Event illustrations by Beth McComish

Ireland’s National Open Research Forum (NORF) and National Research Integrity Forum jointly hosted an in-person, half-day workshop on the first of November 2023 at the Royal Irish Academy in Dublin, Ireland. This event was funded by the Higher Education Authority (HEA).

Discussion during this workshop revolved around the theme of Advancing a Shared Direction for Research Assessment. Invited attendees included early career researchers, research leaders, funders, library and information professionals and multiple international speakers. Also in attendance were policymakers from the Department of Further and Higher Education and Research Innovation and Science and the Department of the Environment, Climate and Communication, as well as representatives of Higher Education Institutions and the National Chapter of Coalition for Advancing Research Assessment (CoARA). 

The workshop objectives were to:

• share both national and international perspectives on the movement to reform research assessment,
• discuss CoARA-related activities in Ireland and coordination mechanisms,
• and to share examples of institutional progress and implementation plans.

Prof. Anita Maguire, Chair of the National Research Integrity Forum and Dr Daniel Bangert, National Open Research Coordinator, NORF welcomed workshop attendees and delivered the opening remarks. 

The first half of the event, chaired by Daniel Bangert on behalf of Dr Louise Callinan, Head of Research & Research Policy at the HEA, featured a series of three presentations describing international and national perspectives on reforming research assessment, followed by a Q&A session, and discussion. 

• Erzsébet Tóth-Czifra, Head of Programme with input from Yensi Flores Bueso, Steering Board member of the Coalition for Advancing Research Assessment (CoARA) gave an overview of the growth of CoARA to date, including their action plans, working groups and national chapters. They also highlighted the Agreement on Reforming Research Assessment and identified ways to engage meaningfully with the coalition.
• Kim Huijpen, Programme Manager at the Recognition and Rewards programme, Universities of the Netherlands outlined an academic recognition framework used by Dutch research institutions. They are further along in their journey towards responsible research assessment, and they have already stepped away from more traditional metrics. For example, Utrecht University chose not to submit data to the Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2024. 
• Lastly, David O’Connell Director of Research Support and Policy at UCC, and Co-Lead of the CoARA National Chapter for Ireland UCC (with Sally Smith, TCD) gave a presentation titled “ Research Assessment and Incentivising Open Research Practices”. 

The presentations set the stage for the second half of the event introduced by Professor Anita Maguire. Participants were divided into breakout groups and discussed changes being introduced at their institutions to reform research assessment, and what is planned to happen next. They were asked to consider next steps that could be taken at a national level, to help move the research assessment agenda forward. Following this, a rapporteur from each group reported back the main points to the wider group at the end of the allotted time. 

Themes discussed at the breakout tables included the following:

• the responsible use of metrics in a changing context,
• the importance of research culture in instigating and supporting the reform of research assessment at institutional, national and international levels,
• the steps institutions are taking to introduce changes to how research is assessed internally
• and the role of and support for early career researchers necessary to making lasting change.

We are very grateful to Grace Mulcahy, Professor, Veterinary, Microbiology and Parasitology, University College Dublin who delivered closing remarks and to.the talented Beth McComish, a multidisciplinary artist who created the illustrations featured in this blog that capture the workshop discussion.

The team at NORF would like to thank our joint host the National Research Integrity Forum, as well as workshop organisers, speakers, chairs and invited participants for attending and contributing to the workshop. We would also like to extend our thanks to the Higher Education Authority for providing funding, resources and reviewing drafts of this blog post, and to the Digital Repository of Ireland and the Royal Irish Academy for helping to facilitate the meeting.