Many science support mechanisms aim to combine excellent research with explicit expectations of societal impact. Temporary research centres such as ‘Centres of Excellence’ and ‘Centre of Excellence in Research and Innovation’ have become widespread. These centres are expected to produce research that creates future economic benefits and contributes to solving society’s challenges, but little is known about the researchers that inhabit such centres. In this paper, we ask how and to what extent centres affect individual researchers’ identity and scientific practice. Based on interviews with 33 researchers affiliated with 8 centres in Sweden and Norway, and on institutional logics as the analytical framework, we find 4 broad types of identities with corresponding practices. The extent to which individuals experience tensions depend upon the compatibility and centrality of the two institutional logics of excellence and innovation within the centre context. Engagement in innovation seems unproblematic and common in research-oriented centres where the centrality of the innovation logic is low, while individuals in centres devoted to both science and innovation in emerging fields of research or with weak social ties to their partners more frequently expressed tension and dissatisfaction.

许多科学支持机制旨在将出色的研究与对社会影响的明确期望结合起来。“卓越中心”和“研究与创新卓越中心”等临时研究中心已经普及。这些中心有望开展能够创造未来经济效益并有助于解决社会挑战的研究，但人们对这些中心的研究人员知之甚少。在本文中，我们询问中心如何以及在何种程度上影响个体研究人员的身份和科学实践。基于对隶属于瑞典和挪威 8 个中心的 33 名研究人员的访谈，并以制度逻辑为分析框架，我们发现了 4 大类身份及其相应的实践。个人经历紧张的程度取决于卓越和创新这两种制度逻辑在中心背景下的相容性和中心性。参与创新似乎没有问题，并且在创新逻辑的中心性较低的研究型中心很常见，而中心的个人致力于新兴研究领域的科学和创新，或者与合作伙伴的社会联系较弱，更频繁地表达紧张和不满意。