Reclaiming creativity in the era of impact: exploring ideas about creative research in science and engineering

Abstract

Creativity is necessary for doctoral students to gain their degrees and for postdoctoral researchers to distinguish themselves. It is, however, a contested concept – which is troubling given its current prominence within dominant discourses in higher education. On the one hand, universities are expected to populate a knowledge economy with creative researchers. On the other hand, there are concerns that the impact agenda is having a ‘deadening’ effect upon creativity. This research explores the broad range of definitions of creativity amongst science and engineering researchers, some of which are surprisingly restricted. It also discusses researchers' views on the role of creativity in their work. Finally, it poses timely questions, both about the impact of the dominant discourses, and the role of the academy in shaping and challenging them.

Keywords:

• creativity
• impact
• early career academics
• innovation
• knowledge economy

Acknowledgements

This work was partly funded by Vitae. A series of good practice guides for researchers has been produced (http://www.imperial.ac.uk/graduateschool/studentexperience/creative).