Integrating Societal Impact in a Research Strategy 2018

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Science funders and research programme designers are constantly challenged to maintain an effective and efficient science funding system, while justifying the investments in scientific research towards their stakeholders. As a result of the economic downturn and the increased understanding of the limitations of existing justification frameworks, the pressure increases on governmental and non-governmental science funding organisations to increase the extent to which they demonstrate the socio-economical and societal returns on their investments in science.

In all parts of the world, experts are working on improving the process of measuring and demonstrating the impact of science on society. In the past years, new methods have been developed to better justify and demonstrate the societal impact of scientific research by universities and research institutions. Increasingly, research councils do not just ask to promise impact of new research ideas, but also to plan activities to involve stakeholders and realise impact. Universities and universities of applied sciences develop impact strategies at regional and sectoral level.

The challenge is also for the science policymakers and the other stakeholders to address. Together they have to develop effective systems for the particular scientific climate in their country. A number of systems have been set up to address this challenge – often initiated or stimulated by the science funding organisations: The Research Excellence Framework (REF) in the UK, the National Science Foundation (NSF) in the US and the EU research programs such as Horizon2020.

During this interactive training course, experts from multiple countries, leading the innovation in research funding approaches, will discuss their experiences. They provide insights on how you can organise a research strategy in such a way that it strengthens societal impact.