It's not only what you know ... using simulation to explain research networks and innovation in the UK university sector

Networks are a common structural form through which institutions, including universities, compete. However, institutional theories such as the Resource Advantage Theory of Competition (RATC) which offers explanations of how institutions continually refresh resources to offset the changing competitive resource configurations, fail to consider this context. Our research objectives are to explore and then extend the RATC in a network context, and to contribute to the emerging body of work on network structure and evolution. This research employs agent-based simulations to model the dynamics of the RATC in the complex evolving world of university science departments as they link with others in competing for national competitive grants. We use university department RAE and research network secondary data to interpret the structural forms observed in the simulations. Our findings indicate how network structures form and change as a consequence of multi-disciplinary resource grant requirements and imperatives to improve RAE rankings.