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This article outlines the evolution of a national research funding system over a timespan of more than 40 years and analyzes the development from a rather stable Humboldt-inspired floor funding model to a complex multi-tiered system where new mechanisms continually have been added on top of the system. Based on recent contributions to Historical Institutionalism it is shown how layering and displacement processes gradually have changed the funding system along a number of dimensions and thus how a series of minor adjustments over time has led to a transformation of the system as a whole. The analysis also highlights the remarkable resistance of the traditional academically oriented research council system towards restructuring. Due to this resistance the political system has, however, circumvented the research council system and implemented change through other channels of the funding system. For periods of time these strategies have marginalized the role of the councils.

This volume presents a unique set of time series data concerning the environmental and biological dynamics of a pristine alpine-boreal river system in Norway. A simultaneous collection of data on climate, hydrology, erosion, water chemistry, primary production, invertebrates and fish provides an unusual insight into the ecology of a watercourse characteristic of this region of north-western Europe. Individual papers present data collected over 14 years, which provides an opportunity to understand the natural dynamics in a system with very little direct influence from human activities. The results indicate a level of variation that should be expected in natural systems, and provides a solid basis for a discussion of the best approach to the monitoring of biological diversity and environmental factors in rivers and lakes. The volume is aimed at researchers working with watershed management and aquatic sciences. It provides useful information and experiences of particular relevance to the implementation of the EU Frame Directive for Water

Since the turn of the millennium, the Danish university sector has been one of the most intensely reformed in Europe. In parallel, the staff composition of Danish Universities has also changed more than the corresponding compositions in other Western countries. But how direct is the link between the policy reforms and the staff changes? While we expect national policy reforms to have influence on organizational change in universities, we also know that the content and impact of policies often are shaped and modified by global trends as well as local path dependencies. To shed light on this question, this article examines the impact of four major reforms on the staff composition of Danish universities by interpreting long-term staff data at multiple levels. Contrary to the notions of change resistance and path dependency, the empirical analysis suggests that a consistent string of policy reforms has had a profound impact on the Danish universities. However, the analysis also shows that the links between national reforms and actual changes seldom are immediate and straightforward and that the local, national and global levels interact. In doing so they often appear to reinforce the influence of each other.

This study analyses how different types of system-level (or 'landscape') structural reforms in higher education have been designed and implemented in selected higher education systems. In the 12 case studies that form the core of the project, the researchers examine reforms aimed at:• Increasing horizontal differentiation between different types of higher education institutions (for example reforms to introduce or modify the role of universities of applied science);• Increasing vertical differentiation through increasing or decreasing positional or status differences between higher education institutions (for example, reforms aimed at concentrating research in a limited number of universities) and;• Changing institutional interrelationships between higher education institutions (for example, through mergers, the formation of associations of institutions).In each case, the researchers set out to understand the origins and objectives of the reforms examined, the why they were designed and implemented, the extent to which they achieved their objectives and the factors affecting success or failure. The overall objective is to provide policy makers at the European, national and institutional levels with policy relevant conclusions concerning the design, implementation and evaluation of structural reforms

Abstract
Research funding instruments are increasingly targeted towards research that can contribute to solutions of complex societal challenges. How funders in practice seek to steer research towards addressing such challenges is, however, not well understood. This study explores how public, challenge-oriented funding instruments from three Northern European countries have been designed and deployed to steer funded research in desired directions. Our findings shed light on the practical levers that public funders use to influence research. The study also illustrates how these efforts are influenced by differences in their governance as well as in the choices they make about how to balance aims of promoting research excellence with aims of steering research towards other desired means and ends (e.g. economic and societal impact). Our findings highlight dilemmas and trade-offs in funders' targeting efforts to influence the direction and outcomes of research, which ultimately influence the success of such efforts.