Karina Palkova on the new Faculty of Social Sciences: a restart and broader horizons

How can the social sciences get a restart in Latvia as well as worldwide? The researchers, teaching staff, and students of the new Faculty of Social Sciences at Rīga Stradiņš University (RSU) will be seeking answers to these and other big questions under the leadership of Dean Asst. Prof. Karina Palkova and Vice-Dean Asst. Prof. Mārtiņš Daugulis.

The new faculty is making a powerful statement – it is the first in Latvia to introduce an innovative management system and to work so actively to boost interdisciplinary research. ‘We have a great responsibility and sense of mission – we have announced that we will develop and revive the social sciences and to do them differently,’ says Palkova (pictured). She is currently the Vice-Dean of the Faculty of Law, a sworn advocate and the Director of the Social Sciences doctoral study programme and will take over the reins of the Faculty of Social Sciences on 6 February this year.

What is the purpose of merging the Faculty of Communication, the Faculty of Law, and the Faculty of European Studies into one – the Faculty of Social Sciences?

Development trends in science and higher education call for interdisciplinary excellence in both research and studies. This has led to a radical change in the way we envision the future of social sciences. In today’s dynamic and digital world, individual social science disciplines cannot compete on their own, so they need to come together and cooperate. The consolidation of the social science faculties will create new interdisciplinary synergies and allow for a more efficient use of resources, which is important not only for researchers, lecturers, and students, but also for the industry and society as a whole. The experience of the best universities in the US and Europe shows that all higher education processes, research, teaching methods, and management are evolving rapidly; technologies are entering institutions of higher education, and their focus and the way problems are tackled is changing.

Many of the functions that used to be carried out by humans are now done by systems and soon by artificial intelligence. That’s why we need to keep up with innovation.

If we look at global trends, problems are no longer being tackled within a single sector, but with an interdisciplinary approach. As a research university with ambitious plans, we need to strengthen our research, which is why we have set up the Social Sciences Research Centre. This is particularly important now that our team of lecturers and researchers is becoming more powerful.

What changes will the new Faculty of Social Sciences bring, and what will students, lecturers, and researchers gain?

The structure and operating principles of the new faculty are borrowed from two US universities – the University at Buffalo and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. I have been on an experience exchange to both together with other lecturers from RSU. We have taken the risk of abandoning the department model in favour of a structure with groups of related study programmes. There are currently seven such groups: business and economics, international politics and society, internal security, law, communication and media, psychology, health management. We are looking for strong group leaders who will not only be good administrators, but will also audit their study programmes, improve them, and synchronise them with related programmes. 

Students are the biggest beneficiaries of these changes, as they will be able to use the faculty’s resources and infrastructure, listen to lecturers as well as visiting lecturers from other study programmes.

For example, until now the media studio with video and photo cameras and recording equipment was mostly available to communication students, while the mock courtroom was available to law students. Now, all students will be able to use other study programmes’ infrastructure, e.g. political science and communication students will be able to use the mock courtroom and play a role in simulated court proceedings. Until now, we each lived on our own island and the bridge between them was very narrow and unsafe. Now we have removed the bridges and merged the islands. Students will have more freedom to create something new, to move between programmes and to change programmes if they change their minds.

Teaching staff, on the other hand, will be able to use large lecture theatres to teach basic courses that several study programmes share. They will have more opportunities to communicate and collaborate with their colleagues from other disciplines.

The establishment of the Social Sciences Research Centre is big for us! This is where interdisciplinary research will be carried out. We have many talented researchers in different fields and now they will have their own support hub, infrastructure, and tools to work together.

The researchers will bring their contacts, knowledge, and experience to the table and create something new. It will also help integrate research into the study process, which is a priority for us as a research university. 

There is a new position – Head of Study Quality and Development. We are looking for an experienced professional with an understanding of modern, high-quality higher education and the methods required for achieving it. In collaboration with colleagues at the Centre for Educational Growth, their task will be to review all study programmes, understand their strengths and weaknesses, and make proposals for developing study programmes in line with the latest trends in each field.

Dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences Karina Palkova and RSU Rector Aigars Pētersons

Changes are implemented with the intention of making things better, but there are inevitably difficulties along the way. What are the biggest challenges with creating the new faculty? 

Firstly, these changes are linked to people’s habits, which are difficult to change. How can we motivate people to embrace change? We will change the usual procedures, structure, and positions significantly in the new faculty. If people do not accept these changes, it will be difficult to bring the idea of our new faculty to life. Despite our energy and passion, Vice-Dean Daugulis and I will not be able to implement this idea on our own, because the faculty is a large, united ecosystem, where every actor has a huge role to play, especially in the process of change. Our task now is to convince our employees, our colleagues, to believe in the new ideas. Secondly,

it is important not to lose the specificity of each discipline when focusing on interdisciplinarity. In research, we need to go both deep and wide. Our challenge is to develop the disciplines and at the same time expand horizons and possibly create new directions within the social sciences.

An excellent example is medicine and law, which have merged to create medical law.

There is also a challenge from the management side – how can we organise the internal structure of a faculty with a large number of staff and create a positive microclimate? It sounds complicated, but we have ideas and experience on how to deal with it.

This will be your first time in the role of dean. What motivated you to take such a bold step and what are your plans?

I saw the untapped potential of the social sciences and my colleagues – strong academics, high-level researchers, and students – who want change and want to become leaders in their field. When I decided to apply for the position, I had a lot of support from my colleagues at the Faculty of Law, which was very motivating.

I realised that I had grown enough professionally to be able to take on such a challenge. My studies at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology also motivated me to take this step. They taught me to think more broadly, not to be afraid of making mistakes, and not to stop at what I have achieved. The free style of management there really appealed to me, and this is what I am partly trying to implement in the new Faculty of Social Sciences. We will not have as many formal meetings and will try not to address each other very formally. We are a team, we are equals – we just have different levels of responsibility and areas of work. I have to admit that I am pretty intense and not afraid of emotions at work. Sometimes this helps – if I have a goal, I live and breathe it, which makes me more motivated to achieve it. Emotions open up creativity making me think and act more broadly. 

The management style, freedom and courage, and the determination to pursue my sometimes crazy and unconventional ideas are the lessons I took away from my studies in the US. 

I have realised that we often think very narrowly and are constrained by excessively heavy regulations that limit the implementation of our ideas. But what prevents us from changing regulations? That is what we did with the Social Sciences doctoral study programme! Because our aim was to offer a modern and competitive programme proposed amendments to the law, we talked to the Ministry of Education and Science, and we justified the need for amendments in the Saeima Commission.

Returning to the topic of the new faculty, I realised that

only we can push our own boundaries. Modern social science is fundamentally about pushing boundaries. We have all lived separately – lawyers, political scientists, economists, communication specialists, journalists and social anthropologists – but now we are trying to build bridges and share our best practices with one another.

If I have to sum up my and the faculty’s future plans in one sentence, they are – to restore the prestige of social sciences in Latvia, to receive international recognition for social sciences, to achieve excellence in social sciences research and sustainability in scientific growth, to create a support system for new scientists, and to strengthen the quality of research and studies. 

Why do social sciences in Latvia need a restart? 

There is a perception that STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) is kind of an outcast in Latvia and that the exact sciences need to be strengthened. However, I think that it is the social sciences in Latvia that are unfortunately undervalued. That’s why we want to give social sciences a restart.

Social sciences study human behaviour, our problems and their causes, while STEM gives us the tools to deal with them. Until we answer the question of why there are problems, we do not understand what it is that we need in order to solve them.

The task of social sciences is to find out a society’s interests and needs. The focus today is on technology, which is absolutely understandable, but we can show how the interaction between exact sciences and social sciences will deliver more sustainable results.

During my studies in the US, I saw that social sciences do not exist separately from other sciences. There are different kinds of study and research centres where researchers are united not by a particular field, but rather by the search for a solution to a common problem. In practice, there is no clear division between social sciences and exact sciences. For example, if the problem is global warming, mathematicians, physicists, anthropologists, lawyers, political scientists, and experts from other fields work together to find a solution. Almost every study in the US involves social science researchers, and the same applies to the study process.

If we remember and understand the power and importance of the social sciences, they will flourish!

Your new year will begin on 6 February when the Faculty of Social Sciences officially opens. What do you wish your colleagues and students?

I wish them to find time to stop, analyse the work they have done, see the opportunities in the present, and create a vision for the future. I wish them to be open to the world and to challenges. At the same time, of course, I encourage them to make time for themselves and develop skills, acquire new knowledge, and take care of their physical and emotional well-being. I want our colleagues and students to start this new journey in the Faculty of Social Sciences in a positive atmosphere!