Counting what really counts? Assessing the political impact of science

Gaunand, Ariane; Colinet, Laurence; Joly, Pierre; Matt, Mireille

doi:10.1007/s10961-017-9605-9

Cited by 9 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 33 publications

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“…First, measurement should involve attempts to separate the effect of research on policy inputs, such as position statements, outputs, such as regulatory change, and outcomes, such as improved air quality or safer public transport (Renkow and Byerlee, 2014;Hazell and Slade, 2014;Gaunand et al 2017;Almeida and Báscolo, 2006). This analytical differentiation is vital to measurement.…”

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confidence: 99%

Knowledge management for policy impact: the case of the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre

et al. 2018

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The European Commission's Joint Research Centre (JRC) employs over 2000 scientists and seeks to maximise the value and impact of research in the EU policy process. To that end, its Knowledge management for policy (KMP) initiative synthesised the insights of a large amount of interdisciplinary work on the 'evidence-policy interface' to promote a new skills and training agenda. It developed this training initially for Commission staff, but many of its insights are relevant to organisations which try to combine research, policymaking, management, and communication skills to improve the value and use of research in policy. We recommend that such organisations should develop teams of researchers, policymakers, and 'knowledge brokers' to produce eight key practices: (1) research synthesis, to generate 'state of the art' knowledge on a policy problem; (2) management of expert communities, to maximise collaboration; (3) understanding policymaking, to know when and how to present evidence; (4) interpersonal skills, to focus on relationships and interaction; (5) engagement, to include citizens and stakeholders; (6) effective communication of knowledge; (7) monitoring and evaluation, to identify the impact of evidence on policy; and (8) policy advice, to know how to present knowledge effectively and ethically. No one possesses all skills relevant to all these practices. Rather, we recommend that organisations at the evidence-policy interface produce teams of people with different backgrounds, perspectives, and complementary skills.

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confidence: 99%

Knowledge management for policy impact: the case of the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre

et al. 2018

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“…Moreover, Aranibar et al (2022) and Fernández et al (2022) point out that research contributes to student development in general from an entrepreneurial viewpoint. De Lucas and Gavrila (2023) and Gaunand et al (2022) add that research helps students keep in touch with technology, digital transformation and develops social awareness.…”

Section: The Impact Of Research On Teaching Practices Student Outcome...mentioning

confidence: 99%

A Journey through the Potential of Research to Drive Innovation in University Education

Aranibar Ramos,

Ramos Castillo,

Zanabria Cabrera

2023

EDUCA

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This essay aims to explore effective ways to utilize research in improving the quality of university education and address challenges that impede its potential. The authors conducted a multivocal literature review and approached six subtopics, including the role of interdisciplinary research and collaboration, the impact of research on teaching practices and student outcomes, the potential of emerging technologies, the importance of diversity, equity, and inclusion, fostering a culture of research and innovation, and the role of funding and resources. They recommend investment in research infrastructure, the promotion of collaboration, engagement, and ethical principles, and building a culture of research. Implementing these recommendations will enable universities to utilize research effectively in order to enhance the quality of university education, drive progress, and contribute to more inclusive, equitable, and sustainable societies.

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“…Ever larger amounts of financial resources are invested by both governments and companies into the development of technical and societal solutions that, for example, reduce energy consumption in industry and households, decarbonise transport systems, improve the circularity of material flows, and foster sustainable consumer behaviour [4][5][6]. While R&I input can easily be quantified in monetary terms, attempts to measure the extent to which funded R&I activities actually contribute to tackling societal challenges such as climate change represent an ongoing struggle [5,[7][8][9]. Governments and research funding organisations consequently face an ever-increasing demand to demonstrate the so-called "social return" of their public investments into R&I [10][11][12].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Much of the research evaluation literature thus focuses on ex-post approaches, while the development of methods that support the ex-ante assessment of the societal impacts of R&I has received considerably less attention [10,19]. Especially in the area of climate change, there is currently no assessment framework that would provide proposal writers and evaluators with a pragmatic and easy-to-use orientation tool for (better) describing and assessing the climate impacts of a planned R&I activity (see [9]).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Framework for Assessing the Climate Impacts of Research and Innovation Projects and Programmes

Martinuzzi,

Hametner,

Windsperger

et al. 2023

Sustainability

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Public spending on research and innovation (R&I) to tackle grand societal challenges, such as climate change, is increasing. Consequently, research funding organisations face an ever-growing demand to demonstrate the social return of their investments. However, tools and frameworks that facilitate the description and assessment of the climate impacts of R&I activities are largely lacking. The present paper addresses this gap by conducting a comparative case analysis of corporate R&I projects co-funded by a thematically open R&I funding programme with the aim of identifying the key impact pathways. Data for the cases were collected through document analysis and video interviews. The results show that assessments of the climate impacts of R&I need to take into account the expected change in technology maturity and the impacts that are caused up- and downstream in a company’s value chain. The results serve as a basis for the development of a framework for the ex-ante assessment of climate impacts of public R&I programmes. A series of workshops with research funders, companies, and evaluation experts helped refine and validate the framework and ensure its real-world applicability. The framework provides proposal writers and evaluators with a pragmatic and easy-to-use orientation tool for describing and assessing the climate impacts of a planned R&I activity during the proposal evaluation stage. It therefore supports a more systematic and systemic assessment of R&I impacts that can help funding organisations better address the challenges of climate change.

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Counting what really counts? Assessing the political impact of science

Cited by 9 publications

References 33 publications

Knowledge management for policy impact: the case of the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre

Knowledge management for policy impact: the case of the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre

A Journey through the Potential of Research to Drive Innovation in University Education

A Framework for Assessing the Climate Impacts of Research and Innovation Projects and Programmes

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