Developing indicators of the impact of scholarly communication is a massive technical challenge – but it’s also much simpler than that

Conversations on impact tend to revolve around technical issue of measurement and finding appropriate metrics. To widen the conversation J. Britt Holbrook presents a list of 56 indicators of impact developed by the Center for the Study of Interdisciplinarity to help simplify the question of impact. By moving beyond technical aspects there is a greater opportunity for academics to embrace and explore other facets of impact

Blue skies, impacts, and peer review

oai:ojs.riviste.unimi.it:article/2914This paper describes the results of a survey regarding the incorporation of societal impacts considerations into the peer review of grant proposals submitted to public science funding bodies. The survey investigated perceptions regarding the use of scientific peers to judge not only the intrinsic scientific value of proposed research, but also its instrumental value to society. Members of the scientific community have expressed – some more stridently than others – resistance to the use of such societal impact considerations. We sought to understand why. Results of the survey suggest that such resistance may be due to a lack of desire rather than a lack of confidence where judging impacts is concerned. In other words, it may be less that scientists feel unable to judge broader societal impacts and more that they are unwilling to do so

The impact of Philosophy and the philosophy of Impact: A guide to charting more diffuse influences across time.

Reflecting on the complexity of influence an individual research project can have, Adam Briggle, Robert Frodeman and Britt Holbrook try to get a handle on their own research activities and some of their impacts over the last few years. Their project led to a wide variety of results: scholarly articles, a forthcoming book, blogs and a number of ‘likes’ and ‘shares’. But what exactly is a share or a like? There is a need for further reflection on how philosophy – and the humanities more generally – can achieve broader impacts

Ecce Homo Academicus -- The revaluation of higher education values

Evaluation can be seen as an opportunity for transvaluation, or what Nietzsche called the revaluation of values. However, evaluation is often treated instead as the enforcement of standards – standardization rather than transformation. When evaluation as transvaluation and evaluation as standardization are both used to evaluate the same subjects, things are working at cross purposes. How can individuals subject to such competing evaluation regimes respond in ways that go beyond mere survival (publish or perish) and instead promote excellence as academic flourishing? This presentation recounts – sometimes in an autobiographical fashion that brings the issues into sharper relief – various ways (both conceptual and actual) of responding to the challenge. In doing so it outlines a notion of academic flourishing and argues that this ideal, rather than meeting minimum standards, should be used in evaluations for academic advancement (including promotion and tenure)

Philosophy and Science Policy: A Report from the Field

This presentation presents a case study in philosophy and science policy surrounding Plan S and argues that we need new ways of evaluating such approaches to research

Incorporating Societal Impact into Academic Research

The 2018 International Research Conference at UC Davis focuses on: Changing political environment and its impact on international research Increasing importance of networks and consortia in advancing international research Role of interdisciplinary or transdisciplinary research in solving global challenges Educating the next generation of international researchers This conference brings together leading international research professionals from across industries, including: Higher Education Senior International Officers Vice Presidents, Vice Chancellors for Research Faculty, Researchers and Scientists Graduate Students Private and Public Funding Agencies Industry and Community Organization

What is interdisciplinary communication? Reflections on the very idea of disciplinary integration

Article discussing interdisciplinary communication and reflections on the idea of disciplinary integration