philanthropy and (b) explores why English scholarship is cited in Chinese journal articles from five aspects: rationale of scholarship, novelty, relevance, social network, and reputation. The English articles cited by Chinese scholars tend to: (a) focus on instrumentality but not expressive values, (b) develop rather than disrupt existing paradigms, and (c) be relevant to topics popular in Chinese literature and have authors with Chinese scholarly connections. In general, Chinese scholars tend to cite English articles that are value-neutral, non-disruptive, and native. Theoretical and methodological implications for examining nonprofit studies in other languages are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Discipline construction knowledge emergence and complex situations in the digital era have brought many challenges to the theory and practice of design including how to master more challenging and disruptive technologies than in the past and how to use system thinking to cope with sustainable and digital transformation. However there are still many uncertainties and understanding deviations in the existing epistemology and knowledge models. As the basis for the construction of design practice and design theory such issues as what is the knowledge scope of design research in what sense should design research engage in knowledge production and how the knowledge form produced is accepted by the current scientific system need further discussion. This article aimed to analyze the knowledge understanding of different positions including empiricism rationalism criticism constructivism etc. through the methods of literature analysis and conceptual deduction so as to clarify the basic concepts and type characteristics of design knowledge. Secondly combined with the disciplinary challenges faced by current design research the development problems of theory and practice in existing design research were analyzed. Finally according to the type characteristics of design knowledge and the development problems of design research corresponding strategies were proposed to provide new theoretical references for design research and its knowledge production in the context of interdisciplinary studies so as to optimize the development of design research. Design has an inherent interdisciplinary attribute. Almost all design activities are in a certain interdisciplinary relationship from the beginning. Products or services that have an impact on human life are created by gathering and integrating knowledge from other disciplines. It is necessary to discuss design research in the context of interdisciplinary studies. The historical reconstruction of the debate on design knowledge shows that design is "a collection of knowledge of material culture experience planning invention manufacturing and artistic understanding" which is different from the scientific collection based on observation measurement hypothesis and testing and the humanistic collection based on contemplation criticism evaluation and discourse interpretation. It is "the third Rs" outside the two knowledge fields of science and humanities. The field specificity of the design discipline also shows that design knowledge is a type of knowledge with a mixed nature including experience information memory skills and other contents which is different from the traditional binary understanding of theoretical knowledge and practical knowledge. However in design research research and design are often regarded as two concepts. Whether it is "research for design" "research into design" or "research through design" the theory and practice of design are not regarded as a holistic knowledge. The purpose of design research tends to be single-minded towards theory or practice and even design is just a tool to be applied. Research and design are regarded to have a relationship of inclusion and being included. This has led to the knowledge goals and paradigms of design research lagging behind the challenges of intervening in complex situations and being unable to adapt to the current development needs of knowledge and knowledge production. Some designers and researchers have begun to seek refuge in various "fashionable" social science and natural science theories and have lost confidence in driving other disciplines in interdisciplinary collaboration. In the face of this problem this article proposes a strategy "integrating research with design" advocating that design and research be considered on an equal footing to optimize the knowledge production of design research. On the one hand in the process of knowledge production "making" is used as the basis of research to connect the knowledge production in design research. It is necessary to consider "making" itself as a kind of knowledge and establish the connection between technical research cultural ethics social responsibility and innovation through this kind of manufacturing knowledge action so that design and research can be constructed into a continuous knowledge whole in action on the other hand in the form of knowledge production it is advocated to map various emotions experiences actions aesthetics and other heterogeneous knowledge into carriers such as text language images and audio through multimedia forms such as video papers sensory ethnography and design artifacts "encapsulate" research and creation theory and experiment realize the unity of theory and practice and let the knowledge of design research be spread and shared in a wider scientific system so as to promote the development of design research. This article proposes the strategy of "integrating research with design" advocates treating practice and research equally and breaks the traditional dual epistemology of design practice and theoretical research. Starting from design itself design research and its actions are regarded as a knowledge whole. At the same time it emphasizes connecting heterogeneous knowledge with different media breaking through the boundaries of knowledge and turning research into a meaningful and valuable practice. Although specific paths and practices need to be further clarified this mixed-type strategy of design research is being widely discussed and gradually accepted and may form a new tradition in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While previous studies have mainly emphasised the role of structural factors in explaining how and why Chinese environmental NGOs (ENGOs) have become more engaged in policy advocacy since the early 2000s, this study offers an alternative perspective on these dynamics by adopting an organisational learning framework. Through in-depth case studies, we identify the production and application of knowledge – specifically regarding the significance, viability, and practical expertise of policy advocacy – as a pivotal driver that compels organisations to proactively engage in policy advocacy. Moreover, we delineate two primary approaches to organisational learning used by ENGOs – intra-organisational learning and trans-organisational learning – and illustrate their internal mechanisms. This study also underscores the significance of individual learning by organisational leaders in the Chinese context, which occurs in parallel with collective learning at the group level. This article thereby enriches our understanding of the trajectory of environmental activism in contemporary China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Narratives about children whose parents have migrated exhibit a common global trend, with these children and their families being widely pathologised, creating a stereotyped image of this group. Hence, it is timely and necessary to interrogate the category construction of left-behind children and the politics surrounding the knowledge produced. This article explores the global construction and widespread stigmatisation of left-behind children through the lens of a postcolonial critique and criticises the hegemonic notion of childhood promoted primarily by the Global North. It then explores the indigenous category of 'liushou children' for left-behind children in China – revealing its cultural expectations and Indigenous construction. Although the pathologisation of such children occurs in both global and indigenous dimensions, the understanding and causation of such pathologisation differs since diverse actors often present different understandings of this phenomenon, which refract different expectations, moral and value judgements, or political motivations. Therefore, this article calls for research on the lives of these children in the context of global economic and social structural shifts and how these are reshaped in local and national dimensions. In so doing, it provides insights into ongoing debates on the politics and ethics of knowledge production in childhood studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the spring of 2023, the ninth European Conference on African Studies (ECAS) took place in Cologne. Though not unexpected (or unusual) this event sparked critical comments and questions. As the organisers, we understand and appreciate this criticism. We, therefore, felt the need to respond to at least some of them, partly because we also asked ourselves many of these questions before, during, and after the conference. At the same time, we want to call for a certain degree of pragmatism when it comes to organising an event this size by providing a look behind the scenes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Chinese Educators, referred to as Jiaoyujia (教育家) in Chinese, are esteemed individuals dedicated to education with extensive expertise in theory and practice. Despite their influential pedagogical research, they have received limited scholarly attention. This study aimed to fill the gap by focusing on Jilin Li's (李吉林) contextualized teaching research informed by Chinese educational traditions. Design/Approach/Methods: A case study format was adopted, and data were thematically analyzed using NVivo 12. In light of Kuan-Hsing Chen's "Asia as method" idea, the analysis drew particular attention to the Asian resources employed in the pedagogical studies of interest. Findings: Focusing on how Educators utilize diverse educational traditions, this paper presents three functions of Chinese educational traditions applicable to Li's case. The chosen case study demonstrates that elements of Chinese educational traditions still actively inform Educators working in a modern Western-style education system. This paper analyzes how Li combined Chinese and foreign traditions and reveals an element of subjectivity with its own strengths and deficiencies. Originality/Value: This study is the first to present and analyze the phenomenon of Chinese educational traditions informing pedagogical studies conducted by Chinese Educators, an influential group that scholars usually overlook in modern China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores the transformative potential of multiple, more complex decolonial paths in design practice. Through a recap of persistent tendencies in design discourse, such as universalization, rooted within coloniality and a European/Western dominant design paradigm, I advocate for a nuanced understanding of commonality and difference in our designing. Bringing the focus to praxis, I draw from examples in my design practice and pedagogy, highlighting the significance of personal reflexivity in challenging conventional design ideals and a mostly singular design history, while underscoring the importance of incorporating personal history, the history of the place, and its conditions to weave decolonial paths toward conviviality and the sustainment of life. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article addresses the contextual ambiguity prevalent in the literature surrounding the conceptualizations of a knowledge society. By identifying and clarifying these conceptual challenges, the research aims to provide a solid foundation for understanding the factors influencing the emergence of a knowledge society. The objectives include presenting a clear and comprehensive representation of the multifaceted elements that contribute to this societal transition. Methodologically, a quantitative approach is employed using a regression analysis. The originality of this research lies in its endeavor to develop new perspectives and insights into the catalysts behind the emergence of a knowledge society. By addressing the existing gaps in the literature and employing advanced quantitative methods, the study contributes to the ongoing discourse on the transition to knowledge societies. Practical implications of the research are also developed. The findings offer guidance for policymakers, educators, and stakeholders involved in shaping societal structures, emphasizing actionable insights derived from the identified catalysts. In terms of contribution, this paper provides a nuanced understanding of the factors influencing the knowledge society emergence. By synthesizing empirical evidence with theoretical frameworks, it not only advances academic discourse but also practitioners with valuable insights for informed decision-making in an era characterized by rapid societal transformation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents and autoethnographically analyzes three key sites in which the author—a Lebanese "Arabo-Muslim man"—failed to interpellate the lifeworlds of Lebanese "Arabo-Muslim" female participants during a research project in Lebanon: the public-private divide, gender, and the autonomous subject. Specifically, the article identifies key forces that produce this failure, including education, presence in the Westernized university, Westernized secularization, social class, family background, and urbanity, all situated within the larger structures of modernity/coloniality. Doing this, the article grates against the assumption that researchers who share a "race," citizenship, language, or ethnicity and who are "from" the Arab region are de facto well placed to pursue decolonial knowledge production alongside the region and its dwellers. The article consequently posits the possibility of unlearning and relearning—disrupting this failure—through immersive embodied listening fieldwork within the material space of the Arab world, undoing the formation of an alienated, fractured, Westernized self. Moving beyond the cognitive and theoretical to the material, experiential, and embodied, the article accordingly underlines reflexive listening fieldwork's potential as a generative site (among others) from which alternative knowledges of/with/on the global South(s) can emerge. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the critical shift in geographical knowledge production under the increasingly authoritarian political regime in Turkey, particularly in the aftermath of the unsuccessful 2016 coup attempt. In this context, semi-structured interviews were conducted with sixteen young geographers who experienced the authoritarian shift in the political regime during their graduate studies. The narratives of the interviewees indicate that the young geographers have undergone a critical transformation with two significant aspects: firstly, they reject the traditional style of geographical knowledge production and instead embrace approaches integrated with social theory, drawing from the extensive portfolio of contemporary geography. Secondly, they approach socio-spatial phenomena in a libertarian and critical manner, distinct from the lenses of the authoritarian system. However, due to their legitimate concerns, they often refrain from presenting such research on academic platforms. In this regard, under an authoritarian regime, the critical transformation consists of two dimensions: the arena where geographical products are shared, and the underground, where geographical ‘black boxes’ are held and kept hidden from public view. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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