Approval granted for the creation of the Portuguese National Chapter of CoARA

Proposals to establish National Chapters of CoARA – Coalition for Advancing Research Assessment in Portugal, Sweden, and the United Kingdom were recently approved and presented at the National Chapters Exchange Forum, bringing the total number of national chapters to 15.

Representatives from CoARA's 15 National Chapters met in Porto on February 22 and 23 for the first National Chapters Exchange Forum of this international initiative dedicated to best practices and challenges related to systemic reform of research evaluation in national contexts. The event, co-organized by CoARA, FCT, INESC TEC, and Science Europe, was attended by members of the various participating organizations or those interested in forming or joining a National Chapter, as well as several representatives from various national institutions. The more than 600 organizations that are already members of CoARA follow a shared orientation for the systemic reform of research evaluation, as defined in a Common Agreement, and have committed to applying its fundamental principles in their organizations. For the successful implementation of CoARA's commitments, it is essential to translate these principles into the diverse geographical, regional, institutional, and disciplinary contexts of the various member organizations. The National Chapters play a crucial role in these common objectives, acting as centers for coordinating joint actions and mutual learning, following a collaborative methodology and respecting the autonomy of member organizations. All 18 national institutions currently members of CoARA are part of the Portuguese National Chapter, including 9 universities, 8 research institutions, and the national funding agency, FCT. The proposed work plan for the next two years, which has now been approved, covers areas ranging from promotion, the principles of the Agreement to the national scientific community and broad reflection and discussion on research evaluation, mapping and analysis of good evaluation practices, design and participation in pilot projects, to collaboration in the implementation of the work plans of the various member institutions or promotion and participation in Research on Research Assessment (RoRA) activities.

“We are very pleased to learn that the Portuguese National Chapter has been approved, and excited to continue working together on its implementation. We believe that the work plan defined for the next two years will be an important step towards reforming research evaluation in Portugal and increasing the quality of research and recognition of its multiple contributions to various sectors of society," said Bruno Béu, advisor to the FCT Board of Directors.