1. ISRIA Community of practice and thematic groups
Paula Adam

2. ISRIA values, again Neutral approach to frameworks, tools etc.
Transparent, open and accessible
Build a community of practice
Deliver social value
Useful, practical, feasible & cost effective
Advance understanding the theory & practice
Advance the evidence and practice base in RIA

3. 4 years ago, people wanting to
4 years ago, people wanting to learn to / use assess research impact assessment.....

4. Context Too academic and not practitioner focused debate
Poor ongoing local debate and isolation of interested stakeholders except in few countries like the UK or Canada
A nascent but diffused community of practice
A need to build international capacity, share practice and develop standards
A need to create a context where people could learn from experts and peers

5. The international School on RIA
Vision
The ISRIA vision is to lead global collaboration for excellence and innovation in research impact assessment in all fields of science
Aims:
Build sustainable capabilities and capacities
Advance knowledge and methodological innovation
Extend global reach

6. ACTIVITY
TIME

7. Context
1. Too academic and not practitioner focused debate

8. Context
2. Poor ongoing local debate and isolation of interested stakeholders except in few countries like the UK or Canada

9. Context
3. A nascent but diffused community of practice

10. Context
4. A need to build international capacity, share practice and develop standards

11. Context
5. A need to create a context where people could learn from experts and peers

12. The school concept

13. The school concept

14. The school concept

15. Santiago de Chile 2015
Barcelona 2013
The Hage 2015
Banff 2014
Doha 2015
Banff 2015

16. legacy Community Materials Guidebook RIA Plan in building blocks
Creative commonce license
About 30 countries
About 300 delegates and faculty members

17. In 4 years, what have we achieved?

18. Engagement in RIA activities
Use RIA to inform decisions or Compile RIA results, were the least undertaken activities
Adopt RIA language in communications, Identify RIA as an appropriate approach or Use frameworks and theory were the most undertaken activities
Related to the current level of skill
- Multiple choice

19. Use of ISRIA resources
- Multiple choice

20. Preliminary concluding remarks
There has been a satisfactory level of implementation of the contents taught at the ISRIA for local contexts and specific programs.
ISRIA has supported a collective engagement towards increased expertise in the applied science of RIA and enabled decision making tools for diffusing promising practices.
There are local, social, cultural and structural issues that can be approached globally.

21. So, what next?

22. The community of practice to create global value
After 4 years there is a sizeable community that can put together information, lessons and experiences
Advance practice-based RIA knowledge and solutions, and push forward the global RIA agenda
We are creating thematic groups

23. Thematic groups Identify issues of concern
Identify engaged champions to form a group
Work, elaborate and deliver together
Share with the community

24. Gender Group
Issue: explore if and how gender can be an issue in research impact assessment agenda and analysis.
Co-leaders: Pavel Ovseiko and Esther Vizcaíno

25. Proposed themes Gender in research impact assessment
Engagement in research
Mixed-methods approach
Effectiveness / usefulness in research impact assessment
Impact performance indicators
Impact narratives

26. Gender Group Published a commentary in a journal Achievements:
Ongoing analysis using REF 163 case studies categorized and analysed by Greenhalgh et al.

27. Engagement in research Group
One of the most concluding findings of different evidence-based RIA studies around the globe is the importance of people’s engagement and leadership.
Research is more impactful if researchers care about impact. But also if other stakeholders care too, including decision- makers but not only. It seems that including patients (in the case of health research) or society in general is important too.
Engagement then means taking a shared co-reponsability.

28. Mixed-methods Group
Goal: Deepening understanding of the validity of RIA methods across regions, sectors and disciplines.
Questions might include:
How transferable are approaches/frameworks and methods used in health to other areas?
What are the existing practices in these areas? What new ideas or ways of improving methods and tools can we create?
How can the explosion of data and tools collating data improve RIA, and what risks do these pose?
Co-leaders: Alex Pollitt, Maite Solans and xxxx

29. Effectiveness /usefulness of RIA Group
Goal: Formulating recommendations on how to ensure RIA is applied prudently and effectively
Rationale: As the era of assessment and accountability evolves, RIA practices are proliferating. Yet, one of the values of RIA is to engage only when is needed. This means motivating the context and also tailor your assessment according to the needs.
Co-leaders: Saba Hindrichs/ Alex Pollitt, XXX

30. Performance indicators Group
Issue: There is a growing demand globally for measuring and demonstrating the impact of research and innovation. However, measuring impact is a relatively emerging area. In reponse, as a community we have an opportunity to advance the discpline and science of impact measurement, as well as provide practical soloutions for practitioners.
Goal: Establish an international group and agree on standards and principles of good impact measurement, develop quality criteria for choosing impact indicators, share emerging tools, resources and benchmarks, develop best practice protocols for selecting key performance indicators that align to the impact assessment purpose and can answer stakeholder questions. Review case studies that implemented impact measurement systems at different levels (e.g. System, organizational, program and project levels).
Co-leaders: Kathryn Graham and other international community members

31. Impact Narratives
Issue: Impact narratives are a mechanism to tell the story of how research generates impact. The ability to communicate impact using both narration and numbers is critical given that research and innovation are not a linear processes. The impact narrative is a useful communication tool for communicating to a broader audience beyond academia.
Goal: Building on the work started in Canada and taking lessons learnt from the Research Excellence Framework in the UK and elsewhere, the aim is to help the research community develop meaningful impact narratives through the development of toolboxes, guidelines and other resources. The impact narratives will also be shared with a broad group of stakeholders and the public through the development of an impact narrative repository. The purpose is to build researchers’ capacity to communicate their impact in a way that is meaningful and accessible to various stakeholders, with a particular focus on the public.
Co-leaders: Deanne Langlois-Klassen and other international community leaders

32. Next steps
Open call for engaged volunteers to join the groups or promote new groups
Find out how ISRIA secretariat can support the groups
If there is enogh ‘quorum’, organise a Thematic Forum to share results / experiences

33. ACTIVITY
TIME

34. Activity time
Discuss what themes are rellevant for your personal / organisational / national interests

35. Proposed themes Gender in research impact assessment
Engagement in research
Mixed-methods approach
Effectiveness / usefulness in research impact assessment
Impact performance indicators
Impact narratives