Social Impact and Forms of Interaction between University Research and Society in Humanities and Social Sciences

This article addresses social impact of universities and investigates different forms of interaction between university researchers and other societal stakeholders. By means of analysing research activities in three fields of study, i.e., Finno-Ugric and Baltic-Finnish languages, multidisciplinary urban studies and research on learning difficulties, the article contributes to the current debate on the third mission of the university and the related attempts to develop indicators measuring the societal impact of universities. Besides delineating ways in which university research is interlinked with larger societal developments, the article analyses in detail the specific forms and means of interaction used by academic researchers and other social actors. It also discusses the societal impact of the research activities and suggests that quantitative assessment procedures should be supplemented with qualitative analysis and expert commentary to provide more adequate basis for university policy-making.