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The year 2020 will be remembered as the year of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) crisis; a crisis that exerted an impact on all social institutions, including educational institutions. In relation to higher education, it will be remembered both for the dramatic changes to the ways that teaching and learning occurred and the devastating impact the pandemic restrictions have had on research in universities. This special issue of the Qualitative Research Journal is focussed on the impact of the pandemic on universities and especially on research in universities. For example, in the US, 180 members of congress have supported a call for US$26bn support for research. In the submission to the House of Representatives it is stated that,

We can lament the devastation and hanker after the “good old days” or we can see these disruptions as the start of a new and exciting era with opportunities for change and innovation that previously would not have been considered. Watershed events like the COVID-19 crisis change the course of history and pull it off course into new directions which have both negative and positive outcomes. Until such a circuit breaker occurs and society is forced to undergo massive upheaval and change, we can bask in a comfortable situational familiarity that potentially stifles creativity and radical new ways of thinking and acting.

Research, and teaching and learning in higher education are areas where this crisis has forced rapid responses and drastic changes in thinking and action. We have witnessed wholesale upheaval of processes and operations within universities worldwide, that without a major disruption, would not have been considered, or if they were, would have taken years or decades to materialise. To this extent opportunities have arisen as a result of the crisis.

While the focus of this issue of the Qualitative Research Journal is on research in universities, the impact of the pandemic on university teaching has significant consequences for research as university research is cross-subsidised by revenue related to teaching, and the learning activities of post-graduate students also contribute to research undertakings. In the area of teaching and learning, one of the key changes across the world has been to rapidly convert all courses of study into online learning rather than face-to-face learning situations. Universities have long engaged in distance education in various forms, from correspondence to online; from provision of static materials to multiple forms of interaction. However, whilst universities have until now, to a greater or lesser degree, utilised online and blended learning options, they have in most cases, not seen this mode of learning and teaching, nor this mode of conducting research, as the predominant form. This has involved rapid conversion of courses and curriculum materials as well as teaching and learning methods to virtual learning and teaching contexts. In the past decade, there have been great advances in the technical possibilities for online and other off-campus education, instructional design and programme formats. Techniques employed include online learning management systems, online conferencing, discussion groups, virtual classrooms, project-based learning, simulation technology, collaborative learning using a wide range of social media technologies and access to a wealth of resources – such as videos, photos and eBooks online, as well as anything you can “Google”. These developments have provided a launch pad for the amazingly swift response of higher education institutions to the curtailment of movement and the requirement to maintain a distance between people. The broadening of pedagogical approaches adopted to suit various types of learners, provision of more choice for students regarding how, when and where they learn, and offering students more ability to customise their learning and the courses of study that they undertake, began to emerge even before the crisis, but the crisis may generate the impetus needed to explore, experiment, dare to be different and introduce more radical approaches to education.

Remote learning, however, brings with it winners and losers in both the staff members and the student bodies of universities and schools. Rather than itemise and describe this situation in detail, it can be summed up by saying that amongst the students the winners will usually be those who are already at an advantage learning in this way, and those whose resources are such that they are able to rapidly adapt to the changes and to the disruption. Amongst the staff members, the disadvantaged will be those who do not possess well developed technological skills or who have resisted online teaching approaches. The other key groups of disadvantaged higher education staff members when finances are stretched are those who work casually or on short-term contracts. Inevitably those that are already disadvantaged or vulnerable will struggle and potentially become more disadvantaged. In a report entitled “Learning at home during COVID-19: Effects on vulnerable young Australians – Independent Rapid Response Report”, (Brown et al., 2020) the authors state that

We could expect that much of the same would apply to students in higher education, although it could be argued that, being older than school learners, they would be more independent learners. However, for those who are vulnerable due to cultural and linguistic background, their indigeneity or their poor environment for example, these disparities are not new but are exacerbated by the current crisis. Education itself can be part of the reason that social disadvantage is further entrenched in society. Certainly, it can also be the key to alleviating disparity and disadvantage, but we have seen for decades how education is, in many ways, a ranking and sorting mechanism for society. Since Plato's time education has reified social stratification. The crisis we are now facing has served to bring into relief the stratification that we know exists, thus just as this crisis is a disruption to doing more of the same and being comfortable in a familiar set of circumstances, it could potentially also act to further entrench disadvantage in education.

Whilst some of the drastic and urgent changes that have occurred within the teaching and learning space in universities may result in improvements and innovations that have positive impacts, it is also becoming increasingly apparent that in the research space, this COVID-19 crisis holds many dangers as well as some opportunities.

In universities income relating to teaching and learning cross-subsidises the expenditure on research and an important component of student fees that subsidise research is international student fees. The COVID-19 crisis, which has resulted in the closing of international borders, has massively impacted upon the movement of students around the world. The Vice Chancellor of the Australian National University observed that “the university sector had become increasingly reliant on fees from foreign students to fund research and development” (Carey et al., 2020). According to a report commissioned by the government in 2020 (Finkel, 2020), the pandemic has meant that in the higher education sector there are estimated losses of between $2.5 and $4bn in 2020 alone without accounting for the pipeline effect that this loss will have across subsequent years.

Looking forward, international student enrolments may be impacted for years to come. Barriers to enrolment of international students will continue for some time with host countries cautious about admitting students coming from overseas locations, while families sponsoring overseas students are being hit by the economic fallout from the COVID crisis. The incentive to go abroad for education may be damaged by the negative experiences of the treatment of overseas students and prospective students during the crisis. For example, the Australian Prime Minister announced early in the pandemic that any international students in Australia who are not able to support themselves should “Go home” (Ross, 2020). China's education ministry claimed that “Multiple discriminatory events against Asians happened in Australia during the epidemic outbreak.” The Chinese Minister “urged students studying overseas to make a thorough risk assessment and to be ‘cautious’ when choosing Australia as a destination” (Brown, 2020). We can expect some students who might have gone overseas prior to the pandemic to favour local provision of education. In this context first-world higher education institutions need to look to models of provision that go beyond national boundaries. Distance education opportunities provided by Western institutions have been taken up by international students as well as by domestic students with a need for, or indeed a preference for, remote learning. In addition to distance learning provision, some higher education institutions have established branch campuses overseas. There will, however, be new challenges for institutions that have previously offered programmes overseas and for any that now see this as a way to boost their international student numbers. In the new order, it will be an even more competitive field with many more programmes being available online. In addition, options for the operation of international branch campuses may be more limited than previously.

An Australian study in 2014 distinguished four modes of management of branch campus operations: home campus curriculum control; limited transnational campus curriculum control; distributed curriculum control and transnational campus curriculum control (Ling et al., 2014). The first two models usually involved at least some teaching by academics flying in from the home campus. One value of these models is quality assurance, an important consideration in the marketing of qualifications. “Fly-in fly-out” models of programme provision will, however, now be less attractive to academics or may even be prohibited. On the supply side, then, for individual higher education institutions, options for economically viable international provision will be more limited than pre-COVID-19. On the demand side, the issue is, will there be the same demand for overseas qualifications, however delivered? A new norm of those who can afford direct engagement in international education turning to local provision of education may emerge. Where alternatives to local provision of higher education become available once again, the incentive for foreign students to undertake higher education programmes offered by overseas institutions depends, in part, upon the perceived status of the qualifications. We cannot be sure that the pecking order will remain the same post-COVID. One factor that could influence perceptions of international education institutions in the emerging environment is the success of national strategies in dealing with the virus, including the incidence of COVID-19, national death rates and national contributions to cure and prevention. Another factor may be how to welcome international students were made to feel in the country in which they were studying, when the virus occurred and how encouraging a country is to have international students back. In the USA, the

International students will be faced with many dilemmas post-pandemic not only on the health and welfare side but also on the political side as some countries compete to encourage them whilst others actively discourage them. One thing seems clear and that is that higher education institutions globally are going to face years of uncertainty on the international student scene. Likely long-term restrictions on international travel will also impact directly on the kinds of research undertaken in universities as students and staff members will need to limit the kinds of international research projects in which they engage.

An analysis of the likely impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on Australia's research workforce (Finkle, 2020) stated that approximately 43% of all applied research undertaken in Australia, occurs in universities. Much of this research takes place in conjunction with industries and thus with the reduced capacity of universities to undertake research due to the decline in student numbers, it is likely that there will be a “decline in innovation that may limit economic growth by slowing the development of new technology, skills, and efficiency gains in service and production processes” (p. 1). At a time when the post-pandemic recovery relies on research, innovation and economic growth, universities are potentially unable to provide the capacity required.

Along with the loss of research capacity due to the decline in student numbers and revenue from decreased international student fees, universities will of necessity, suffer massive job losses. In Australia casual, non-tenured academics, have been hardest hit. Barber, a former Vice Chancellor of an Australian University, commenting on the growth of universities prior to the pandemic, observes that this growth

The loss of the casual workforce impacts on the ability of universities to subsidise research through inexpensive forms of teaching as well as directly depletes the research workforce. In addition to the loss of casual staff members, Finkel (2020) estimates that of the approximately 21,000 full-time equivalent positions lost in Australian universities as a result of the pandemic, around 7,000 of those will be research-related staff members. It is also predicted that many of those personnel whose research jobs are lost will be women, early career researchers and recent graduates. This is another example of the inequities that arise within the education sector and which are further exacerbated in time of crisis and emergency.

On the European higher education front there is speculation as to what the scene in universities will be like post-pandemic. In an article “Universities beyond the coronavirus – What awaits?” Murphy (2020) claims that

On the African higher education research scene, we are told that research in African Universities is largely funded by European countries and by foundations in the United States and more recently, in China (Mohamedbhai, 2020). Agencies within Africa funding research are scarce and almost all research undertaken in African Universities occurs in collaboration with overseas countries. These collaborating countries are themselves reeling from the impact of COVID-19 and research, even on the home front in these countries, is also inevitably going to be hard hit.

In the United Kingdom, Universities UK has requested billions of pounds in recovery packages.

It is clear that research in universities will be more necessary than ever post-COVID-19 and that research into all facets of the recovery phase is necessary. Obviously, scientific research that can potentially result in the discovery of a vaccine for the virus is crucial and is already occurring in universities and scientific and medical laboratories and institutes all over the world. However, research across all disciplines is essential if the full impact of the social, economic, political and welfare effects of COVID-19 are to be understood and addressed. It is likely that if any governments allocate additional funding to research it will be in the scientific and medical areas. Whilst it cannot be denied that this is central to the recovery process, it is also vital that support be provided for the social sciences and humanities research areas. These areas have always suffered by comparison with the “hard” sciences when it comes to government grants and funding for research in universities. On the teaching side, in Australia, “the government is using a carrot-and-stick approach to funnel students into the industries it believes will drive job growth” (Duffy, 2020). Fees have been slashed by up to 60% for programmes in mathematics, science, health, architecture, IT, engineering, teaching and nursing. For humanities degrees fees have been increased by 113%. This pattern of preference is also likely to be applied to research funding by governments and other research funding bodies.

What is clear, is that in times of crisis and emergency, the university has a critical role to play in both dealing with a crisis and in recovering from it. That role extends to all areas of research across all disciplines as well as all areas of learning and teaching. This is a time to question what we thought we knew and to reconceptualise many of our taken-for-grated understandings. Researchers have a daunting yet exciting responsibility to lead thinking in all areas of social life and to lead with courage, daring, creativity and resolve and to again take up a position as public intellectuals in a world that needs them more than ever before.

The COVID-19 pandemic drives home to us in dramatic ways, features of the current era that Barnett (1998) labels as “supercomplexity”. This label was assigned more than 20 years ago and much has since been written about this concept. Barnett claims that in a supercomplex world

Barnett continues to list a number of characteristics of an era of supercomplexity such as “changeability, contestability, uncertainty… ignorance, contingency, turbulence, disturbance, insecurity, risk, unpredictability and instability” (Barnett, 2017, p. 58). 2020 has brought all of these characteristics into bold and stark relief in all aspects of society at a global level. Universities have felt these phenomena keenly and have grappled with how to suddenly find ways to carry out their mission and to survive.

All aspects of the work of universities have been chronically disrupted by the COVID-19 crisis and in such times of crisis and emergency, where changes are so far reaching and radical, universities have no choice but to find new ways to operate in a post-crisis context. However, in a world that is supercomplex where futures are unknowable, where uncertainty, fragility and instability are inherent and inevitable, crises and emergencies occur almost as part of a “new normal”. This requires new approaches that have built-in flexibility, adaptability, agility and unprecedented creativity and innovation capacity. This is where research and new and perhaps hitherto unknown methodologies can be the heroes of the day. However, existing research paradigms and methodologies may not suffice. The supercomplexity paradigm of research (Ling and Ling, 2020, 2017) offers a new paradigm which in these times of crisis and emergency, sets new horizons for a researcher.

When working in the supercomplexity paradigm a researcher will be likely to employ both quantitative and qualitative methodologies in novel and imaginative ways that would be limited only by the imagination of the researcher. Creativity in research and the use of all kinds of creative methods and approaches are encouraged. Obviously all existing research paradigms and methodologies are also open to a researcher and in these times of crisis and emergency, a combination of approaches within a pragmatic research paradigm, in conjunction with the supercomplexity paradigm, may well be an appropriate research response.

The authors of the papers contained in this special issue Research and Methodology in Times of Crisis and Emergency have addressed a range of issues concerning this topic. In some cases, the effects of the virus on research forms the substance of the articles, in other cases, authors have reflected on the pertinence of recent research undertakings to conditions arising from the coronavirus. The matters addressed are broad ranging and include research methodologies that are appropriate to be used in the extraordinary circumstances of the COVID-19 pandemic. Using previous research experiences with various methodologies some authors have demonstrated how the methodology employed could be especially valuable in times of crisis and emergency. Other authors have focussed on the impact of the COVID-19 crisis generally on all aspects of universities including research, learning and teaching, financial sustainability, internationalization and political enablements and constraints. The impact of the pandemic on schools has also been addressed as teachers and teacher educators grapple with the physical distancing requirements and campus closures whilst maintaining the momentum of learning and teaching and wherever possible, research. The issues of leadership and management of universities in times of crisis, as well as the role of universities in the current era, are addressed in an essay by a current Vice Chancellor living through the pandemic and its impact on universities and their future in society.