FCT hosts meeting of international initiative CoARA - Coalition for Advancing Research Assessment

On January 30th and 31st, 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 pilotingone of the 13 working groups of CoARA - Coalition for Advancing Research Assessment. The Experiments in Assessment: Idea generation, co-creation, and piloting working group is currently made up of 14 international institutions, including FCT.

Among the various agenda items discussed over the two days of the event, of particular note was 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 open-access, interactive and updatable platform.

CoARA - Coalition for Advancing Research Assessment is an international initiative created in December 2022 and which already has more than 800 signatory institutions from 55 member countries, including funding agencies, universities, research institutions, scientific societies or 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 development, evaluation and funding of researchers, projects and institutions, selection methods and training of evaluators, publication of scientific articles, evaluation infrastructures, open science or multilingualism.

Together with the University of Minho and INESC-TEC, FCT is part of the group of institutions coordinating the Portuguese National Chapter (CNP-CoARA), which already has 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. After its creation, in the context of the ^1st National Chapters Exchange Forum held in Porto under the organization of FCT, INESC-TEC and Science Europe, CNP-CoARA is starting to implement its Action Plan for the next two years. The Extended Coordination Team has already been set up with representatives from 11 national institutions, and already has more than 50 members of the Portuguese scientific community to join the teams of the 3 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.