FCT hosted a meeting of the international initiative CoARA – Coalition for Advancing Research Assessment

On January 30 and 31, the Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) hosted the face-to-face meeting of the working group Experiments in Assessment: Idea generation, co-creation, and piloting, one of the 13 working groups of CoARA – Coalition for Advancing Research Assessment. The working group Experiments in Assessment: Idea generation, co-creation, and piloting currently consists of 14 international institutions, including FCT.

Among the various items on the agenda discussed over the two days of the event, particular emphasis was placed on the preparation of a white paper on experimentation and co-creation of new evaluation models and approaches, and the production of a catalog of ideas and new evaluation experiences. The latter document will be made available on a dedicated platform that is open access, interactive, and updatable.

CoARA –Coalition for Advancing Research Assessmentis an international initiative created in December 2022, which already has more than 800 signatory institutions from 55 member countries, including funding agencies, universities, research institutions, scientific societies, and national/regional authorities. CoARA aims to implement a systemic reform of the evaluation of research, researchers, and research organizations. The proposed changes cover different areas, from recruitment and career progression, evaluation and funding of researchers, projects, and institutions, methods of selection and training of evaluators, publication of scientific articles, evaluation infrastructure, open science, and multilingualism.

The FCT, together with the University of Minho and INESC-TEC, is part of the group of institutions coordinating the Portuguese National Chapter (CNP-CoARA), which already includes more than two dozen national institutions, including universities, research institutions, and the national funding agency, which have been collaborating in the area of scientific research evaluation processes in Portugal. Following its creation, in the context of the ^1st National Chapters Exchange Forum held in Porto and organized by FCT, INESC-TEC, and Science Europe, CNP-CoARA is beginning to implement its Action Plan for the next two years. An Extended Coordination Team has already been set up with representatives from 11 national institutions, with more than 50 members of the Portuguese scientific community to join the teams of the three work packages in the areas of (i) Mapping and Disseminating Best Practices on Research Assessment, (ii) Engaging in the Implementation of Small Pilot Projects and Research on Research Activities, and (iii) Management, Mutual Learning, Collaboration, and Engagement.