The Making of 'Excellence' in the European Research Area. How Research Funding Organizations Work

The article examines research funding organisations and their public role in providing for and deciding upon the distribution of financial and symbolic resources for research. Taking the supranational European Research Council as a case study, and following notions drawn from Robert Merton's explanatory theory of social structure, we apply a structural analysis of research funding in Europe, making a distinction between structural conditions and social choices, mechanisms and consequences of establishing scientific research of "excellence" in the European Research Area.