News from TIK - Page 7

The UK Research Excellence Framework, commonly known as the REF, is the most widely discussed approach to evaluating the quality and impact of research. But why is this approach not used outside of the UK? This timely question is analysed in a new blog post from Gunnar Sivertsen at the Nordic Institute for Studies in Innovation, Research and Education (NIFU): Why has no other European country adopted the Research Excellence Framework?

In 1986 the United Kingdom pioneered the development of performance-based research funding systems (PRFS) for universities with the introduction of the Research Assessment Exercise; what is now called the Research Excellence Framework (REF). Most European countries have since introduced PRFS for their universities, but not by adopting the REF. A large group of countries use indicators of institutional performances (“metrics” in UK terminology) for funding decisions rather than panel evaluation and peer review. The few countries to have chosen the latter approach either do not use evaluation results for funding allocation or have at least partly replaced the assessment procedures with metrics.

What are the basic methods and challenges when measuring societal impact of research? This fundamental topic is treated in a thorough blog post published today.

What are the main approaches for measuring impact of research and the most important methodological challenges in such measurements? Magnus Gulbrandsen and Richard Woolley discuss main methods, historical examples and interesting recent developments in this blog post.

Among the newest additions to the Little Tools project is PhD student Tommas Måløy. Previously a tram driver and philosophy student, he now finds himself amidst cods and computers.

We are pleased to announce OSIRIS’ first newsletter. Here you will find some of the highlights of 2017. It sums up an active 2017 - with focus on conceptual and methodological work.

In mid-December 2017 the OSIRIS team co-hosted and participated at the Workshop on Medical Innovation at the University of Iceland.

Béatrice Cointe is a new addition to the Little Tools project, strengthening the group's capabilities in researching economic transcriptions of fish.

All bachelor level students are welcome to join the ESST undergraduate essay competition 2018.

Kristin Asdal participates in a debate on research dissemination, organized by the University of Oslo and Nytt norsk tidsskrift.

Kristin Asdal and Hilde Reinertsen comment on the political impact of a report on the future of Norwegian fish farming.

In the last week of November OSIRIS organised a successful Ph.D. course called "Science, innovation and impact". 

The OSIRIS blog is happy to post a new blog post. This time from Isamel Ràfols, on measuring societal impact.

The effects of research are uncertain and disputed — and efforts to evaluate them must take this into account.

Wednesday 11th of October OSIRIS-members organized a session on new directions in impact measurements at the Atlanta Conference on Science and Innovation Policy.

The OSIRIS blog is now launched. Here we write shorter dissemination and opinion pieces about impact of research based on our activities within OSIRIS. The first blog post is from Richard Woolley and Nicolas Robinson-Garcia. They go behind the evaluation results from the UK to discuss what the weak but positive correlation between excellence and impact means.

What are the experiences with impact case studies? We invite you to a seminar to discuss impact cases in research evaluations at NIFU November 1st, 14.00-17.00

The 2014 REF results show only a very weak relationship between excellence in research and achieving societal impact. This blog post was first published by the LSE Impact blog.

TIKs Magnus Gulbrandsen and Taran Thune have recently published a new paper in The Journal of Technology Transfer: The effects of non-academic work experience on external interaction and research performance.

Is the oil industry able to adjust in a time of low oil prices and increased focus on environmentally friendly solutions?

The research team in the SIVAC-project is in the process of preparing a comprehensive volume on the Norwegian petroleum industry, to be published by Routledge in the spring of 2018.

Taran Thune and Magnus Gulbrandsen from the OSIRIS team have published an article in the European Journal of Innovation Management on the idea generation process in life science. Based on a data set of disclosed inventions to the technology transfer office Inven2, it is found that combined knowledge from basic research and clinical settings seems particularly important for life science invention. Such combinations appear in different ways. The article can be found here.

OSIRIS is announcing a 2 year position as researcher, funded by the Work and Welfare Directorate (NAV) which is one of the user partners in the centre.

In the last week of November 2017 OSIRIS will organise a one-week PhD course called "Research, Innovation and Impact". The role of public research in innovation, university-industry relations, impact and policies supporting impact are central themes. The course will also be open to a small number of practitioners.