L’histoire face aux financements sur projet : autonomie professionnelle, temporalités et organisation de la recherche

Abstract

This paper aims to analyze how and to what extent the transformations of practices, temporalities and research organization in the field of history are generated by the changes in the way public funds are allocated. In view of the two theses confronted in this matter, stressing on one hand the hypothesis of researcher’s de-professionalization and loss of autonomy, and on the other hand the reorganization of academic professions, the survey conducted in three History labs highlights the fact that there is no single model for adaptation when research teams and academics deal with the rising power of project-based funding. In order to assess these patterns, considering the organizational level turns out to be crucial. Besides, unlike the disciplines requiring expensive experimental equipments, the fact that research in History demands a moderate level of resources, leads historians to make a limited use of project-based funding, which can be considered a strategy of avoidance. This position is also reinforced by the specific system of academic quality evaluation related to the discipline, where individual work and long term investment are significant.

Keywords

• Social Sciences and Humanities
• History laboratories
• project-based funding
• Research Management
• professional autonomy
• academic entrepreneurship