This blog post by Dr Colleen Thomas, Research Culture & Engagement Manager at University College Dublin (UCD), gives an update on the Pilot Training on Responsible Use of Research Metrics (RURM) project which is supported by the NORF Open Research Fund 2023 (Strand II: Open Research Stimulus Call). The project sets out to create a national open educational resource (OER) about RURM to support research assessment for recruitment, peer review, and career progression. RURM is led by the UCD Research Culture team and project partners include the UCD Geary Institute for Public Policy, the UCD Earth Institute, University College Cork, Dublin City University, and the Technological University of the Shannon.
A library of existing materials was developed as part of the first phase of the project with a view to reusing resources where possible. Emma Dorris (UCD) initiated a scoping exercise with the support of Patrick Phillips, the project educational technologist, and they plan to share the results through an open-access publication available in the near future.
The second phase of the project used co-design methodology to establish the learning priorities of the research community for an RURM module. Forums facilitated by Colleen Thomas (UCD) and Patrick Phillips (UCD) were convened at each partner institution inviting faculty, graduate researchers, postdocs, technical officers, and research managers / administrators. Participants were given the opportunity to provide feedback about which topics are most important to include as well as preferred content types and delivery.
The workshops revealed that across all communities, there is only a moderate level of understanding about research metrics and it is a priority to include further foundational knowledge in the module. Recognising the value and limits of all types of research assessment is considered vital for making fair evaluations. Tools and guidance to apply research metrics appropriately in consideration of discipline, career stage, and diversity of output / contribution was a high priority for all workshop groups. Workshop participants identified videos, text-based content and case studies that provide guidance and practical applications for responsible use of research metrics as their preferred content types. A full report is now available on the project website.
Using input from the workshops, Patrick Phillips designed a complete module that is now ready for beta testing. Feedback through a post-test surveys and qualitative interviews will further refine the module. The team expects to launch to the new module in February 2025.
