NPM effects on research practices in English and Dutch universities

In this paper we focus on how research policies inspired in part by the New Public Management (NPM) are implemented in public universities in two fields of research, biotechnology and medieval history. The aim of the paper is to find out how research policies partly inspired by the new public management in England and the Netherlands have influenced research practices at the basic research unit level. The data builds on 77 semi-structured interviews collected in 20051, supplemented with the document and secondary literature analysis. In order to understand change in the research practices of basic research units we explore problem choice, mainstream and risky research, and output preferences.