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In this edition: The Winter Course, Open Access, and many other (Christmas) impact stories and events, including the upcoming AESIS Course in Bilbao!
Dear all,

AESIS wants to thank you for your involvement, attention and participation in 2018. It has been a year full of valuable experiences in various parts of the world. Particularly, we are proud to have brought our annual Impact of Science conference to Canada, welcoming almost 300 participants. We are very happy to have broadened our network with impact experts from around the world, as we now have over 1100 members from 60+ countries, dedicated to increase and assess the impact of science! 

We are looking forward to 2019 with many more conferences, courses, workshops and webinars, travelling from Washington D.C to Bilbao and Berlin, in order to advance and evaluate the societal impact of science.

We look forward to meeting you there! Wishing you all the best for 2019,

The AESIS team
Calender
23-24 January 2019
11-13 February 2019
24-27 February 2019
27-29 March 2019
3-5 April, 2019
21-23 May 2019
6-7 June, 2019
October 2019
News
AESIS Winter Course: Integrating Societal Impact in a Research Strategy
 
''Intensive, insightful & impactful''
 
''Very concrete and big energy boost to go for more societal impact''

Last month, on 28-30 November, research managers, policy strategists and many others representing 11 countries participated in the international course in Leuven on how to evaluate and increase the societal impact of a research strategy. Their contributions generated an elaborate discussion on this issue, addressing frameworks such as the Research Excellence Framework, Horizon2020 and the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences, and applying different theories and hands-on examples to their own cases. By now, we have received great feedback, and are proud to announce that the general appreciation of the course was rated with an 8.9 out of 10.
 
The course was coordinated by Barend van der Meulen (Rathenau Instituut) and Kathryn Graham (Alberta Innovates), who set up and introduced a well-received case-study exercise for the participants that included a panel of judges composed of faculty. Other trainers of the course were Graeme Roosenberg (Teaching Excellence Framework), Borbala Schenk (EARMA), Mike Smith (Harper Keeley) and Marie-Claire Van de Velde (Ghent University).    

For more information and the course programme, please follow this link.

We will continue these discussions at the EARMA conference in March (Bologna, Italy) and on the national strategy level at the AESIS Spring Course in April (Bilbao, Spain).
Austrian Consortium Announces Support of SciPost
More and more Institutions and Research Funds are moving towards the direction of  embracing Open Access scientific journals and platforms. The Austrian Science Fund (FWF) formed a consortium with ten Austrian Research Institutes in order to support an Open Access publication platform in the field of physics, SciPost. It is the first consortium worldwide to announce support for an Open Access platform. Dr. Falk Reckling states that " SciPost is a ground-breaking role model for transitioning the academic publishing system towards Open Access and thus for implementing the Plan S Open Access initiative of cOAlition S." Read more
 
Connecting the European Higher Education Agenda with Open Science and Responsible Research and Innovation

The EnRRICH project (Enhancing Responsible Research and Innovation through Curricula in Higher education) was funded through Horizon 2020 with the aim to examine how Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI) could be embedded in higher education curricula. The project further aimed to employ the findings of the research in order to make graduates more connected to Open Science and mission-oriented research. 

They have recently published a policy brief with the title "Connecting the European Higher Education Agenda with Open Science and Responsible Research and Innovation" in which policy priorities to reach the goal are indentified. 

Read more
A (politics of) Christmas Impact Story

In 2011 the Westminster think-tank Theos commissioned Dr. Stephen Holmes from St. Andrews University to write a report on the " Politics of Christmas". The report, according to the REF website, "generated extensive discussion and reflection in the traditional media, online, and in church journals, in the UK and overseas, with the following impacts:
  1. Widespread increased awareness and discussion at an international level of the political context and claims of the gospel narratives;
  2. Changed attitudes and practices in churches in regard to the celebration of Christmas. "  
Read more
RSM and Global Compact NL Alliance

Rotterdam School of Management is collaborating with the Global Compact  Network Netherlands use management knowledge to advance the positive impact of businesses towards the UN Sustainable Development Goals. The UN Global Compact is "the world's largest initiative in the field of sustainability. Companies and stakeholders are joining forces with the United Nations to create a world that is more sustainable and socially."

Read More 
 
SDG Hub for Goal 7
The Energy Policy and Development Centre is an academic entity within the institutional framework of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens. It has also been chosen to be the SDG Hub for Goal 7: Ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all. One of its recent projects called Heron, according to the website, aimed at "facilitating policy makers to develop and monitor Energy Efficiency (EE) policies in building and transport sectors, through forward-looking socio-economic research in six EU and one candidate countries (Bulgaria, Germany, Greece, Estonia, the United Kingdom, Italy and Serbia)". Read More                                              
FROM OUR PARTNERS
Uncovering Clues to the Societal Impact of Research
Petra Ullrich (Elsevier)
 
An estimated 821 million people worldwide were undernourished in 2017, representing 11 percent of the global population, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). UN Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 2 aims to end hunger, but despite years of decline in undernourishment, it’s on the rise again.

Research is one way to address this problem. About 6,500 people at Wageningen University & Research (WUR) in the Netherlands are working on a range of sustainability issues, including tackling hunger. From developing innovative agriculture technologies to working out ways to reduce food waste and increase food security, they aim to contribute to achieving the UN’s goal of zero hunger by 2030.

Influencing society and policymakers is an important part of this. But how can researchers measure the contribution their work is making to achieve a goal like zero hunger? In other words, how can we measure the societal impact of science? And what can an institution do to increase its impact on society and policy?

Wageningen partnered with Elsevier to develop a project that would study WUR’s societal impact in this area by monitoring media mentions of its research outputs and researchers in mainstream news media, social media and policy documents. WUR were curious to see whether their societal impact was in line with their academic impact in the field and whether their work was having the impact they desired. 

Read more
FROM OUR MEMBERS
Increase Research Impact through Knowledge Mobilization
Caroline Duvieusart-Déry (Community Engaged Scholarship Institut, University of Guelph)

Increase research impact through knowledge mobilization! Sign up for the online Certificate in Knowledge Mobilization. 

Registration is now open for the Certificate in Knowledge Mobilization! Join other knowledge professionals from all around the world to increase the societal impact of science.

The program
The Certificate in Knowledge Mobilization builds capacity for the transformation of knowledge into action. Participants will learn to identify and address barriers to knowledge mobilization, transfer or exchange, and use tools and techniques to facilitate the development of evidence-informed policy and practice.

The program consists of three online courses:
1.    Inform: Processes of knowledge translation and dissemination (next offering: Fall 2019)
2.    Engage: Building capacity to understand and use relevant evidence (January 14 to March 10, 2019)
3.    Act: Transforming knowledge into action (April 8 to June 2, 2019)

Who should participate?
The certificate is targeted towards knowledge mobilization practitioners, researchers, policy-makers and service providers working in the social sciences, human services and health sectors. We also welcome graduate students interested in building research impact skills or planning to work in one of these fields.

Read More
The Canadian Science Policy Fellowship Program
Gail Bowkett (Innovation Policy, Mitacs)
 
The Canadian Science Policy Fellowship (CSPF) program is accepting applications for its 2019-20 cohort. This Mitacs pilot program, now in its fourth year, bridges academia and public policy by supporting fellowship placements in government for eligible PhDs from any discipline. Fellows participate in paid 12-month immersive placements in policy host offices, contributing their expertise to a broad range of issues and policy-development activities. 

Through these fellowships, host offices gain access to specialized academic expertise to address unique challenges while fellows learn to apply their research skills in a public policy context. Fellows have worked on such projects as: developing coordinated international responses to infectious disease outbreaks, investigating regulatory challenges of the medical uses of 3D printing technology, exploring water infrastructure storage solutions for farmers in an era of climate change, and reviewing enhanced automation, artificial intelligence, robotics, and autonomous decision-making in national security systems. Policy-related competencies developed through the program are based on the European Commission JRC’s Framework for Skills for Evidence-Informed Policy-Making. Throughout the fellowship, Mitacs provides professional development and networking opportunities to enhance fellows’ policy-related knowledge and capabilities. 

Mitacs is a national not-for-profit organization that designs and delivers research and training programs in Canada. For 20 years, Mitacs has worked with over 65 universities and academic institutions, thousands of companies, and federal and provincial governments to build partnerships that support talent development and deployment.

For more information please visit the Mitacs CSPF website
 

Special Issue of "Publications", Call for Papers

Benedict Fecher (Alexander von Humboldt Institute for Internet and Society)

In the light of global challenges, such as climate change, migration, and digitization, policy makers and funding agencies increasingly expect societal engagement and applicable results from academic research. Establishing deeper engagement with industry, politics, media, and civil society has become a key concern for universities who have established a third mission alongside their core teaching and research missions. The third mission is set on three pillars: continuing education, social engagement, and (knowledge) transfer.

This ‘third mission’ can thus be understood as an umbrella term that subsumes a whole range of activities with the overall aim of linking academia with society. Though societal engagement has always been a key task for universities, the increased public interest in recent years – in times in which academic knowledge creation itself is changing – has proven challenging for higher education institutions.

Read more

 

AESIS Spring Course "Implementing a National Research Impact Strategy"

3-5 April, in Bilbao, Spain

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 politics. The pressure increases on governmental and non-governmental science funding organisations to increase the extent to which they demonstrate the economical and societal returns on their investments in science.

In countries 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. Together policymakers, research councils and other stakeholders have to develop effective systems for the particular scientific climate in their country such as for example the Research Excellence Framework (REF) in the UK.

During this interactive training seminar, experts from multiple countries, leading the innovation in research funding approaches, will discuss their experiences and provide insights on how you can organise a national research impact strategy. The course brings together experiences of organisations, insights in the dynamics of research impact, as well as a hands on case study. We are proud to announce that this year's course directors are David Phipps (York University, Canada), David Sweeney (Research England, United Kingdom) and Paul Wouters (Leiden University, The Netherlands).
Information and Registration for the Course
AESIS members are invited to submit articles for the next newsletter. Not a member yet? Becoming one is free! Register now.
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