This article looks at a selection of significant episodes in the history of organizational and management research, and the policies in this field of the UK Social Science Research Council. The episodes begin in the Council's early days in the mid-1960s, and run through its high-profile efforts...

Research Funding Organisations (RFOs) in the public sector are intermediaries between the state and academic research. Principal-agent theory has been used to illuminate the relations between RFOs and state institutions. This paper explores the extension of principal-agent concepts to the study...

Four science policy issues are discussed — intervention, interaction, interdisciplinarity, and international co-operation — in relation to how they affect the processes of making science policy, and have been shaped by them. The principal-agent model introduces to science policy the...

This postscript is a reflection on the wider implications of this discussion of interactive social science. What lessons have been learned about new knowledge, legitimacy, theory, relevance, power and evaluation? What new questions have arisen? Re-invigorated by debate about interactive...

The papers in this special issue examine the content and practice of interactive social science and its developing institutional context. Although the contemporary environment of academic research and funding is relevant, the papers engage with themes which have preoccupied social scientists for...

A longstanding, alternative approach is offered to the existing UNFCCC international policy regime as a viable policy option. This 'bottom-up' approach has been neglected in policy discourse until now. The alternative approach is a 'clumsy' proposal, which emphasizes the 'direction of travel'...

Scientific momentum is increasing behind efforts to develop geoengineering options, but it is widely acknowledged that the challenges of geoengineering are as much political and social as they are technical. Legislators are looking for guidance on the governance of geoengineering research and...

This article introduces the concept of management frameworks as institutional cultures. Nations and organizations tend to favor one or another of a variety of decision-making styles composed of unique combinations of only three basic types known as hierarchies, markets, and collectives. The...

The papers in this theme issue seek to advance our understanding of the roles of networks and partnerships in the multilevel governance of climate change and related issues in the urban context. In particular, the papers examine the roles of nontraditional actors and apply emerging theoretical...

While some jurisdictions are demonstrating leadership on climate change, it is clear that sufficient mitigation of climate change is not occurring. This highlights the importance of innovative approaches that bolster politically fraught international treaties and voluntary networks with...