This group brings together researchers who map and analyse the university and its practices in their current and historical forms. The research of the group is trans- and interdisciplinary and draws on a range of traditions including policy sociology, ethnography, sociology of science, continental philosophy and critical psychology, and members work with a range of methods including international and comparative perspectives. While ‘critical’ means different things to the members of the group, and is an on-going point of discussion, the common denominator is a shared concern about the future of the university as a social institution.