29.06.2026 | Publikationen

New article on research clusters and their effects on universities

Research clusters have become an important organizational form for research. In universities, they challenge the traditional department-based structures and the traditional university administration. In their article "Clusterization of Research in Universities: An Emerging Model, Its Forms and Consequences" in Minerva, Anna Kosmützky and Georg Krücken examine this development and its implications for universities.

Kosmützky, Anna; Krücken, Georg (2026): Clusterization of Research in Universities: An Emerging Model, Its Forms and Consequences. Minerva. DOI: 10.1007/s11024-026-09645-y.

Clusterized research is an increasingly dominant model of organizing research that profoundly affects contemporary universities which historically are organized into departments. Clusterized research now challenges these departmental structures and traditional university governance.

This paper written by Anna Kosmützky (LCSS, Hanover) in collaboration with the late INCHER Director Georg Krücken examines the growth and implications of various organizational forms of clusterized research. These forms are evident in diverse national contexts and primarily involve temporary and interdisciplinary research units, such as centers of excellence, interdisciplinary institutes, and research groups. These temporary units operate within universities as permanent organizations. The paper shows how semi-temporary, boundary-spanning units—often established for interdisciplinary goals and competitive funding—are gradually becoming a structural counterpart to departments and thereby reorder authority, resources, and academic work with implications for governance, collegiality, and innovation.