Responsible Research Assessment

UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) in collaboration with the UK Forum for Responsible Research Metrics and the National Research Foundation (NRF) in South Africa delivered a Global Research Council Virtual Conference on Responsible Research Assessment (RRA) throughout the week commencing 23 November 2020.

More than 1000 registered to attend the conference. The perspectives of 45 international speakers captured a lot of existing practices and approaches to RRA from funders internationally. Throughout the week there was open discussion on how all funders, regardless of their current engagement on issues of RRA, can improve on their assessment approaches to support a diverse and thriving research culture. Closed discussions in regional sessions held during conference week facilitated a deeper exploration of the themes arising from the plenary content and developed a greater understanding of regional perspectives.

Conference Summary Report

As part of the GRC’s 9th Annual Meeting, a Conference Summary Report has been published. This report presents the context for the conference, some key analytics and the main discussion outcomes in five themes. It also proposes next steps for the GRC. The report can be found here and annexes here.

Research on Research Institute working paper

Prior to the conference the Research on Research Institute (RoRI) launched a working paper on ‘The changing role of funders in responsible research assessment: progress, obstacles and the way ahead’. The paper sets out the state of play regarding RRA, exploring what RRA means and outlining existing principles/frameworks in the space. It also presents the findings from a survey of GRC participant organisations on their own RRA policies and practices carried out in September 2020. It asks for action from the GRC and its participants.

Looking forward

Further information about the GRC RRA working group is available here.

Want to catch up?

Conference content is now available to re-watch on the GRC YouTube channel, here.

If you have any questions, please contact us by emailing GRC-Events@UKRI.org.