School of Social and Political Science

Content

In March 2025, we gathered to celebrate the professorship of Niki Vermeulen, Professor and Director International. Professor John Devaney, Head of School, delivered the introduction and the closing remarks

Research is a collaborative activity that can take many shapes and forms, from interpersonal interactions to larger teamwork and from informality to institutionalisation, e.g. through research projects, universities and disciplinary associations. Since its emergence in the 1960s, the interdisciplinary field of Science and Technology Studies (STS) has investigated the organisation of science, showing how research not only produces knowledge, but is also a social activity. The ways in which these activities mutually shape each other become especially clear when studying collaborations. In this inaugural lecture - which will take place in Edinburgh’s historic Anatomy Lecture Theatre – I will dissect the process of research collaboration, discussing key dimensions including time and space for collaboration, the importance of crossing boundaries and intergenerational collaboration, and the challenges of diverse and equitable collaboration. I will argue that we can learn from the study of collaboration to improve our research cultures and policies, and show how collaboration should be valued more in our academic work and its futures.

Introduction and closing remarks

Professor John Devaney's introduction

Good evening, everyone. Thank you very much for coming along this evening. My name is John Devaney. I'm the current head of the School of Social and Political Science. And for those of you who've been along to some of these lectures before, you know that these are one of my duties that I really, really enjoy. It's an opportunity to bring members of the university and also outside guests together, to celebrate the achievements and contribution of colleagues within the School of Social and Political Science.

And we've got a great example tonight of somebody who is a wonderful scholar and also a brilliant citizen. Not only to the School of Social and Political Science, but also to the wider university. Professor Niki Vermeulen. So, Niki, we're delighted to be here this evening. 

I'm going to make some opening remarks just to set the scene for the inaugural lecture itself, and also to say a little bit about Niki. Niki is going to actually deliver her inaugural lecture for about 50 minutes. And then after that, we would like to invite any of you who are free to come and join us in the reception of the Chrystal Macmillan Building for a glass of wine and an opportunity to not only congratulate Niki on her promotion to personal chair in August 2023, but also to offer any reflections that you might have about her talk this evening.

Niki herself had wanted to be in this lecture theatre. There was away from some of the standard ones that we have. And I would have to say this is one of the more impressive lecture theatres that we have, in the old medical school. For any of you who've been in the university knew that this is the old anatomy lecture theatre. So we can just imagine what was brought in through there and why everybody was seated in a way that they could look down, upon what was happening in this space here. Now, this evening, we're not going to dissect Niki's lecture. But we are hopefully going to learn something from it, but also have an opportunity to talk to her about it.

The purpose of an inaugural lecture is a way for either a new professor to the university, or somebody who's being promoted to a personal chair, to introduce themselves to the wider university community, and also the wider community at large. It is a public lecture, so it's an opportunity to show the very best of what universities should be about. And given some of the context that we're currently in in higher education, it's good to be reminded about what universities are here to do, which is actually to teach and also to research. And I think Niki embodies both of those aspects of the academic role, and very admirably. 

We're not expecting any fire alarm this evening. So if there is a fire alarm, please, everybody very carefully, especially those at the top, make your way down the steps and we'll make our way outside, through the fire exits to our left and to our right. And there'll be staff around to sort of show you out if this is in a building that you're very familiar with.

I'm absolutely delighted for Niki that her husband, her mother, her brother, other family members and friends are here to join her in this special occasion. And if you want to, you can tell me some stories about Niki later on, that I can use to embarrass her in future occasions. But it's a good opportunity for family to hear about this aspect of their loved one's life that you may know something about, but maybe don't know the full details of that. 

Niki was appointed to the University of Edinburgh back in 2014, and she was as a lecturer and then promoted to senior lecturer in 2018. And as I've mentioned, Niki was promoted to personal chair in 2023. She's a graduate of Maastricht University, where she gained her PhD in 2009, and over 20 years of teaching, she's taught in nine universities in six countries. Which sort of reflects your international wanderlust, and this sense of sort of being somebody who is of here and also of there. And I think that infuses a lot of your ways of thinking about the role of the Academy, both in a national and international context. I know that we have benefited greatly as a school in university because of all of that.

You're Director International within the School of Social and Political Science. And when I asked you if you would take on that role, yeah, not only did you agree to take on that role, you embraced the opportunity. And I knew that we as a school, the wider college and university have benefited from both your outlook. You're thinking about these things and also all of the hard work that you put into that which is sometimes invisible to many people. But I knew through some of the discussions we have in emails just about how busy you are in that space, which furthers your own work, but also benefits all of us. More broadly, you have many, achievements and contributions, behind you. The one I always find completely fascinating is Curious Edinburgh. Some of you in the room who will know that, but for others, it's an online app-based way of being able to explore this wonderful city that we're in this evening from so many different angles and perspectives. And in a way, it speaks to some of the things I think you're going to speak to tonight about, how we engage people not just within the scientific space, but within the broader civil society space, so that what we do as academics has some added value. But it's not only resourcing others, we learn through that process as well. I’m going to pass over to you Niki, and on behalf of everybody here, I'd just like to congratulate you on your promotion and say how much we're looking forward to your presentation this evening, so if people could join me in a round of applause! 

Professor John Devaney's closing remarks

I know Niki doesn't want to have a round of questions, because she doesn't really want to hold your back from having some refreshments afterwards, but I think it's very, fitting for me to say some closing remarks. Firstly, that was a really thought provoking and stimulating lecture. And as well as being a walk through your academic and personal life, it's also been an opportunity to explore some of the ideas that are important to you, but which really infuse all that we do in academia, because it did make me think that there's nothing I've achieved in my academic career, and also in all aspects of my life, that haven't been done with others and have benefited from being alongside others.

And whether that's been about, I think you talked about both being boundary spanning and boundary breaking in terms of your work, but I've really been prompted to think about things in different ways, in ways which are much more enriching because of being alongside of others. I think one of the benefits of a university like this, compared to previous universities I worked in, which I really enjoyed working in, is that the boundaries between different parts of our university are much more permeable, and that it does allow people to actually work in ways which might be different. I was actually speaking to Sharon Cowan today, from [the School of] Law, who was saying that she'd had a conversation with you at one stage about, whether she should be based in STIS or based in Law. And she was saying Fiona's words of advice, which are always sage, was stay where you are, because actually you'll be with your discipline. But actually there'll be nothing to stop you from working across the university. And she was saying that was exactly true. 

I think the other thing that came out from your presentation was, this idea of the importance of a key set of ingredients that not only enriches a research project, but also forms the basis of a long term and sustainable research career. And that's about the investment in relationships and how that takes time. It also takes space. It also takes the permission of others to do things which aren't actually always about being instrumental, but are what you actually are about. So that's the idea of bringing thinking together. And in that bringing thinking together, creating something that would be much more difficult to do by oneself.

So listen, alongside the pretzels that we have here, and I'm not sure how they're meant to be distributed tonight, if it's just sort of people help themselves as they're leaving and make sure you all take ones that are not left here to go to waste. But also, can I just say, Niki, on a personal level, I find that my time in the school has been really enriched by having your way of thinking about things and your collegiality as something which has enriched my experience of being an academic here at the University of Edinburgh. But it also made me think about things in a way which is much fuller and richer as a result of you being a part of the community here. And I know that that's true not just for me. I think the fact that we have so many people here tonight from right across the university is not only a reflection of the esteem that colleagues hold you in, but also the fact that I'm sure that everybody here could talk easily about the ways that they have felt enriched, by you being a part of their life. So can we please show our appreciation once again?

And if you're free to join us, please come through to the reception area in the Crystal Macmillan building. If you're not quite sure how to get there, please just follow the crowd and make sure that it's somebody you can depend upon and who isn't going to the bathroom. Thank you so much.