Standing on Shifting Terrain: Faculty Responses to the Transformation of Knowledge and Its Uses in the Life Sciences

Drawing on interviews with more than 80 scientists on two university campuses, we
create a typology that offers insights into how transformations in the nature and
locus of life science innovation influence academic careers and work practices. Our
analyses suggest that a strong outcome of increased academic concern with research
commercialisation is the appearance of new fault lines among faculty, between faculty
and students, and even between scientists’ interests and those of their institutions.
We argue that life science commercialisation is driven by a mix of new funding
opportunities, changing institutional mandates for universities, and novel research
technologies that bring basic research and product development into much closer
contact. The rise of patenting and commercially motivated technology transfer on
U.S. campuses stands to alter faculty work practices and relationships, while transforming
the criteria by which success is determined and rewards are allocated.
Through close analysis of interviews with four researchers who typify a range of academic
responses to commercialism, we demonstrate emerging patterns of conflict
and agreement in faculty responses to commercial opportunities in the life sciences.

Keywords: institutional change, life sciencs, faculty work