Karen Stroobants on changing research culture and reforming research assessment

Changing Academic Life

English - September 13, 2023 06:00 - 1 hour - 89.4 MB - ★★★★ - 7 ratings
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We need to reform research evaluation because "It's not just which people are we excluding, which profiles are we excluding, which ideas are we excluding, but also whose problems are we not solving" says Dr Karen Stroobants.

Karen is a researcher, policy adviser and consultant on research policy and strategy, with a focus on research culture. Her research background and PhD is in chemistry. She now manages a portfolio of activities, combining roles as (part-time) lead policy advisor on research landscape & economy for the Royal Society of Chemistry in the UK and as freelance consultant, focusing most recently on contributing to the drafting of a European agreement on research assessment reform.

This agreement on reforming research assessment from CoARA, the Coalition for Advancing Research Assessment, is the reason I wanted to speak with Karen. We cover: concerns of current research assessment approaches; the need for both top-down and bottom up buy in to create research culture change and what that change might look like; how we can navigate career choices while the system is still in transition; the importance of reflection for research culture change and embracing a diversity of people ideas and research problems; the core commitments of the CoARA agreement; and the move to more qualitative assessments at both individual and institutional and national levels. We finish with Karen reflecting on her own career choices driven by values and what is important.

[00:00:29] Episode introduction[00:02:39] Welcome & Introduction[00:04:39] Concerns around research system[00:13:05] Research culture change needs top-down and bottom-up buy-in[00:20:12] Negotiating choices while the system is undergoing transition[00:23:25] Importance of reflection for research culture change[00:30:21] Diversity of people, ideas and research problems[00:34:17] CoARA Agreement on reforming research assessment[00:40:04] Signing up to the CoARA agreement[00:50:10] Narrative CVs - for inividuals, organisations and national level[00:54:02] Other ways of brining a qualitative lens[00:56:15] Karen's career path - setting boundaries, choosing values