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Research grant for Sarah de Rijcke

Sarah de Rijcke (CWTS) receives a ZonMw Fostering Responsible Research Practices grant for the project 'Optimizing the responsible researcher: towards fair and constructive academic advancement'.

Criteria for assessing academic achievements

The project 'Optimizing the responsible researcher: towards fair and constructive academic advancement' aims to describe the optimal profile of researchers in terms of their propensity to foster responsible conduct in research. This profile will be compared with existing academic incentive and reward systems.

Recent years have seen high-profile initiatives to improve current criteria for assessing academic achievements (e.g., the Leiden Manifesto, the Metric Tide, Science in Transition, DORA, METRICS, Reward Alliance). Some institutions are implementing improved and innovative incentive and reward systems. It is yet unknown whether these systems will counter unintended effects of evaluation systems and unwarranted uses of performance metrics. Plus, help to foster responsible conduct of research by selecting the scientists with a multidimensional profile (i.e., more than a good publication and citation record) and a skill-set that enables them to undertake and supervise both innovative and societally relevant research.

The project will result in an evidence-based framework and a set of concrete policy recommendations for designing (or adapting) academic reward systems aimed at fostering excellent, socially responsible research.

Team members

  • Sarah de Rijcke (Principal investigator, CWTS), 
  • Paul Wouters (CWTS),
  • James Wilsdon (Sheffield),
  • Frank Miedema (UMC Utrecht, Science in Transition), 
  • Joeri Tijdink (VUmc) and
  • Lex Bouter (Project adviser, VUmc).

About ZonMw FPPR

ZonMw has launched a new programme called 'Fostering Responsible Research Practices' (FRRP), to encourage quality, integrity, efficiency and positive social impact in scientific and academic research. FRRP aims to build bridges between science, professional practice and policy by promoting research which is relevant, robust and transparent. It will develop and disseminate useful know-how to improve research-related practices – not just for front-line scientists and institutions, but also for policymakers, financiers and evaluators.

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