This GEXcel research field interrogates gender dynamics and gendered political economy of know­­ledge production within different societal, cultural, scientific and educational settings, natio­­nally, transnationally and globally. The research field explores multiple arenas and actors of knowledge production, from higher education, academia, and scientific and tech­­nological organisations to educational institutions, from policy makers and institutional leaders shaping the conditions of know­­ledge production, to researchers, engineers and teachers, as well as recipients of education and training. Furthermore, it explores the inter­­con­­­­nec­­tions of gendered structures and cultures of knowledge production organisations to research agendas, conceptualisations, knowledge transfer/translation and curricula. One of the start­­ing points is the notion of persistent gender inequalities and slow change that cha­­rac­­terises globally (as well as in the Nordic region) those major groups which have been shaping knowledge production especially in scientific research and technology. The research field develops further several themes of the old GEXcel, including Research Theme 9 (Gen­­dered sexualed transnatio­­nalisations, deconstructing the dominant: Transforming men, “cent­­res”, knowledge/practice), and Research Themes 11-12 (Gender paradoxes of changing academic and scientific organisation(s)). It also links with several other GEXcel research fields.

Key questions concern the gendered impacts of global restructuring and how current neo-liberal transformations are stratifying and diversifying contemporary scientific and research landscapes, as well as educational landscapes, in short eduscapes.  Fun­­damental questions concern who is seen to know, who teaches, who learns, who gets to be taught, what, where, and who is being selected to provide education in schools and in the globalising higher education. What are the gender dimensions of the intensification, diversification, differen­­tiation, and technologization of ‘scientific’ knowledge and institutionalised education, nationally and on a global scale? These developments provide major challenges to traditional ways of organising knowledge production within academia and beyond, nationally and globally, and have already meant significant changes, including: new forms of governance and increased accountability; new stratifications of institutions and professions with increased emphasis on excellence, top perfor­­mance and competition; prioritizing of STEM subjects in national, international, and global research policies, and the growing impacts of ICTs. Analysis of such developments involves deconstructing gen­­dered knowledge production, including the relations of men, masculinities and gen­­dered knowledge.

Stratification within different educational and knowledge arenas is also taking new routes in the wake of global transformation, requiring different forms of intersectional analyses. As we can observe a stratified unevenness globally between nations that aspire to positions within ‘the global knowledge society’, we can also observe a multitude of new speaking positions with particular geographies and temporalities depen­­ding on resources or lack thereof, geo­­graphical and political cent­­rality/marginalisation. Locating the gendered multi-layeredness of such different speaking positions is part of the challenge in this research field.

These changes furthermore raise research questions on how gendered and racialised power relations within academia normalise epistemology and guiding paradigms within scien­­tific and educational practices. As such, this research field cuts into the core of contemporary feminist theorising and interdisciplinary gender studies.