From bench to bedside: The societal orientation of research leaders: The case of biomedical and health research in the Netherlands

Abstract

This paper answers five questions about the societal impact of research. Firstly, we examine the opinions of research group leaders about the increased emphasis on societal impact, i.e. does it influence their research agenda, communication with stakeholders, and knowledge dissemination to stakeholders? Furthermore, we investigate the quality of their societal output. We also study whether the societal and scholarly productivity of academic groups are positively or negatively related. In addition, we investigate which managerial and organisational factors (e.g. experience of the principal investigator, group size and funding) influence societal output. Finally, we show for one case (virology) that societal impact is also visible through indirect links. Our study shows that research group leaders have a slightly positive attitude towards the increased emphasis on the societal impact of research. The study also indicates a wide variety of societal-oriented output. Furthermore, the societal and scientific productivity of academic groups are unrelated, suggesting that stimulating social relevance requires specific organisational and contextual interventions.

Knowledge transfer activities in social sciences and humanities: Explaining the interactions of research groups with non-academic agents

“…Putting societal -including economic, social, cultural and environmental -impacts at the core of the research (Bornmann, 2013) shows a concern for the potential non-academic uses of the research, which might be a critical driver of direct engagement in KT activities. The empirical findings suggest a positive relation between the inclusion of societal goals and increased interactions with external agents (see van der Weijden et al, 2012 for an example in the biomedical context). A study by D' Este et al (2013) suggests that pro-social behaviour -understood as societal awareness related to identification of potential users, production of results that benefit users, and KT intermediaries -is positively related to higher involvement of researchers in diverse KT activities such as consulting, R&D contracts and joint research.…”

“…Similar to other studies, the measure of societal impact is based on researchers' self-reports about their focus on societal impact of their research, and users' needs (D'Este et al, 2013;Landry et al, 2007; der Weijden et al, 2012). We constructed our measure of societal impact as follows: respondents were asked to report the extent to which their research project objectives included an explicit focus on the potential social and economic impact of their findings.…”

Processos e desafios da interação entre pesquisa e política na perspectiva dos pesquisadores

“…Authors demonstrate that researchers with higher academic production interact more with decision-makers by creating strategic opportunities for the utilization of research results 5,26 . Another limitation was the exclusive interviews of researchers covered by this specific call for proposals.…”

“…Studies on transfer of knowledge and interfaces between research and policy tend to emphasize the need to overcome barriers and generate favorable conditions to make the relationship between researchers and health policy formulators effective. These conditions would promote the appropriate participation and interaction of stakeholders in the elaboration and implementation of the research policy; the improved identification of knowledge gaps by research users; quality assurance of research results; the training of health professionals for research; the experience of researchers' involvement at political and decision-making levels in politics; the demand for research by health policymakers; the improvement of synthesis mechanisms, dissemination and disclosure of results, institutional capacity and mechanisms for critical use by formulators and different audiences at national and local levels [4][5][6] . This paper seeks to understand the meanings and perspectives of researchers on the impact of research on politics and how they evaluate the processes and dynamics of interaction between scientists, decision-makers and professionals that influence the use of research results in the Brazilian health policy.…”

Perceived incentives to transdisciplinarity in a Japanese university research center

“…The challenges of TDR outlined in the previous sections suggest that this strategy is a better fit for scientists who are endowed with greater scientific and social capital and are less sensitive to career pressures; junior scholars seek to obtain status and recognition in their community prior to engaging in problem-oriented research (Bozeman, Dietz, & Gaughan, 2001;Carayol & Thi, 2005;Este et al, 2013;Horlings & Gurney, 2013;Lee & Bozeman, 2005;van der Weijden et al, 2012). These theoretical expectations have been supported by empirical studies conducted in other contexts that provide useful indications concerning the drivers of research strategies.…”