News

On November 8th, 160 participants from academia, as well as the public and private sectors, gathered for the final event. The conference summarized the results from eight years of research conducted by OSIRIS and its sister center, R-QUEST (Centre for Research Quality and Policy Impact).

Does asking researchers about the potential impact of their planned research have an impact? The need to solve grand societal challenges has increasingly moved to the fore in terms of legitimising public spending on research. Correspondingly, the potential societal impact of applicants’ proposed research projects is now commonly incorporated into research funders’ selection procedures. This shift does not seem to reduce the emphasis on excellence.

The evaluation of research impact has typically sought to assess the value of a research investment – an organisation, a funding programme, or a project. Focusing on the investment and connecting it to consequential outputs and impacts provides a clearly definable methodological starting point for evaluating impact. But research has value only in its use. So, what evaluation challenges appear if we want to shift our eye to the perspective of research users? How can we trace their roles in multiple processes of research valorisation and appreciate how they benefit? Sounds difficult. Here we propose five methodological principles for getting started.

The hiatus between the various editions of the UK REF exercise always seems to lead to debate about its future. Is it too expensive? Is it too burdensome? Is it the best way to allocate performance-based funding? Seven years ago, we looked at the relationship between the 4* research and 4* impacts submitted to REF 2017. Then, we found that the relationship between excellent research and societal impact in most fields was heterogenous, leading us to posit this diversity as a strength of the UK university system. Here we do the same for REF 2021, to see what has changed and consider whether there are any implications to be drawn for the proposed REF 2029.

Science can be metamorphically viewed as reservoir of knowledge. Just like a reservoir where water is stored in large quantities so that it may be drawn off for later use, science literally serves the same purpose. Knowledge and data can be stored for future uses when the need arises, but unlike water, the knowledge from science can be reused an indefinitely number of times. Obviously, use and reuse presupposes access to the stock of knowledge.

The societal impact of publicly funded research is a multi-dimensional concept. We naturally approach it in light of our own disciplinary domains. But in a large, cross-disciplinary project like OSIRIS, we find ourselves reflecting on different aspects and concerns for society as a whole. This part of the project looks at the societal impact of research in economic terms and finds, among other things, that the public purse can become a better investor on this important front.  

Every year we report our main scientific outputs, divided into peer-reviewed publications, other publications, presentations for academic audiences, presentations at PhD courses, presentations for users, blogs, and some other items. We have now made the current list of outputs available at our web page.

OSIRIS is approaching the end of its funding from the Research Council of Norway. Three themes stand out across a lot of the empirical and conceptual work that we have carried out tied to the societal impact of research: preconditions, processes, and policies. This blog is the first in a series that will summarise key findings and emerging perspectives from our work, highlighting broad and important themes rather than providing summaries of single publications.

The two research centers, R-QUEST and OSIRIS, are nearing the conclusion of their projects. On November 8th, they will hold a joint final conference at Domus Bibliotheca, located in the heart of Oslo.

Kari-Elisabeth Vambeseth Skogen, Ph.D. candidate at TIK and part of the OSIRIS team, is in the final stages of her Ph.D. work. In her thesis she looks at the use of research in policy. We decided to ask Kari-Elisabeth some questions about her project.

In their newly published blog post, OSIRIS researchers Magnus Gulbrandsen and Silje Tellmann ask: Even if researchers do everything that is expected of them – collaborate with stakeholders, target important societal problems, engage in intensive science communication – societal impact may still not happen. What are the possible explanations?

On February 6^th Ph.D. candidate Frauke Rohden successfully defended her thesis "Exploring online conversations around science – data practices of informal online knowing spaces".

On October 12^th 2023, the OSIRIS consortium gathered in Oslo for a one-day meeting.

In September OSIRIS Ph.D. candidate Frauke Rohden submitted her thesis. Congratulatins, Frauke!

Last week Silje Maria Tellmann from OSIRIS took part in a panel on ‘The Blind Spots in Impact Research’ at CHER2023 in Vienna together with Stefan DeJong (Erasmus University Rotterdam), Reetta Muhonen (Tampere University) and Rachita Munshi (Erasmus University Rotterdam).

OSIRIS is hosting a track at this year's Eu-SPRI conference, which will take place at the the University of Sussex from 14 to 16 June.

Call for abstracts to workshop in Oslo, October 13, 2023. The workshop is hosted by OSIRIS researchers Magnus Gulbrandsen, Jakob Edler, Jordi Molas Gallart and Silje Maria Tellmann.

Valentin is a Ph.D. candidate in sociology of science at the Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin and a researcher at the Fraunhofer Center for International Management and Knowledge Economy IMW in Germany. He is currently also a visiting researcher at OSIRIS. 

Many countries with abundant natural resources experience lower economic growth than countries with little or no natural resources. In the economics literature this is referred to as the "resource curse". One reason put forward is lack of technological progress. In a recent study, we have examined a related issue, that is, whether a resource curse may occur due to the wrong type of technological progress, write Greaker, Heggedal and Rosendahl.

Many countries with abundant natural resources experience lower economic growth than countries with little or no natural resources. In the economics literature this is referred to as the "resource curse". One reason put forward is lack of technological progress. In a recent study, we have examined a related issue, that is, whether a resource curse may occur due to the wrong type of technological progress.

Earlier this year, Osiris had the pleasure to welcome postdoctor Knut Jørgen Vie to the team.

Lars Wenaas is the first Osiris Ph.D. candidate to submit his doctoral thesis. The thesis looks at the effects of open access. The public defense will take place at the University of Oslo on 11^th November 2022.

Frauke Rohden, Ph.D. candidate at TIK and part of the OSIRIS team, is in the final stages of her Ph.D. work. In her thesis she looks at the role of informal science-oriented online activities for the diffusion, understanding, and use of scientific knowledge. We decided to ask Frauke some questions about her project.

How does science make its way from academic research into society? There is agreement that the connection between science and society is not a linear or simple process. This blog post presents six perspectives on the complexity, long timespans and many different actors involved in scientific impact processes.

From June 1-3 2022, the Osiris team attended the yearly Eu-SPRI conference. This year’s theme was “Challenging Science and Innovation Policy” and the aim was to explore future directions for studies of Policies for Research and Innovation with a special emphasis on the topics of Digitization, Open Science and Futuring.