1,721,056 research outputs found
Verso la Responsible Research and Innovation: ripensare l’approccio per la valutazione delle università e degli enti pubblici di ricerca
No full textL’articolo propone un bilancio del nuovo paradigma di Ricerca e Innovazione Responsabile (RRI) che sta investendo la relazione tra scienza e società, focalizzandosi sulle implicazioni che possono derivare dalla sua concreta applicazione. Utilizzando come test empirico pratiche e strumenti prodotti da alcuni progetti di ricerca finanziati nell’ambito dell’azione Science in Society (SiS) del VII Programma Quadro Europeo, si mostrerà come la valutazione possa contribuire alla costruzione delle dimensioni legate a RRI nelle Università e negli Enti di ricerca. Gli obiettivi legati al concetto di RRI non sono perseguibili attraverso la mera introduzione di pratiche standardizzate, la cui realizzazione si confonde nell’universo di adempimenti burocratici. La RRI necessita di un processo riflessivo partecipato che le Università e gli Enti pubblici di ricerca dovrebbero adottare nella normalità della pratica di ricerca, sia con riferimento al fine ultimo del loro lavoro, sia rispetto al ruolo che devono giocare nella società. Anche la governance e i processi decisionali all’interno delle organizzazioni dovrebbero evolversi includendo una nuova dimensione centrata sulla responsabilità. Date queste premesse, la valutazione può giocare un ruolo importante, supportando il dibattito, fornendo evidenze su risultati ottenuti e sfide aperte, alimentando processi di apprendimento e aiutando a riconsiderare gli obiettivi e le direzioni della ricerca.The paper takes stock of the new paradigm of Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI) investing the science and society relationships, trying to focus on the implication that might come from its concrete implementation. Using the tools and practices derived from some research projects funded under the EU FP7 SiS action as empirical test, the paper tries to figure out how evaluation can provide evidences useful to the construction of the RRI dimension inside the universities. Achieving results toward RRI is not possible just introducing a standardized set of practices, whose accomplishment blends in the universe of bureaucratic fulfillments. RRI needs a process of reflexivity that universities and public research organizations should adopt as normal component of their research practice, about the ultimate goal of their efforts and the role they have to play in society. Therefore, the internal governance and the decisionmaking inside the research organizations shall evolve toward including the new dimension of responsibility; in this respect, evaluation can have a strong role, supporting the debate, providing evidences about results achieved and open challenges, feeding up learning processes and rethinking about research aims and directions
Peer review for the evaluation of the academic research: lessons from the Italian experience
No full textThe aim of the paper is to control the reliability of peer review when evaluating academic research in the Three-Year Research Assessment Exercise developed in Italy. Our analysis covers four disciplinary sectors: chemistry, biology, humanities and economics. The results provide evidence that highlights strengths and weaknesses of peer review for judging the quality of the academic research in different fields of science, vis-à-vis bibliometric indicators. Moreover, some basic features of the evaluation process are discussed, to understand their usefulness for reinforcing the effectiveness of the peers' final outcome
The determinants of national funding in trans-national joint research: exploring the proximity dimensions
No full textThis paper investigates -using an explorative approach, why policy makers at national level engage in transnational joint research activities and mobilize dedicated financial resources. The research question is: why policy makers (either Governments or Research Funding Organisations-RFOs) in EU28 countries invest in transnational joint research activities beyond the European Framework Programmes, and what are the determinants of different levels of funding engagement? The question is relevant to understand the reasons that generate the existing imbalances within European countries as to the participation in transnational research, which are likely to create peripheries within the ERA, thus undermining the process of European integration.
We assume that proximity linked to cognitive, institutional and organizational dimensions can affect the policy decisions about the level of funding (real engagement) joint European research programmes, because the closeness or distance in these dimensions generate similarities that are likely to influence the possibility of decision makers to collaborate in the implementation of research programmes. The paper also explores the existence of any effect of geographical proximity, although it is not supposed to play a role in policy decisions about investment in transnational research programmes
Conceptualizing and measuring performance orientation of research funding systems
No full textIn this article, we propose a synthetic indicator for the performance orientation of public R&D funding at the country level that allows for quantitative comparisons across countries and over time, and we illustrate the methodology for its computation and validation. The indicator characterizes R&D funding from the state in terms of the extent the beneficiaries’ performance is taken into account in the allocation of resources. By building on the literature on research funding, the indicator combines information on how funding is allocated with quantitative measures of funding volumes. It is operationalized in terms of a fine-grained decomposition of public R&D funding in instruments, each of them characterized by their mode and criteria of allocation. Building on a large-scale European project, we test the operationalization of the indicator for a sample of European countries, and we perform a set of sensitivity and robustness analyses to inquire the impact of definitions and of data issues, particularly for what concerns cross-country comparisons. We conclude with a discussion of the advantages and limitations of the indicator and by proposing a research agenda for its further development
Le risorse destinate alla Ricerca e Sviluppo (R&S)
No full textIl capitolo presenta i principali indicatori relativi alle risorse finanziarie ed umane per le attività di R&S. I risultati evidenziano l'accentuarsi, negli anni della crisi finanziaria, del basso livello di investimento in R&S che caratterizza storicamente l'Italia soprattutto in comparazione con altri paesi europei ed extraeuropei. Un elemento particolarmente grave è rappresentato dal debole impegno del governo nel sostegno alla ricerca sia pubblica che industriale: il finanziamento pubblico negli anni si riduce in generale in tutti i settori istituzionali e in termini percentuali si dimezza nel settore delle imprese. La contrazione degli stanziamenti pubblici colpisce le università, generando altresì una stagnazione della spesa per ricerca di base, e le organizzazioni pubbliche di ricerca, ma è particolarmente marcata negli enti vigilati dal MIUR. Le imprese, nel corso degli ultimi 15 anni, mostrano un notevole impegno per sostenere l'investimento in R&S, soprattutto attraverso l'autofinanziamento. Tuttavia questo impegno non è sufficiente, data la posizione di partenza dell'Italia, a colmare il divario che la separa da altri paesi europei. Lo scarso investimento in R&S determina altresì una crescita molto limitata del personale, in particolare dei ricercatori. Il livello di risorse umane dedicate alle attività di R&S delle imprese mostra anch'esso segni di peggioramento, probabilmente dovuti alla riduzione del peso di settori ad alta intensità di ricerca rispetto agli altri paesi europei. Infine la distribuzione territoriale della spesa pubblica e privata si presenta molto squilibrata, e ciò desta forti preoccupazioni per i possibili effetti negativi in termini di crescita economica, sociale e culturale delle regioni del Sud e delle Isole, e per le conseguenti ripercussioni in termini di equità complessiva del sistema nazionale di R&S
Peer review for the evaluation of the academic research: the Italian experience
No full textPeer review, that is the evaluation process based on judgments formulated by independent experts, is generally used for different goals: the allocation of research funding, the review of the research results submitted for publication in scientific journals, and the assessment of the quality of research conducted by Universities and university-related Institutes. The paper deals with the latter type of peer review. The aim is to understand how the characteristics of the Italian experience provide useful lessons for improving peer review effectiveness for evaluating the academic research. More specifically, the paper investigates the peer review process developed within the Three-Year Research Assessment Exercise (VTR) in Italy. Our analysis covers four disciplinary sectors: chemistry, biology, humanities and economics. Thus, the choice includes two “hard science” sectors, which have similar type of research output submitted for the three-year evaluation process, and two sectors with different types of output. The results provide evidences, which highlight the important role played by peer review for judging the quality of the academic research in different fields of science, and for comparing different institutions’ performance. Moreover, some basic features of the evaluation process are discussed, in order to understand their usefulness for reinforcing the effectiveness of the peers’ final outcom
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