ABSTRACT
In this chapter we analysed the effects of the rise of project funding on the social structure of academia. We show that more temporary positions are created and the temporary phase in the career is extended. Short-term contracts increase job and grant market participation of early career researchers, which, in turn, establishes competition as a mode of governance, reaffirms the individual as the primary epistemic subject and increases anxiety and career uncertainty. All of which impact the social fabric of research groups and departments. Communitarian ideals are promoted by senior staff members, which is necessary to establish the research group as a community, but cannot solve the inherent tension because of the structural nature of the mechanisms we describe. We conclude that individual research groups will be unlikely to be able to solve these problems and a more radical shift in the distribution of research funding is necessary.
