“A well-run, timely and stimulating experience for anyone interested in the impact of social sciences and the humanities research.”
“Cutting-edge.”
“The conference discussed the impacts of social sciences in today's world.”
There might not be a more timely moment to discuss the societal impact of Social Sciences, Humanities and Arts (SSHA) than this fall. The persisting global COVID-19 pandemic is posing societal challenges that call for interdisciplinary research evidence that can be transformed into practical knowledge for societal stakeholders. In the broader sense the importance of SSHA impact on society is still too often underestimated and is in need of improved supporting structures, policies and strategies. In order to generate a profound impact of SSHA on society, a strong impact framework for assessing and stimulating impact, as well as collaborations with parties from business, government and not-for-profits, and engaging with the broader public, are all vital aspects.
To facilitate this aim, AESIS is proud to announce that its next edition on ‘Impact of Social Sciences, Humanities and Arts on Society’ will be hosted from Brussels, Belgium, in an online format. In this conference we bring together research managers, science policy makers, funders, knowledge exchange experts, and other relevant professionals from all parts of the world, to tackle topics such as: What does impact mean in the context of different segments of society, and through which robust and valid indicators can you assess it? How can the path to impact be made more accessible, and which skills can enable one to optimise impact for the sake of the public as a whole? Which opportunities of collaborations with societal stakeholders are there, and how may co-creation of knowledge with other disciplines and sectors play a role in stimulating impact?
In order to offer the most insightful programme to our audience, AESIS will be collaborating with ECOOM. ECOOM is the Flemish Expertise Centre committed to mapping the R&D and innovation landscape and they have teams working on gaining a better understanding of and methods for measuring the social impact of research in all disciplines, as well as developing indicators and evaluation mechanisms for non-written research output. Working with them and other partners involved in the Belgian Science-Eco-system provides an excellent and indeed inspirational context to foster the worldwide discussion on impact. At the same time, several international perspectives can offer valuable and critical evaluations to the current progress and obstacles in Belgium.
After editions in Cardiff, Copenhagen, Washington and Toronto, we are thrilled to be bringing this cross-sectoral conversation on the Societal Impact of Social Sciences, Humanities and Arts to Brussels. AESIS, ECOOM and their other partners are excited to virtually welcome you to the ‘Impact of Social Sciences, Humanities and Arts 2021’ conference.
13-15 October, 2021
Virtual attendance via an online platform.
This conference is organised by the AESIS Network.
Photographs and/or videos may be taken at the conference. By attending this event, you acknowledge and agree that your likeness maybe included in photos and videos of the event and used by AESIS/partners or press in connection with communications about the conference or other AESIS communications and promotion. If you do not agree to this usage, please send us a written notification at least 3 days before the event.
| Description | Price (€) |
|---|---|
| Online Participation (AESIS member) | 165 |
| Online Participation (non-AESIS member) | 195 |
| Participants working and living in Low-Income Economies and Lower-Middle Income Economies (5 tickets available) | 55 |
Payment of the participation fee should happen before the course starts. You will receive an invoice together with the confirmation. Payments have to be made in Euro (EUR) at your discretion and free of all bank and other charges. Personal or company checks are not accepted. All amounts are excluding VAT, if applicable.
If you are unable to attend the course it is permitted to allow someone else to participate in your stead if the name of the replacement is communicated before the start of the course to the organisers. Cancellation without cost is possible until August 29th 2021. Cancellations between August 30th 2021 and September 19th 2021 will result in a late fee of €95 being charged. Cancellations from September 20th 2021 onwards are not refunded. We change on-site tickets to online free of charge before September 13th 2021.
Bonita Liu - Lead Project Manager
b.liu@aesisnet.com
AESIS Network
Raamweg 7
2596 HL Den Haag
+31 (0)70 217 2018
info@aesisnet.com
www.aesisnet.com
Koenraad Debackere obtained Master degrees in Electrical & Mechanical Engineering (1984) and Management Science (1985) and a Ph.D. in Management (1990). In 1995, he became professor at KU Leuven in the field of innovation economics. His research focuses on the economics of technology and innovation, the development of indicators for measuring the linkage between science and technology, the design and use of indicators for science policy purposes and the role of entrepreneurial universities in economic development. He has been an advisor and an expert to the European Commission and OECD in the areas of the innovation economy, the economic impact of intellectual property, the management of technology transfer and the design of open innovation systems.
He is actively involved in the activities of the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT). He is professionally involved in technology transfer as managing director of KU Leuven Research & Development (since 1999) and Chairman of the Gemma Frisius Fonds (i.e. the venture fund) of the KU Leuven. He has been the co-founder of Leuven.Inc, the innovation network of Leuven high-tech entrepreneurs. Since 2005, he is the general manager of KU Leuven. He is the chairman of the Advisory Board of the Association for the Economic and Societal Impact of Science.
Frank Monteny (26 April 1963) is Director-General Research and Space of the federal science policy office, BELSPO. He obtained a degree as Engineer in chemistry and agricultural industries at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel. After his studies he worked as researcher at the same university, as project manager at ERM, an SME specialised in environmental studies and advice, at BELSPO in various functions and at the flemish innovation agency (IWT ) as coordinator of European projects. He is currently responsible for the different operational activities of BELSPO, including the preparation and execution of the federal research programmes, Belgium's participation in international space programmes (ESA), the departments contribution to national coordination of science policy activities and the monitoring of national STI efforts. He is member of the management board of several federal scientific institutions and some Joint Programming Initiatives (JPI) and is head of the Belgian delegation at ESA.
Frank Kresin (b. 1972) is Dean of the Faculty of Digital Media and Creative Industries at the Amsterdam University of Applied Science. He was trained as a film maker and earned a Master’s degree in Artificial Intelligence in 1997. He worked as a cinematographer and designer at the University of Amsterdam and was Programme Manager at the Dutch Digital University consortium. From 2006 until 2016, Frank was affiliated with Waag Society, first as a programme manager, and from 2010 as its Research Director. For two years he was Managing Director at DesignLab at the University of Twente.
Frank has been involved in a great number of projects and programmes focusing on Creative Care, Future Internet, Maker Movement, Smart Cities and Smart Citizens. He is the co-founder of Apps for Europe, City SDK, CineGrid, Code 4 Europe, Digital Social Innovation, Making Sense and the Amsterdam Smart Citizens Lab. He regularly publishes on transdisciplinary research in the creative industries and he gives presentations on this topic. Furthermore, Frank is charing the board of We Make The City, and serves at the supervisory boards of Tetem and V2_, Institute for Instable Media.
Mr Pierre Bruyere is a civil electrical engineer, graduated from the Catholic University of Louvain in 1982.
He also holds a degree in Executive Master in management from Solvay Brussels School.
In 1993 he created within the Federal Science Policy office (Belspo) an operational service which was in charge of the conception and management of the Belgian research and education network. Within BELSPO, this department later evolved into an autonomous public body, called BELNET.
Mr. Bruyere was its director general for almost 20 years.
During the same period, he also became a member of the board of directors of the public-law corporation Astrid, which is the telecom operator dedicated to emergency and security services in Belgium.
He was also elected President of the international association TERENA (now GEANT) which brings together all the national research and education networks in Europe.
Since 2012, he has been Director of the ICT Support Service of Belspo and, for the past few months, Chairman a.i. of the Management Board.
Hannes Raffaseder is a member of the executive board of St. Pölten University of Applied Sciences as Chief Research & Innovation Officer as well as leading coordinator of E³UDRES², the Engaged and Entrepreneurial European University as Driver for European Smart and Sustainable Regions. He has been responsible for research, knowledge exchange, innovation and international relations since 2010. Before that he was founding director of the Institute for Creative\Media/Technology, academic director of the master in Digital Media Technology and professor for media technology and audio design at St. Pölten University of Applied Sciences.
Hannes has more than 20 years of teaching experience in media technology and sound design. He was responsible for several research projects and (co-)authored more than 40 scientific publications. In 2010 the second edition of his textbook Audiodesign was published by Hanser Verlag. As an expert reviewer he worked for AQ Austria, AQUAS, Swiss National Science Fonds and others.
After graduating in Germanic Philology from KU Leuven in 1982, Kristin Davidse enrolled for postgraduate studies at the University of Sydney in the department founded by M.A.K. Halliday (1925-2018), who was as influential in core linguistics as in cross-disciplinary domains such as critical discourse analysis and sociolinguistics. Halliday supervised her PhD, after which she was appointed at the Leuven Linguistics Department in 1991. She has focused her research and that of her pre- and postdoctoral students on investigating linguistic systems (mainly of English, but also Dutch, French, Spanish and Russian) as symbolic resources which we use for thinking about the world and for interacting with each other. She has been active in many evaluation committees, as member (e.g. KU Leuven Research Council) and chair (Publication Committee of the Belgian University Foundation, FWO expert panel, promotion and appointment committee of the Leuven Arts faculty). Internationally, she has been actively engaged in the functional linguistics community, serving as President of the International Systemic Functional Linguistics Association, and as founding co-editor of the journal "Functions of Language". She has (co-)convened over a dozen international conferences and (co-)edited the proceedings. Currently she is coordinating, together with Anne-Marie Vandenbergen, the Thinkers’ programme ‘The language of debate and communication of language change’ at the Royal Flemish Academy of Belgium for Science and the Arts, whose aim is to formulate policy recommendations for climate communication in Flanders in its international context.
More info will follow shortly
Frans Nauta is an entrepreneur, innovator, writer and investor in clean tech. He is the founder of Faculty of Impact, the national valorisation organization of the Netherlands. He is also the founder of Climate Launchpad, a business idea competition for clean tech business ideas that runs in over 60 countries across the world.
Earlier Frans created the Climate-KIC Accelerator, the worlds largest clean tech startup accelerator, in ten cities across the EU. He worked as the innovation secretary to the Dutch Prime Minister, founded a think tank on the knowledge economy (Knowledgeland), was teacher at UC Berkeley Haas School of Business and was a professor of Innovation at HAN University in the Netherlands. He also worked as senior policy maker at the Environmental Protection Agencies of the Netherlands and the city of Amsterdam.
He frequently consults for governments, corporate clients and investment funds and writes books and gives lectures on innovation. Frans' areas of expertise, besides cleantech, include the knowledge economy, building innovation ecosystems, startup accelerators and public sector innovation. He holds a Bachelor in Environmental Technology from Wageningen University and a Masters in Political Sciences from the University of Amsterdam.
Frans is guest lecturer in Innovation and Entrepreneurship at UC Berkeley and Utrecht University. He has extensive international experience as speaker on innovation, entrepreneurship, clean tech and the public sector innovation for a wide range of audiences.
Dr. Andrew Plume is Senior Director of Research Evaluation at Elsevier, President of the International Center for the Study of Research (ICSR) and Chair of the ICSR Advisory Board (www.icsr.net). He holds a PhD in plant molecular biology from the University of Queensland (Australia) and conducted post-doctoral research at Imperial College London. Since 2004 he has specialized in the aplication of scientometric approaches to understand the dynamics of the world of research, from researchers and articles all the way up to system-wide studies.
Angelika Zelisko is Deputy Head of the Department “Support Art and Research” at the University of Applied Arts Vienna where she is responsible for national and EU-funding programs, administrating granted fundings and entrepreneurship in artistic and creative fields. Working at the interface of art, research and management, she has been engaged in the project Knowledge Transfer Center East (WTZ Ost) since 2014. This multi-disciplinary knowledge transfer center consisting out of nine universities in Vienna plus three universities of applied sciences aims to foster knowledge and technology transfer in various dimensions. Within that framework Angelika Zelisko is co-lead of the project “Innovation Matters. Interdisciplinary Knowledge Exchange for Societal Challenges. Networks – Methods – Transfer” since 2019. Through her practical experience in managing different transdisciplinary projects she developed a special interest in cross-disciplinary collaborations and heads a sub-project within “Innovation Matters” that aims to network researchers across the institutions.
Following studies in history and social sciences in Germany, the Netherlands, Spain and Great Britain, Tobias came to Vienna in 2012. At the University of Vienna, he manages the Team Knowledge Transfer & National Funding. The team supports researchers from all disciplines, among other things, in cooperative projects with partners from society and industry. Since 2019, Tobias also coordinates the Knowledge Transfer Center East (WTZ Ost). This cooperation project by nine Viennese Universities and three Universities of applied science aims at fostering and promoting all aspects of knowledge exchange.
Frederik Van Acker works as a policy advisor at the Research Foundation – Flanders and is mainly focussing on the strategic funding programs of this council. He coordinates a programme for applied biomedical research where societal impact is the main aim. Moreover he is strongly involved in the council’s program for strategic basic research that funds use inspired projects with an economic or societal added-value. As a scientist he was previously active, amongst others, in the field of educational research to understand determinants of teachers’ innovative behaviour and where the main long term aim was to improve classroom practices and learning outcomes.
Dr Jelena Angelis is a qualified economist working in the field of Science, Technology and Innovation policy formation since early 2002 – with SQW Consulting and Oxford Innovation in the UK, Technopolis Group (in the Baltics) and since autumn 2017 as Research Director / Principal Researcher at EFIS Centre in Brussels. Her areas of interest include innovation policies formation and monitoring, policy-making for the benefits of the society, socio-economic impact of publicly funded interventions, and open science.
Over the 18 years professional career Jelena has been involved in contributing to the design of national R&I programmes (e.g. recommendations for switching to mission orientation in the Lithuanian R&I policy); reviews of national and regional research and innovation systems (e.g. through DG RTD Policy Support Facility); impact assessment and evaluation of such programmes and policies (e.g. Evaluation of the SME Instrument programme); hands-on activities in setting up needed functions; and monitoring of the use of funding. Jelena has provided advice and assistance to the European Commission, government departments and ministries, regional development, economic and enterprise development agencies and universities.
Jelena holds a PhD and MPhil from the University of Cambridge (Judge Business School); Master’s and Bachelor’s degrees in economics from Vilnius University (Lithuania). She works in English, Lithuanian, Swedish and Russian.
Raphaël Beck is a former biomedical researcher (PhD in biomedical and pharmaceutical sciences) who is now working for the F.R.S.-FNRS administration, as head of the « Analysis, Evaluation & Foresight » Unit. Fund for Scientific Research - FNRS is the funding agency for basic research in Wallonia-Brussels Federation (French-speaking Belgium). Funded/awarded projects and researchers are selected on the basis of scientific excellence that is identified in the frame of calls for proposals and research evaluation processes that the Fund organises.
The missions of the "Analysis, Evaluation & Foresight" unit include :
- Design, implementation, monitoring and optimisation of the research evaluation processes that the Fund organises
- Research evaluation : peer reviewing, experts selection and recruitment, setting up and management of an experts database, setting up of evaluation panels, monitoring/evaluation/benchmarking/optimisation of evaluation processes,
- Strategic foresight in research funding, bibliometric studies, statistical analyses, design and analysis of surveys (impact of funding, professional integration of former researchers, etc), portfolio analysis, expertise identification, funding strategy
The unit also includes the Observatory of Research and Scientific Careers (ORCS) of the Fédération Wallonie-Bruxelles. ORCS was created in 2018 on the basis of a subvention that was granted by FWB and its mission is to analyse and follow the careers of researchers and former researchers in Fédération Wallonie-Bruxelles, through different surveys, interviews and data analyses.
Larissa is a lecturer at the University of Luxembourg on the topic of diversity and inclusion in the Master of Entrepreneurship where she talks about the concept of justice and its perception. She created and ran a Think Tank on the same topic 5 years ago and then moved to a more consultative DEI (Diversity, Equity and Inclusion) role for companies and institutions which she still holds.
Jenny Björkman is assoc. professor in History and director of collaboration at Riksbankens Jubileumsfond, a Swedish foundation for the advancement of social sciences and humanities. Since 2008 she has led the foundation's work with research communication, public engagement and collaboration. She is also responsible for collaboration with parlamentarians.
Together with Johan Östling et al she wrote Kunskapens nya rörelser (2016) about the dissemination of knowledge in humanities and social sciences in our time in Sweden. She is also main editor of the yearbook of the Foundation. The book of 2021 is about new trends in language research (Words 2021). She has facilitated several projects within the foundation, planned seminars and conferences and created new forms av research communication, for example events when researcher present their research in collaboration with standup-comedians.
Jenny Björkman got her PhD in history at Uppsala university in 2001 and has since done research about the Swedish welfare state and its modern history. Among other things she was one of the writers to the bold book-project of a new Swedish history, Sveriges historia, in eight parts. She wrote parts of the seventh book Sveriges historia 1920-1965, 2012. Part of this research is also published in Scandinavian Journal of History “The Right to a Nice Home: housing inspection in 1930s Stockholm” (2012).
Andrea Bonaccorsi is Full Professor of Economics and Management at the School of Engineering of the University of Pisa, Italy and Senior fellow of IRVAPP, the Institute of Research on Evaluation of Public Policies at the FBK Foundation in Trento. His research interests are in the fields of economics of science, technology, and innovation. He has recently worked on Text mining and NLP applications to public research, including interdisciplinarity and research impact.
He has published over 200 papers, of which 80 articles in internationally refereed journals, with almost 12,000 GS citations. He is currently mentioned among the top 100,000 researchers in the world according to PlOS ONE.
He has been member of RISE, the group of experts supporting the European Commissioner for Research and Innovation. In the period 2011-2015 he has been member of the Board of the Italian Agency for the Evaluation of Universities and Research Organizations.
In the last decade he has pioneered the creation of a European Register of Tertiary Education Institutions (ETER) for the use of microdata on universities.
He has been member of several expert groups at the European Commission (DG Research, DG Regio), among which the AUBR group (Assessment of University-Based Research) and the group which supported the launch of the European Research Council.
Tracey Brown has been the director of Sense about Science since 2002. Under her leadership, the charity has turned the case for sound science and evidence into popular campaigns to urge scientific thinking among the public and the people who answer to them. It has launched important initiatives including AllTrials, a global campaign for the reporting of all clinical trial outcomes; and the Ask for Evidence campaign, which engages the public in requesting evidence for claims. In 2010, the Times named Tracey as one of the ten most influential figures in science policy in Britain and in 2014 she was recognised by the Science Council for her work on evidence-based policy making. In June 2017 Tracey was made an OBE for services to science.
Tracey Brown is also Honorary Professor in the Department of Science, Technology, Engineering and Public Policy (STEaPP) at UCL.
Otto Bruun is Chairman of the management committee at UAS4EUROPE, the alliance of 450 European universities of applied sciences and institutes of technology focused on applied research. He is also Senior European Adviser for Innovation at SwissCore, the Swiss liaison office to the EU for education, research, and innovation. In this role, he works closely with the Swiss State Secretariat for Education, Research and Innovation (SERI), Innosuisse, and swissuniversities. He served as national expert in the Swiss delegation to the Horizon 2020 programme committee and he represents Innosuisse in TAFTIE at the working group level.
Before joining Swisscore, he was a research associate for four years at the Swiss National Centre for Competence in Research for Affective Sciences and subsequently took on the role of head of operations at ID-ch, providing management services to Swiss SMEs and start-ups. He also served as consulting grants adviser at the Swiss Centre for Affective Sciences and project lead at the University of Geneva, promoting participation in EU research and innovation programmes. He holds an M.Phil in Philosophy from the University of Geneva, Switzerland and an M.A. in History from the University of St. Andrews, UK.
Thomas Alslev Christensen works as Senior Vice President for Impact at the Novo Nordisk Foundation. He is the former Head of Operations at the Novo Nordisk Foundation. He has worked in the Foundation as from August 2014. He acts as international STI policy advisor and evaluation expert in international research programmes and policy advisory committees in Germany, Norway, Ireland, the European Commission and Singapore. He is also the chairman of RegLab a national STI-network organisation.
He has previously worked 27 years in several ministries, including the Ministry of Economic Affairs and the Prime Minister’s Office where he was an advisor to the vice prime minister and the prime minister, respectively in European economic and monetary integration and international economic affairs. He has also worked as Head of the Department for Innovation Policy at the Ministry for Science, Innovation and Higher Education 2005-2014 and as Head of Department for analyses on science and innovation 2013-2014. He was the Head of Secretariat at the Danish Council for Technology and Innovation 2006-2014.
Thomas Alslev Christensen holds a master degree in economics at the University of Copenhagen and a PhD in international finance and monetary policy at the Copenhagen Business School.
Lorenzo Compagnucci, Ph.D., MSc in Economics, MSc in Law, is Postdoctoral Researcher in Applied Economics at the Department of Law of the University of Macerata (UniMC – Italy) which is focused on SSHs.
His main research fields are the Third Mission of the university, entrepreneurship education, innovation, blockchain technology and its applications, cultural and creative industries. He is member of the scientific committee of the Italian Society of Economic and Industrial Policy (SIEPI) and of the c.MET05 National University Centre for Applied Economic Studies. He collaborates with the Office for the Valorisation of the Research (ILO) and Placement of UniMC. In particular, he manages the scientific activities of the Laboratory for Humanism Creativity and Innovation (LUCI). LUCI aims at fostering an entrepreneurial attitude among undergraduates and graduates in SSHs. He contributes to the organization of the scientific activities of CreaHUB of UniMC, the co-working space for cultural industries.
He is a lawyer. He has (co-)authored peer reviewed papers in international journals. He has carried out research, teaching and participation in conferences in China, Ethiopia, the United States, the United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland, Denmark, Norway, Spain, Croatia and Portugal.
Beverley is the Group Executive: Science Engagement and Corporate Relations of the National Research Foundation of South Africa, driving policy and strategy development and implementation in the areas of advancement of research, public communication and engagement with science, transformation and gender; as well as corporate communications and stakeholder engagement. The NRF is the premier research and science support agency in South Africa and promotes South Africa’s research interests across the country and internationally.
She has more than a decade of executive leadership experience, having been the previous Executive Director of the South African Agency for Science and Technology Advancement (SAASTA) from 2003-2012. She has well established international networks and has represented the NRF in various international portfolios and platforms.
She is a member of The International Women’s Forum of South Africa (IWFSA), the NRF Board, the Advisory Board of the South African Young Academy of Science (SAYAS) and the recently joined as a member of the Board of The Conversation Africa (TCA). She also served as an immediate past member of the Technology and Human Resources for Industry Programme (THRIP) Advisory Board, Cape Town Science Centre Board and the Scienza Science Centre of the University of Pretoria Board.
She obtained a BSc (Microbiology and Plant Pathology), B.Ed and MEd from the then University of Natal (now University of KwaZulu Natal) and a doctorate degree (Education Policy and Management) from the University of Pretoria.
Rick Delbridge is Professor of Organizational Analysis at Cardiff Business School and co-convenor of the Centre for Innovation Policy Research at Cardiff University. He is a Board Member of the Campaign for Social Sciences in the UK, was a member of the Interdisciplinary Advisory Board for REF2021 and is currently an Impact Assessor for the Business & Management REF2021 sub-panel. He is the University lead for the design and delivery of the Cardiff Capital Region Challenge Fund and the Special Adviser for Research & Innovation to the President of the Learned Society of Wales. He recently co-authored a report Scoping the Future of Innovation Policy in Wales for the Welsh Government.
Claire Donovan is Professor of Higher Education, and Deputy Head (Research and Enterprise) in the School of Education, Faculty of Education, Health and Human Sciences, Institute of Lifecourse Development, University of Greenwich, London. Prior to joining Greenwich, Claire was a Reader at Brunel University London (2010-20) and she held research and teaching positions in the Research School of Social Sciences, The Australian National University (2003-2010); Nuffield College, Oxford University (2001-03); and The Open University (1999-2001).
Professor Donovan has pioneered cross-disciplinary research on research evaluation and policy, including assessing the wider impacts of research on society, and the governance of the humanities, arts, and social sciences within science systems. In 2006, Australia's Chief Scientist appointed her Chair of the Australian Government's Technical Working Group on Research Impact, tasked with recommending the optimum methodology for assessing the wider economic, social, environmental and cultural impact of university research. She championed the use of case studies and narratives alongside robust impact indicators. The work of this group influenced the design of the 'impact' component of the UK's 2014 Research Excellence Framework.
Claire has given policy advice to government research funding agencies in Australia, Canada, Denmark, France, Ireland, New Zealand, Norway, Sweden, and the USA. Claire has been an invited Visiting Fellow at several universities including: Research School of Social Sciences, The Australian National University; Centre for Research in the Arts, Social Sciences and Humanities (CRASSH), Cambridge University; Oxford University Department of Education; Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University; Department of Government, London School of Economics; Science, Technology and Society Cluster, National University of Singapore; and the Science Policy Research Unit (SPRU), University of Sussex. She was an Elected Associate Member of Nuffield College, Oxford University (2003-05), was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society for the Arts in 2013, and has been a Board Member of the Campaign for Social Science since 2015.
Nicola Francesco Dotti is a senior researcher in policy studies and evaluation at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB) in the ECOOM unit. He holds a PhD from the Polytechnic University of Milan and worked previously for the EU Commission and the Université Libre de Bruxelles (ULB). His research interests focus on how to conceptualise, monitor and track the societal impact of research, estimating the economic impacts of R&I expenditures, and the EU policy. In 2018, he edited a volume on “Knowledge, Policymaking and Learning for European Cities and Regions” on the notion of place-based research-policy dialogue.
As Director of the international AESIS Network Anika brings together stakeholders in academia, government, industry and civil society to exchange experiences and best practices on demonstrating and optimising the impact of world-class science on economy, culture and well-being. Besides developing conferences, courses and expert-meetings on several aspects within this spectrum, such as impact assessment, research strategy, science policy and many more, she also frequently performs as speaker on mapping stakeholders in the science impact eco-system and teaching skills for project management and engagement with non-academic players.
Anika received her Research Master’s degree in Political Science and Public Administration from Leiden University, the Netherlands, where she continued working on research projects and teaching programmes for two years. Her project management skills were gained through her work at Médecins du Monde, TEDx and the film industry. With a Musical Theatre degree from AMDA - New York in her back pocket Anika still manages to write and perform whenever she is not busy trying to help increase the utilisation of scientific knowledge and data for the wellbeing of people and the world they live in.
Michael Gastrow is the Acting Director of the Science in Society unit within the Impact Centre of the Human Sciences Research Council, South Africa. The Impact Centre drives the HSRC’s impact missions, including research impact, communication, the research-policy interface, and broader social impact. Michael’s research focus is on science communication, the public understanding of science, innovation systems, and research impact. He holds a PhD in Science Communication from the University of Stellenbosch. He is a Professor of Practice at the DST/NRF/Newton Fund Trilateral Research Chair in Transformative Innovation, the 4th Industrial Revolution and Sustainable Development at the University of Johannesburg, and a Research Fellow of the Centre for Research into Evaluation, Science, and Technology (CREST) at the University of Stellenbosch. He was formerly a member of the Presidential Advisory Commission on the Fourth Industrial Revolution. He passionate about the role of science and technology in society, particularly in the ways they can foster constructive public discourse and inclusive human development.
Johan Hanssens is Secretary-general of the Department of Economy, Science & Innovation within the Flemish administration since 1 december 2015. He holds master’s degrees in economics and law from KU Leuven. He started his career in the banking sector. From 2000 to 2015 he was advisor (deputy chief of staff / chief of staff) of different party leaders in Flanders and ministers in the Flemish government. He advocates the ‘quadruple helix’ Research & Innovation model and transformational innovation policy.
Ted Hewitt was appointed president of SSHRC in March 2015. He served as the inaugural chair of the Canada Research Coordinating Committee from 2017 to 2019. Ted was vice-president, research and international relations, at Western University in London, Ontario, from 2004 to 2011, where he had been a professor of sociology since 1989. He was also a public policy scholar at the Brazil Institute of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington, D.C. A leading authority on Brazil, Ted has published in monographs, edited works and a range of academic journals. In 2018, Brazil’s Ministry of Foreign Relations named him Grand Officer of the Order of Rio Branco—one of the highest levels of merit—for the many years he has fostered bilateral business and research partnerships between Brazil and Canada.
Ted’s current research focuses on national and international innovation systems, with emphasis on the roles of universities, industry and government in promoting economic prosperity in Latin America and beyond. He is co-chair of the Canada-Brazil Joint Committee for Cooperation on Science, Technology and Innovation, and a member of the board of the Brazil-Canada Chamber of Commerce.
Ted holds a PhD in sociology from McMaster University.
Ted’s current research focuses on national and international innovation systems, with emphasis on the roles of universities, industry and government in promoting economic prosperity in Latin America and beyond. He is co-chair of the Canada-Brazil Joint Committee for Cooperation on Science, Technology and Innovation, and a member of the board of the Brazil-Canada Chamber of Commerce.
Ted holds a PhD in sociology from McMaster University,
Hans Jonker is researcher at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB) in the ECOOM unit. He holds a masters degree in Sociology from the University of Antwerp and worked previously for the Centre for Research on Environmental and Social Change (CRESC). His research interests focus on science communication and research translation.
Noel Klima is coordinator of the interdisciplinary consortium with focus on societal impact IDC Crime, Criminology & Criminal Policy at Ghent University. He is acting as Head of Knowledge Transfer, Engagement and Societal Impact at the consortium promoting a range of capacity building initiatives to foster knowledge transfer and societal value creation of research. He is member of CESAER’s Task Force Linking SSH with STEM, steering group member of UGent’s SSH-led business development center i4S - Smart Solutions for Secure Societies and Board Member at a youth welfare organization.
He is involved in the EU project SEU – Socially Engaged Universities and leads the UGent team in the EU project Communities and Students Together (CaST). He is regularly involved in local co-creation initiatives with stakeholders and end-users and other interdisciplinary/transdisciplinary research and teaching innovation initiatives. He is co-editor of the book Engaged learning in Europe (Maklu).
Noel Klima has a broad experience working at the interface of research, practice and policy working in different organisations on local, national and international level (e.g. United Nations Interregional Crime and Justice Research Institute – UNICRI, Belgian Federal Public Service Home Affairs, European Crime Prevention Network (EUCPN), Institute for International Research on Criminal Policy (IRCP), Municipal Youth Welfare Service).
Noël Klima received his PhD and Master in Criminology from Ghent University and studied law at the Westfälische Wilhelms-University Münster, University of Reims Champagne-Ardenne and Radboud University Nijmegen.
Thomas Koenig is Head of Strategy and Scientific Services at the Institute for Advanced Studies (IHS). He has been responsible for implementing the new IHS mission; among other things, this concerns negotiating performance agreements with research groups, drafting the annual work program, establishing and monitoring internal scientific service units, supporting the IHS Scientific Advisory Board, and preparing the external evaluation in 2019. He is also introducing the new IHS fellowship program and coordinating IHS’s growing group of PhD candidates.
Academically, Dr. Koenig works on questions related to the governance of science and, more broadly, the sociology of science and innovation. Ongoing projects relate to the history and sociology of social sciences, research funding and research policy in the EU, and touch on issues such as academic autonomy, decision-making, bibliometrics, impact analysis. His most recent publications include a monograph on the European Research Council, the first comprehensive analysis of its history, organisational setup, and impact, which has been published with Polity Press in January 2017. In recent years, he has been a Governing Board member of the grassroots organisation EuroScience (2012-2018). Since 2018, he has been a member of the editorial team of the Journal Serendipities (also Open Access).
Professor Wendy Larner is Provost at Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington. She completed a BSocSci at Waikato (1983), MA (First Class Hons) at Canterbury (1989), and her PhD as a Canadian Commonwealth Scholar at Carleton University in Ottawa, Canada (1997). She has held academic positions at the University of Waikato (NZ), University of Auckland (NZ), and University of Bristol (UK). She has also been a Fulbright Fellow at the University of Wisconsin-Madison (US), Distinguished Visiting Fellow at Queen Mary University, London (UK), and a Guest Professor at the University of Frankfurt (Germany).
Wendy’s research is in the interdisciplinary fields of globalisation, governance and gender. She has published over 80 refereed articles and book chapters, nine monographs, edited collections and special issues, and delivered over 100 invited lectures/keynote addresses across four continents.
Wendy is a Fellow of the Royal Society Te Apārangi, a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences (UK), a Fellow of the New Zealand Geographical Society, and a Principal Fellow of the Higher Education Academy. She is a recipient of the Royal Geographical Society’s Victoria Medal, New Zealand’s Women of Influence Award for Innovation and Science, and the New Zealand Geographical Society’s 2021 Distinguished New Zealand Geographer Award and Medal.
Sandra Lapointe is Professor of Philosophy at McMaster University and Research Affiliate at the Bertrand Russell Research Centre. She obtained her PhD in Philosophy from the University of Leeds (UK) in 2000. A Commonwealth alumna, Fellow of the Humboldt Foundation, her scholarly work focuses on the history of the philosophical study of logic, mind and language in the 19th and 20th centuries. She is the author and editor of 12 books and several dozens of articles and book chapters. She is a Founding Associate Editor and current Editor for Special Issues for the Journal for the History of Analytical Philosophy. She is a past President of the Canadian Philosophical Association, a member of the Board of Directors of the Federation for the Humanities and Social Sciences, and a Research Affiliate of the Future Skills Centre. She is Project Director for The/La Collaborative (www.yourcollaborative.org), a partnered initiative with the mission to foster better collaborative culture around social science and humanities education, talent and impact.
Karen Maguire is a Head of Division managing the OECD's Local Employment and Economic Development Programme in the Centre for Entrepreneurship, SMEs, Regions and Cities. The Programme provides data, policy analysis and capacity building to national and subnational governments in the areas of local economic development, local actions for employment and skills, entrepreneurship, the social economy and culture. Over the last 15 years at the OECD, she has authored numerous OECD publications on local development, innovation and clusters. Prior to joining the OECD, Maguire worked as an investment banker for UBS in New York, an international consultant in economic development and a research analyst for the Urban Institute in Washington, DC. She holds a BA in economics and sociology from the University of Chicago and an MPP from Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government.
André Martinuzzi is the founding director of the Institute for Managing Sustainability and associate professor at the Vienna University of Economics and Business. For 20 years he has co-ordinated projects funded by the EU Framework Programmes, on behalf of six different EU DGs, Eurostat, UN organizations and for several national ministries. His current research activities focus on Responsible Innovation, Sustainability Management and Circular Economy. Between 2001 and 2010 he designed and implemented the UNESCO awarded international training programme “EASY-ECO – Evaluation of Sustainability” that consisted of a comprehensive eLearning platform, on-site trainings and seven major conferences. Between 2009 and 2015 he designed and implemented knowlege brokerage systems for researchers, policy makers and business in two EU funded projects (CORPUS and RESPONDER). During the same time he designed and implemented an internet-based monitoring system for the 7th EU Framework Programme (www.FP7-4-SD.eu) and served as a rapporteur for its ex-post evaluation. Between 2014 and 2017 he coordinated the EU project www.GLOBAL-VALUE.eu, that developed a tool navigator for corporate impact assessment and management. In the last years he coordinated two EU funded projects on Responsible Innovation (www.INNOVATION-COMPASS.eu and www.LIVING-INNOVATION.net) in collaboration with major corporations, such as Infineon, Atos, Telefonica, and Ericsson.
Lorenzo Melchor Fernandez is a policy analyst at the Joint Research Centre (JRC), the European Commission's science and knowledge service, where he works towards strengthening science-for-policy ecosystems across the EU and its Member states. Lorenzo has extensive experience in designing and implementing programmes to bring science, policy and diplomacy together, and to build up institutional and individual capacity for evidence-informed policymaking. Prior to joining the European Commission’s JRC, he has been science advice and diplomacy officer at the Spanish Foundation for Science and Technology (FECYT) (2019-2021) working on the Horizon 2020-funded project S4D4C about European science diplomacy, as well as science adviser at the Spanish Embassy in London (2015-2018).
Lorenzo is a PhD in Molecular Biology by the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid (2008), having developed academic research in cancer genetics in Spain, USA and UK for 13 years and published over 30 peer-reviewed publications. Lorenzo also holds a Master in Policy Analysis by the Universitat Oberta de Catalunya (2021); and he has published articles, book chapters, and policy reports about the interface of science, policy and diplomacy.
Sir Geoff Mulgan is Professor of Collective Intelligence, Public Policy & Social Innovation at University College London (UCL). He was CEO of Nesta, the UK's innovation foundation from 2011-2019. From 1997-2004 Geoff had roles in UK government including director of the Government's Strategy Unit and head of policy in the Prime Minister's office. He has been a reporter on BBC TV and radio and was the founder/cofounder of many organisations, including Demos, Uprising, the Social Innovation Exchange and Action for Happiness. He has a PhD in telecommunications and has been visiting professor at LSE and Melbourne University, and senior visiting scholar at Harvard University. Past books include ‘The Art of Public Strategy’ (OUP), ‘Good and Bad Power’ (Penguin), ‘Big Mind: how collective intelligence can change our world’ (Princeton UP) and ‘Social innovation’ (Policy Press).
His Twitter handle is @geoffmulgan. His website is geoffmulgan.com
Wendy Naus became the fourth Executive Director of COSSA in 2014 following a decade of lobbying for the federal research and policy interests of scientific societies and U.S. universities. Over her career, she has worked to shape legislation, programs, and regulations important to the research community and has advocated for increased research funding across federal agencies. In her role at COSSA, Wendy serves as the lead advocate for federal funding and policy that positively impact social and behavioral science research across the federal government, representing the breadth of the social science research enterprise. She is also responsible for the day to day operations of COSSA and member engagement. A native of Buffalo, New York, Wendy holds a B.A. in political science and urban studies from Canisius College, graduating magna cum laude from the All-College Honors Program.
David Budtz Pedersen is Professor of Science Communication and Director of the Humanomics Research Centre in Copenhagen, Denmark. His research focuses on evidence-informed policy-making, science advice and impact assessment. He frequently acts as speaker and adviser to international governments and funding agencies. David Budtz has about 150 entries on his list of publications ranging from research papers, research monographs, edited volumes, policy reports, op-ed columns and newspaper articles. He is the Chair of the EU COST High-Level Expert Group on Science Communication (2020-2022). In 2020, he was appointed Knowledge Broker for Algorithms, Data and Democracy by the Villum & Velux Foundations. Starting in 2022, Prof. Pedersen joins Kyoto University’s International Advisory Board for the L-INSIGHT Global Excellence Programme.
Sally O’Connor is the Director of Operations, Social Science Research Park (SPARK) at Cardiff University. SPARK is a £60m investment in the world’s first social science research park where 350 researchers will co-locate with up to 400 external partners and organisations, alongside graduate start-ups and business engagement, entrepreneurship and commercial development staff in a bespoke environment on the University’s Innovation Campus. Through a focus on connectivity it will create a stimulating environment for creative interaction and collaboration to tackle societal challenges. Sally has been involved in the conceptual development of the SPARK through to it’s implementation in a new building opening early in 2022
Prior to this Sally has worked in a variety of roles in the University including as Research Development Manager for the College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences supporting large scale multi-and interdisciplinary projects in partnership with external organisations from the public, private and third sectors. Prior to this she worked in the private sector including for a management consulting firm.
Dr. Antti Pelkonen is Science Specialist at the Prime Minister’s Office in Finland. Working in the interface between research and policy-making, he is responsible for preparing the Finnish Government’s annual analysis, assessment and research plan, a 9 m€ funding program intended to support the direct needs of governmental decision-making with up-to-date research-based evidence. He is expert and experienced analyst in evidence-informed policy-making and research and innovation policy. Prior to joining the Prime Minister’s Office, he has had an extensive career in research and he also holds the position of adjunct professor of innovation studies at the University of Helsinki, Department of Social Research.
Aurelija Povilaike is a Professional at the Interface of Science (PIoS) - a professional with overlapping skills and experience in research management and development, research policy and impact.
For nearly 15 years Aurelija has been living in the UK and had an opportunity to work at University for the Creative Arts, University of Kent and Queen Mary University of London.
As a Head of Research Development (HSS Faculty) at Queen Mary University of London, Aurelija has been adding value to the research culture and environment, leading a team, supporting researchers and the institution in developing and delivering on their research strategy. The research impact was an integral part in building stronger research culture (developing pathways to impact for Research Councisl applications, overseeing impact case studies preparation for Research Excellence Framework).
For the last ten months Aurelija has been living in Lithuania and working as National Contact Point (NCP) at the Research Council of Lithuania. The solid experience in supporting research and impact development, allows Aurelija to form a holistic view of what agendas are being set for impact at the different institutions in Lithuania and how a top-down impact agenda in Horizon Europe is being embraced (or not) by researchers.
Mikkel has worked with innovation since before it became a word and has helped drive successful strategy shifts at some of the world’s biggest brands. He is particularly energized by insights gained from a synthesis of human science, computer science, and engineering and his work often explores how businesses can build solutions directly from these insights and quickly test their performance among customers and users.
Mikkel is a well-known keynote speaker and provocateur reflecting on innovation, business creativity, and the practical application of the human sciences. He has written numerous articles and has been featured in Businessweek, The Economist, Financial Times, Harvard Business Review, The Atlantic, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post and in BBC radio and TV. His book, The Moment of Clarity, co-written with Christian Madsbjerg and published by Harvard Business Press in the fall of 2014, has been translated into 15+ languages. He has graduate degrees in Public Economics from Roskilde University as well as in Innovation Management from Limburg University in The Netherlands.
Johan Rooryck is Executive Director of cOAlition S and a professor of linguistics at Leiden University. He is the editor-in-chief of the Fair Open Access journal Glossa: a journal of general linguistics since 2016. From 1999 to 2015, he was the executive editor of Lingua (Elsevier), when its Editorial Team and Board, as well as its reader and author community, decided to leave Lingua to found Glossa. He also is a founding member and president of the Fair Open Access Alliance (FOAA) and Linguistics in Open Access (LingOA). He is a Member of the Academia Europaea.
Fanny Sbaraglia is scientific advisor of the SciencePo Policy lab at the Université libre de Bruxelles. She is also member of the Centre d’étude de la vie politique (CEVIPOL) and the Research Center for Social Change (TRANSFO at the ULB. She has finished her PhD on the sub-national implementation of the European Social Fund in 2018. Since then, her research has focused on the hybrid structures between research and public policy. In this context, she has been part of the development of the policy lab atf the ULB which is the first one in the French-speaking Belgian universities.
Kara has worked in research, monitoring, and evaluation for over 15 years. She has worked with a range of organisations, both government and not-for-profits, across a range of sectors including health, education, sport and recreation, innovation, regulatory systems, the environmental sector, and international development.
Although Kara thought she was destined for a career in applied science, she accidently fell into the evaluation profession shortly after completing her PhD. The practical and applied nature of evaluation was a great fit for Kara’s pragmatic approach to research. On discovering this new toolkit and seeing how much value it can bring to any endeavour, she has become particularly passionate about building non-evaluators skills to better understand and use evaluative thinking and practice maximise the impact of their work. This has included an exciting project working to build the evaluation capability of researchers across New Zealand’s seven Crown Research Institutes. This collaborative effort is being spearheaded by their joint ‘Impact Planning Evaluation Network – iPEN’.
Gunnar Sivertsen established bibliometrics as a field of research in Norway in 1988 and has since then frequently contributed to the core conferences and journals of the field. He has impacted not only the academic field of bibliometrics and research evaluation, but also advised the development of the research evaluation and funding systems in several countries (e.g., AU, BE, CN, CZ, DK, FI, IS, GB, NO, PO, PT, SE) in direct interaction with governments, institutions, and academic communities. One of his topics of expertise is the evaluation and stimulation of societal impact. See his contribution to AESIS Newsletter, December 2019: Normal and extraordinary impact: A new framework for understanding and evaluating the societal relations of research.
Dr. Malinda S. Smith is a political science professor and the inaugural Vice Provost (Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion) and at the University of Calgary. She is a former Vice President Equity Issues for the Federation for the Humanities and Social Sciences, and currently serves as Chair of its Advisory Committee on Equity, Diversity, Inclusion and Decolonization. She serves on the Statistics Canada Working Group on Black communities in Canada, the Canada Research Chairs Advisory Committee on Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Policy, and the Inter-Institutional Advisory Committee for National Dialogues and Action for Inclusive Higher Education and Communities.
Dr. Smith has published widely in areas of international and comparative politics, and equity, diversity, and human rights. She is a coauthor of The Equity Myth: Racialization and Indigenity at Canadian Universities (2017), and a coeditor of the forthcoming book, Nuances of Blackness in the Canadian Academy (UofT Press, 2021). She is also editor of Securing Africa: Post-9/11 Discourses on Terrorism (2010), Beyond the African Tragedy: Discourses on Development and the Global Economy (2006), and Globalizing Africa (2003); and coeditor of Critical Concepts: An Introduction to Politics, 6/E under revision with OUP; and States of Race: Critical Race Feminism for the 21st Century (2010).
Dr. Smith is a 2018 Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation Fellow. She’s won numerous awards, including the 2020 Susan S. Northcutt Award from the International Studies Association, and the 2020 Rosalind Smith Professional Award from the National Black Coalition of Canada-Edmonton.
Toby Smith has served at AAU since January 2003. As Vice President for Policy, he oversees AAU’s policy projects, initiatives and activities including the AAU Undergraduate STEM education and PhD education initiatives. He is responsible for matters relating to science and innovation policy and broader impacts of science.
He shares responsibility for matters concerning research costs and compliance issues including facilities and administrative costs, export controls, scientific openness and security, technology transfer and regulatory reform. He also staffs the Senior Research Officers constituent group.
Prior to joining AAU in January 2003, Toby worked as a federal relations representative in the Washington D.C. Offices of the University of Michigan (1999-2002) and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (1992-1999). He began his Washington career on Capitol Hill as a legislative assistant to Congressman Bob Traxler (D-Michigan).
Toby has written and spoken widely on science policy and funding issues. He is the co-author a book on national science policy published in 2008 by the University of Michigan Press titled, Beyond Sputnik – U.S. Science Policy in the 21stCentury. He is a member of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine Roundtable on the Communication and Use of Social and Behavioral Sciences and serves on the Advisory Board to the National Alliance for Broader Impacts (NABI). He is also a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
Toby holds a master’s degree in Legislative Affairs from George Washington University, and a Bachelor of General Studies (BGS) degree from the University of Michigan.
Wendy Steele is an Associate Professor in the School of Global, Urban and Social Studies, and co-leader of the Critical Urban Governance research program in the Centre for Urban Research, RMIT University, Melbourne Australia.
Her research focuses on the politics and practices of sustainable urban development with a particular emphasis on cities in climate change, the role of higher education and the need for rethinking research impact as ethos. Her recent books include: 'Planning Wild Cities: Rethinking Human-Nature Relationships' (Routledge 2020) and 'The Sustainable Development Goals and Higher Education: A Transformative Agenda' (with Lauren Rickards, Palgrave 2021).
Dr. Tandon is an internationally acclaimed leader and practitioner of participatory research and development. He is Founder-President of Participatory Research in Asia (PRIA), a global centre for participatory research & training since 1982. He is also Co-Chair of the UNESCO Chair in Community Based Research and Social Responsibility in Higher Education since 2012. The UNESCO Chair grows out of and supports UNESCO’s global lead to play ‘a key role in assisting countries to build knowledge societies’. Dr. Tandon also heads the Forum for Indian Development Corporation (FIDC) as its Chairperson. He is Chairperson of the Committee to carry out appraisal of the scheme 'Unnat Bharat Abhiyan' and Member of Expert Group for Development of Educational Framework for Global Citizenship in Higher Education Institutions, constituted by the University Grants Commission.
Engineering in Electronics from IIT, Kanpur, MBA from IIM Calcutta and PhD in Management from Case Western Reserve University, USA, Dr. Tandon left his teaching job at IIM Calcutta to support & champion the cause of building organisations and capacities of the marginalised through their knowledge, learning and empowerment. A pioneer of participatory research, Dr. Tandon has given new meaning to academic research by redefining the relationship between the researcher and the researched. He has been contributing to the emergence of several local, National and International groups and initiatives to promote authentic and participatory development of societies.
Dr. Tandon has served on numerous Expert Committees of Govt. of India, UGC, UN, Commonwealth and World Bank. In 2015, the Indian Adult Education Association (IAEA) awarded Dr. Tandon the Nehru Literacy Award. For his distinguished work on gender issues, the Government of India honoured him with the prestigious Award in ‘Social Justice’ in March, 2007. The University of Victoria, Canada, awarded Dr. Tandon the degree of Doctor of Law (Honoris Causa) in June 2008. He is the first Indian to be inducted to the International Adult and Continuing Education (IACE) Hall of Fame (class of 2011). He is also the first Indian scholar to be inducted in Academy of Engagement Scholarship in 2019.
After defending his dissertation on LGBT+ televisibility in Dutch-language Belgian fiction series in 2019, dr. Florian Vanlee started working at ECOOM-VUB, where he studies the registration and evaluation of arts & design research outcomes and their position in research governance. In addition, he has developed a complementary line of inquiry on societal impact assessment of university research. Since 2020, he acts as editor-in-chief of DiGeSt: Journal of Diversity and Gender Studies.
Dr. Sarah Jones Weicksel, a historian and material culture scholar, is the Director of Research and Publications at the American Historical Association, where she oversees the AHA’s research initiatives and publications program. She is also a Research Associate at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History. The author of several peer-reviewed articles, she is currently at work on a book about the American Civil War era. The project focuses on how people used clothing both to wage a cultural and political war against one another and as a tool for living through this conflict. Dr. Weicksel earned a PhD in History from the University of Chicago, an MA in American Material Culture from the Winterthur Program at the University of Delaware, and a BA in History from Yale University.
Hans Willems is Secretary General of the Research Foundation – Flanders (FWO). He is by training an historian. His PhD covers the liberalization of the Belgian stock exchange(s) in the 19th century. After his studies at the VUB, he got his PhD at UAntwerpen. In 2007 he joined the staff of FWO, the main funder of fundamental and basic strategic research in Flanders. First as policy advisor and since 2010 as director Research Policy. He is chairman of the Finance Committee and member of the General Assembly of Science Europe, member of EWI-MC, Steering Committee member of the EU-Platform and observer of Hermesbeslissingscomité.
James Wilsdon is Digital Science Professor of Research Policy at the University of Sheffield and Director of the Research on Research Institute (RoRI), an international consortium working to advance transformative research on research systems, cultures and decision-making. Over a 25-year career, in addition to posts at the universities of Sheffield, Sussex and Lancaster, James has worked in think tanks and as director of science policy for the Royal Society, the UK’s national academy. Previously, he chaired the UK’s Campaign for Social Science, and led an independent government review of responsible uses of research metrics, published in 2015 as The Metric Tide. He was co-founder—and from 2015-2021, vice-chair—of the International Network for Government Science Advice (INGSA). In 2015, he was elected a Fellow of the UK’s Academy of Social Sciences. He serves on the editorial board of the OA journal Humanities and Social Sciences Communications, and tweets @jameswilsdon.
Walter Ysebaert obtained degrees in Social Work, History, and Early Medieval and Byzantine History, and a Ph.D. in Medieval History (2004). He is co-promotor of ECOOM VUB, research professor, and coordinator of the Data Office – SIA at Vrije Universiteit Brussel. He is interested in research on the societal valorisation of the human and social sciences (and their social impact), history, the evolution and impact of funding and research policy on HEI’s, and institutional data policy. He previously also worked at the Cabinet of the Minister of Economy, Innovation and Science Policy.
Lin Zhang is Full Professor at the Department for Information Management, and the director of Center of Science, Technology & Education Assessment in Wuhan University in China. She is also a Guest Professor at the Center for R&D Monitoring (ECOOM) at KU Leuven in Belgium. Her research interests include bibliometrics, research evaluation and research policy. She currently services at the international journal of Scientometrics as an associate editor, and editorial board member of Quantitative Science Studies, and Journal of Data and Information Science. She is a board member of the International Society for Scientometrics and Informetrics, and the vice-director of Chinese Association for Scientometrics and Informetrics. She is the Principal Investigator for several national projects funded by National Science Foundation of China.
Koen Verlaeckt was born in 1966 in Dendermonde, Belgium. He obtained his university degree in history and his Ph.D. degree in archaeology, both at Ghent University. Nationally and internationally, he published several books and articles, specializing in the archaeology of the Bronze Age (c. 2000-750 BC), both in Flanders and Denmark.
In 1997 he joined the Flemish Science and Innovation administration, where he was responsible for policy work in several fields, including basic research, bilateral international S&T co-operation, research infrastructures and the Marie Curie actions.
From 1 March 2006 to 9 October 2007 Koen Verlaeckt served the Government of Flanders as Head of Cabinet and as senior advisor in charge of science and innovation policy.
Between 21 April 2008 and 31 March 2018 he headed the Flanders Department of Foreign Affairs as Secretary General.
As of 1 April 2018 Koen leads the Flemish Interuniversity Council (VLIR) as Secretary General. The National Rectors’ Conference for Flanders groups the five Flemish universities. As a member organisation it is active in a wide variety of subjects, such as higher education and quality assurance, research and innovation, social policy and diversity, internationalisation, development cooperation, and university administration.
Bart Fransen is Head of the Centre for the Study of the Flemish Primitives at the Royal Institute for Cultural Heritage
He gained his degree as Doctor in History of Art from the Catholic University of Leuven in 2009 with a PhD on 'Rogier van der Weyden and Stone Sculpture in Brussels' (Harvey Miller, 2013). He worked at the Prado Museum, Madrid, the Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium, the Catholic University of Leuven and currently at the Royal Institute for Cultural Heritage. He publishes and lectures on Early Netherlandish art and on the artistic relations between the Burgundian Netherlands and Spain. He is project director of VERONA (Van Eyck Research in OpeN Access) which was awarded the European Heritage / Europa Nostra Award in 2019.
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