Kerstin Sahlin

Kerstin Sahlin är seniorprofessor i företagsekonomi, särskilt offentlig organisation, vid Uppsala universitet. Hon har varit 3:e vice preses vid Kungl. Vetenskapsakademien, huvudsekreterare för humaniora och samhällsvetenskap vid Vetenskapsrådet samt prorektor för Uppsala universitet och leder för närvarande ett internationellt jämförande projekt om kollegial styrning av högre utbildning och forskning. Sedan 2019 är hon styrelseordförande för forskningsprogrammet WASP-HS.

Kerstin Sahlin har skrivit ett stort antal böcker och artiklar, huvudsakligen om reformer och ledning i offentlig sektor, projektorganisation, spridning av managementidéer samt utvecklingen av globala standarder och regelsystem. Hon leder för närvarande ett internationellt jämförande projekt om kollegial styrning av högre utbildning och forskning.

Kerstin Sahlin har tidigare bland annat varit 3e vice preses för Kungl. Vetenskapsakademien (2019 - 2022), huvudsekreterare för humaniora och samhällsvetenskap vid Vetenskapsrådet (2013 - 2018), prorektor för Uppsala universitet (2006 - 2011), professor vid Stockholms universitet, föreståndare för Stockholms centrum för forskning om offentlig sektor (SCORE) samt tillförordnad professor och sektionschef vid Handelshögskolan i Stockholm (1992-1994). Under 2012 - 2018 var hon inspektor för Östgöta nation. Hon har därtilll haft en rad nationella och internationella vetenskapliga uppdrag.

För närvarande är hon styrelseordförande för forskningsprogrammet WASP-HS (Wallenberg AI, Autonomous systems and Software program - Humanities and Society). Hon är ledamot av Kungl. Vetenskapsakademien, Kungl. Vitterhetsakademien, Kungl. Ingenjörsvetenskapsakademien, Kungl. Vetenskapssocieteten i Uppsala och Kungl. Vetenskapssamhället i Uppsala. Kerstin Sahlin disputerade i företagsekonomi vid Umeå universitet 1986.

Academic Degrees

Professor in Business Administration, Public Management 1997
Docent in Business Administration, Stockholm School of Economics 1990
PhD in Business Administration, Umeå University 1986
Bachelor of Science, Umeå University 1979

Academic Appointments

Senior professor in Business Studies, Public Management, Uppsala University 2022 - Professor in Business Studies, Public Management, Uppsala University 2000 - 2022. Deputy vice-chancellor of Uppsala University 2006 - 2011. Professor 2 (adjunct position) in Management, Bodø Graduate School of Business, 2003 - 2006
Professor in Business Administration: Public Management, Stockholm University 1997 - 2000
Research leader at Score (Stockholm Center for Organizational Research), Stockholm University, 1998 - 2001
Visiting professor in management, Uppsala University 1998 - 2000
Director of Score, Stockholm University 1994 - 1998
Acting Chair in Public Management, Stockholm School of Economics, 1992 - 1994
Researcher and lecturer at Stockholm School of Economics, 1986 - 1998
Lecturer at Swedish School of Economics and Business Administration, Helsinki, Finland, 1990
Lecturer at Dep. of Business Studies, Uppsala University, 1986 - 1990
Lecturer at Åbo Akademi, Turku, Finland, 1988
Doctoral Student (combined with position as extra lecturer) at Dep. of Business Administration, Umeå University 1979 - 1986

Professional activities

Academic leadership positions 3rd vice president of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences 2019 - 2022, Secretary General of Humanities and Social Sciences at the Swedish Research Council 2013 - 2018

Membership of boards and scientific bodies Chair of WASP-HS (Wallenberg AI, Autonomous Systems and Software program - humanities and society 2019 - , Chair of ALLEA ERA working group 2021 - , Chair of HERO (Higher Education and Research as an object of study), Uppsala University 2021 - , Chair of WOMHER (Uppsala University's Center for Women's Mental Health) 2020 - , Member of board of Umeå University 2020 - , Member of board of NIFU (Nordic Institute for studies in Innovation, Research and Education) 2019 - 2021 Chair of NORFACE (New opportunity for Research Funding Agency Cooperation in Europe) 2015 - 2018 Member of Sida scientific advisory board 2013 - 2018 Member of Coimbra group Executive board 2009- 2011 Member of board of University of Oslo 2009 – 2012, Member of board of the Southern African-Noric Centre (SANORD) 2007 - 2011
Member of the SNS (Centre for Business and Policy Studies) board of trustees of (2002 - ), Member of the executive board of SNS (2006 - 2010), Member of the presidium 2018 -
Member of board of Copenhagen Business School (CBS) (2003 – 2007)
Member of the Social Science Faculty board, Uppsala University (2005-2006)
Swedish representative in European Science Foundation’s (ESF) Standing Committee for the Social Sciences (SCSS) 2001 – 2006, and member of the core group of SCSS 2004 – 2006
Member of The Scientific Council for Humanities and the Social Sciences, Swedish Research Council, and chair of the Scientific Evaluation Committee for the Economic Sciences, 2001 –2006
Member of the Scientific Evaluation Committee for the Economic Sciences, The Research Council for the Humanities and Social Sciences (HSFR) 1998 - 2000
Member of the board of European Group for Organization Studies (EGOS) 2000 -2003
Member of the board of Scandinavian Academy of Management 1997 – 2004 (Chairman 2002 – 2003)
Member of the board of Scandinavian Consortium for Organizational Research (Scancor) 1997 – 2001
Member of the board of Södertörn University College 1997 – 2003
Member of the establishing and organizing committee of Södertörn University College 1994 – 1997
Member of the board of the Baltic Sea Region Foundation 2000 – 2005, Chairman of the Scientific committee of the board of the Baltic Sea Region Foundation 2002 – 2004
Chair of the scientific advisory board of the Institute of Contemporary History at Södertörn University College 1999 - 2004
Member of the Standing Working Group on Globalization, the Swedish Council for Planning and Coordination of Research (FRN), 1999 – 2000
Member of the board of Stockholm Center for Organizational Research (Score) 1994 – 2001
Member of the Social Science Faculty board, Stockholm University (1997-1999)
Vice Chair of the board of the Department of Business Studies, Uppsala University 1999 - 2002
Member of the scientific advisory board of the Swedish National Audit Office 2003 – 2006
Member of the scientific advisory board of The Swedish National Financial Management Authority (ESV) 1999 – 2000
Chair of the evaluation committee of service management at the research council for working life 1993 - 1995
Member of the Swedish Parliamentary Committee on Public Management 1995 – 1997
Visiting scholar at Scancor, Stanford University, during periods of 2 – 6 weeks in 1989, 1992, 1994, 1995, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2004

International expert assignments (selected)
Member of ALLEA working group Horizon Europe 2017 - 2021, Chair of Expert Advisory Group for Societal Challenge 6, Horizon Europe 2016 - 2018, Chair of expert evaluation of Norwegian social science research institutes 2016 - 2017, Member of review panel of German excellence initiative Member of evaluation team of The International Max Planck Research School, Köln 2011
Member of Institutional Review team of University College Dublin 2011
Member of Research Assessment team of Department of Management, Politics and Philosophy at CBS 2010
Member of expert committee for evaluation of the business education at the university college of Bodö, 1999
Reviewer of research applications in Norway and Finland 2000 – 2013

Editorial assignments
Member of editorial board of Organization studies (2002 – 2008)
Member of editorial board of Scandinavian Journal of Management (2002 – 2009)
Member of editorial board of Journal of Management Inquiry (2003 – 2008)
Member of editorial board of Research in the Sociology of Organizations (2005-)
Member of editorial board of Regulation and Governance (2006 – 2009)
Member of the editorial board of International Review of Administrative Sciences (2000 – 2005)
Co-editor of the Nordic Journal Nordiske organisasjonsstudier 1998 – 2004

Elected member of learned societies

Member of The Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering Sciences (since 2010)
Member of The Royal Academy of Letters, History and Antiquities (since 2006)
Member of The Royal Academy of Arts and Sciences of Uppsala (since 2006)
Member of The Royal Society of Sciences in Uppsala (since 2002)

Elected member of student nations

Inspector of Östgöta student nation 2012 - 2018 Honorary member of Stockholm student nation
Honorary member of Östgöta student nation

Research interests

Transnational governance
Public management reforms
Management ideas and their circulation
Governance and management of health care and universities
Corporate social responsibility
Relations between public and private spheres of society
Business and media

Large external research grants

Governance, organization and democracy in health care networks (SOND), networking money, Swedish Council for Working life and Social Research, 2005
Public – private partnerships (with Ulrika Mörth), The Swedish Emergency Management Agency 2001 and 2006
The interplay of an activated state control and professionalization: changing institutional conditions for Swedish Schools, The Swedish research council and Swedish Council for Working life and Social Research 2004
Between public and private: Democratic governance in health care networks (MOD), Swedish Research Council 2003
Global Enterprises, Mediators and Society (GEMS) (with Lars Engwall and Bengt Jacobsson), The Bank of Sweden Tercentenary Foundation, 2002
The pursuit of transparency, The federation of Swedish county councils 2001

Teaching experience (main areas)

Organization theory: courses for doctoral students, master students and undergraduates (Umeå University 1979 – 86, Uppsala University 1986 – 88, 1998 – 2010, Åbo Akademi 1988, Swedish School of Economics and Business Administration 1990, Stockholm School of Economics 1986 – 2001, Stockholm University 1996 – 2001). As chair in organization theory at Uppsala University I carried the main responsibility for courses in organization theory on all levels 1991 - 2006.

Institutional theory: courses for master students and doctoral students (Stockholm University 1996 – 2001, Stockholm School of Economics 1990 – 2001, Uppsala University 1998 – 2011). Co-author of textbook in institutional theory 2011.

Public administration and public management (including special courses on organizational reforms, evaluations, leadership etc.): courses for master students, undergraduate students and doctoral students and shorter courses for practitioners 1982 - 2011. Director of master program in public management for state officials, 1991 – 1992.

Qualitative methods: courses for undergraduate students, master students and doctoral students (Stockholm School of Economics 1990 – 1994, Swedish School of Economics and Business Administration 1990, Uppsala University 1998 – 2010)

Social Science: 1995 – 1997 Chair of the group that initially designed the educational programs in humanities and social science, and an interdisciplinary introductory semester to these programs, at Södertörn University College.

Supervisor for 12 doctoral students through to their doctoral degrees (2 as associate supervisor, 10 as main supervisor)
Opponent at app. 25 doctoral defenses

Academic collegiality: An international comparative project

The higher education and research system is both accommodating and reproducing a continuous dilemma. On the one hand, following Humboldtian ideals, research and higher education is expected to be run by autonomous interrelated academic communities. This is often described as collegial governance. On the other hand, research and higher education is an instrument for the fulfillment of certain goals external to the academic community. Governance and control are then tailored as means to fulfill these. In practice those forms of governance tend to be formed in line with bureaucratic or enterprise models. As a consequence of this continuous dilemma, universities and higher education and system or which they are a part, become meeting points for various governance models. Different ways of governing express different aims of higher education and research and hence different views on what is to be governed, by whom and with what means.

Universities are among the oldest and most sustainable institutions on earth. At the same time, throughout centuries and decades academic systems over the world have experienced recurrent transformations in the way they are governed. These transformations follow societal and political changes, waves of organizational reforms and the erosion of faculty authority. Research on such governance transformations have shown how higher education and research have been subject to rationalization and organizing according to widely spread bureaucratic and enterprise (often also termed as managerial) ideas and ideals. These reforms do not seem to have followed a grand plan but have been introduced piece by piece and they have only partly been tied to changed missions, tasks and roles of research and higher education. Even so, it is clear that changed modes of governance have both been pushed by and led to changes in the missions, roles and tasks of higher education and research. Means of governance change both what is to be governed and by whom.

Studies of individual universities, national university systems and international comparisons have documented and analyzed changes of governance, what drives them and with what consequences. As is the case more generally for studies of changed and reformed governance, we would argue, they focus more on what is new than on what is left behind, dissolved or teared down. Previous and challenged modes of governing are likely to be taken for granted, or referred to as something well known. It may even be the case that the lack of clarifications and analysis of those forms of governance that are being challenged make them less likely to sustain.

Recent changes of university systems, debates on academic freedom, and changing roles of knowledge in society all point to questions regarding how higher education and research should be governed and what role scientists and faculty have. Rationalizations of systems of higher education and research have gone hand in hand with an erosion of faculty authority and challenged academic collegiality. But what is academic collegiality, how can it work in practice, what role do they presuppose for academic faculty in processes of governance and what are the conditions for collegiality to work? We see a need for a more conceptually precise discussion on what academic collegiality is, how it is practiced, how collegial forms of governance may be supported or challenged by other forms of governance and, finally, why collegial governance of higher education and research is important.

The study compares understandings of academic collegiality and collegial procedures across the world. With this study we strive to get insights into procedures that result from the encounter between diverse modes of governing. We conceive of collegiality as an essentially contested concept and already a quick review of what is happening across the world shows that challenges as well as understandings, procedures, context and governance mix vary across the globe. To situate academic collegiality in such diverse setting, to capture the contestations and to develop answers to the questions posed above the project is set up as a thematic comparative project where different study objects are in focus for each empirical study while comparations are done in a continuous dialogue across settings.

The project is led by Kerstin Sahlin, Uppsala university and Ulla Eriksson-Zetterquist, University of Gothenburg.

The international partners are: Francisco Ramirez, Stanford University and Seungah Lee, New York University ; Nico Cloete and Francois Van Schalkwyk, Stellenboch University; Rick Delbridge, University of Cardiff, Paolo Quattrone, University of Manchester and Jakov Jandric, University of Edinburgh; Michael Lounsbury and Logan Crace, University of Alberta and Joel Gehamn The George Washington University; Jean-Louis Denis, University of Montreal and Nancy Côté, Université Laval; Gili Drori, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem and Ravit Mizrahi-Shtelman, Kibbutzin College; Hokyu Hwang, University of New South Wales; Georg Krücken, University of Kassel and Anna Kosmützky, University of Kassel; Simon Marginson, Oxford University; Christine Musselin and Audrey Harroche, Science Po; Pedro Pineda, University of Bath; Paolo Quattrone, University of Manchester; Peter Walgenbach, Friedrich Schiller University of Jena; Wen Wen, Tsinghua University; and Yong Suk Yang, Yonsei University.

Hampus Östh Gustafsson, Johan Boberg, Tina Hedmo and Caroline Waks from Uppsala University also participate in this study.

The project is partly funded by Vetenskapsrådet and by Handelsbankens forskningsstiftelser.