On Tuesday, 5 November 2024, the Higher Education Authority (HEA), National Research Integrity Forum (NRIF), together with the National Open Research Forum (NORF), the National Framework for Doctoral Education (NFDE) Advisory Forum and the CoARA National Chapter, hosted an event at the Royal Irish Academy to progress the national conversation on research assessment.
Research assessment is an important action of the European Research Area, and a significant number of Irish institutions are members of the international Coalition for Advancing Research Assessment (CoARA).
The workshop aimed to raise awareness amongst PhD students and supervisors of PhD students of the current changes in the evaluation of research. Subsequent to the workshop, participants were asked to become ambassadors and disseminate the key messages from the workshop within their institution with the help of their institution’s office of the Dean of Graduate Studies or equivalent.
This was an in-person only event. NORF and the Royal Irish Academy (RIA) hosted the event, which was funded by the HEA.
Objectives:
• Share international and national perspectives on the movement to reform research assessment.
• Seek input from attendees on their awareness of changes occurring in research assessment, experiences with new forms of research assessment and what advice they would give to policymakers on the reform of research assessment.
• Share key messages arising from workshop across the higher education sector.
The day began with opening remarks from Dr Deirdre Quinn (HEA), Professor Anita Maguire (NRIF) and Dr Michelle Doran (NORF).
Following this, Dr Sally Smith (Trinity College Dublin) co-leader of CoARA National Chapter for Ireland set the context for the workshop.
Next, presentations were given by the following speakers on both international and national perspectives regarding the reform of research assessment:
• Dr Elizabeth Gadd, Head of Research Culture & Assessment at Loughborough University
• Professor Stephen Curry, Consul (Faculty of Natural Sciences and cross College Organisations) at Imperial College London
• Dr Stefan Penders, Policy Advisor for Internationalisation at Universities of the Netherlands
This was followed by an engaging Q&A and panel discussion, ‘Reflections on reform of research assessment and impact on doctoral students’. The session was chaired by Professor Grace Mulcahy, Research Integrity Officer, University College Dublin (UCD) and panel members included:
• Dr Elizabeth Gadd, Head of Research Culture & Assessment at Loughborough University
• Professor Stephen Curry, Consul (Faculty of Natural Sciences and cross College Organisations) at Imperial College London
• Dr Stefan Penders, Policy Advisor for Internationalisation at Universities of the Netherlands
• Dr Anne Cody, Head of Investigator-Led Grants, Research Careers and Enablers at Health Research Board (HRB)
• Chris Stewart, Vice President for the Borders, Midlands & Western Region at the Union of Students Ireland (USI)
After lunch, workshopping and discussions in breakout groups began. Questions for discussion included:
• Before today, were you aware of the changes occurring in research assessment, what is your understanding of these changes, how would you raise more awareness of these changes and have any changes to research assessment occurred within your institution?
• Have you participated in, or could you suggest any innovative methods of research assessment?
• How do you see the evolution of research assessment positively benefitting current and future PhD students?
• What advice would you give policy makers on the reform of research assessment?
At the close of the session, group rapporteurs shared the key points discussed by their respective groups.
Colourful story boards were produced by multidisciplinary artist Beth McComish based on the ideas and topics discussed by the workshop attendees.
The event concluded with brief closing comments by Professor Anita Maguire who thanked the speakers and attendees for their contribution and outlined the next steps for the workshop outputs. A post-event report will be circulated to in the coming months.
The National Open Research Forum is a Government of Ireland initiative, funded by the Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science, through the Higher Education Authority.
