Developing and Measuring Socially Impactful Research

Facilitator: Dr Andrew Kaniki has for the last 19 years been an Executive Director at the National Research Foundation (NRF). In his role as Executive Director for Knowledge Advancement and Support, he was responsible for supporting and advancing knowledge in all fields through funding; and managed the national and international, bi- and multi-lateral funded research programmes. Prior to joining the NRF, he was Professor of Information Science at the then University of Natal (now the University of KwaZulu Natal), he was an NRF C-rated researcher, and between 2000 and 2002 was Pro-Vice Chancellor and Acting Deputy Vice Chancellor (Academic) at the same University. He also taught at the University of Zambia and worked as a Science Information Specialist at Carnegie-Mellon University, USA.

 

Target Group: Emerging and Established Researchers

 

Background: Political decision-makers worldwide directly and/or through funding agencies apply substantial amounts of public funds to support and foster scientific research on behalf of the society they represent. In return they expect publicly funded research to generate impact. There has been growing unease with an alleged lack of short-term tangible impact of publicly funded research. Political decision-makers and other societal stakeholders seem increasingly concerned about a perceived deficit of science in contributing to the solution of societal problems or in fostering innovation. Consequently, demands  for research that generates more immediate and visible impact on society and the economy have considerably increased over the last decades. This workshop focuses on how to plan for, create and evaluate the social impact of research studies.

 

The following topics will be covered:

  • Research and impact - Perspectives of the Global Research Council;
  • The impact of research on traditional indicators such as knowledge production, capacity building as well as wider societal benefits linked to global sustainable development goals, including social, environmental, cultural and economic outcomes;
  • Different approaches to the measurement of research impact will be discussed, including South Africa - case studies; UKRI (UK Research Innovation); Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC): Impact toolkit for economic and social sciences; and EU Framework Programme: Horizon Europe.


This workshop is funded by the Department of Higher Education and Training (DHET) through the University Capacity Development Grant (UCDG)

 

Workshop Information

Date:
21 February 2022

Time:
09h00-13h00

Platform:
Online via MS Teams

Registration:
Registration for this workshop has closed.


Kindly note: The maximum capacity of this workshop is 15 participants.

 

Enquiries: Jadine Januarie