Research Impact Assessment (RIA) is receiving renewed attention in light of shortages in public funds, the diffusion of New Public Management rules, the organization of research towards Grand challenges and increased expectations about the ability of research to deliver socio‐economic impacts. This pressure is especially strong for public research organizations (PROs) involved in targeted research. This international conference aims at gathering scholars and practitioners to discuss the methodological challenges and the transformations of RIA methodologies in practice.

Argument

Research Impact Assessment (RIA) is receiving renewed attention in light of shortages in public funds, the diffusion of New Public Management rules, the organization of research towards Grand challenges and increased expectations about the ability of research to deliver socio‐economic impacts. This pressure is especially strong for public research organizations (PROs) involved in targeted research. Agricultural research currently faces the challenges of sustainable transition. It is necessary to increase the production to face an increasing global demand, while limiting environmental impacts, and contributing to the mitigation of climate change. These new challenges occur in a period where scholars observe signs of decreasing impacts of research, which is a matter of concern. This international conference aims at gathering scholars and practitioners to discuss the methodological challenges and the transformations of RIA methodologies in practice. State of the art literature addresses the societal values of research (or “public values”, Bozeman, 2003), that regard economic impacts as well as broader impacts (environmental, health, political…). Two types of methods are generally identified. Econometric methods estimate the impact of research expenses on productivity gain in order to compile cost benefit ratio or rate of returns of agricultural research investment (Alston et al., 2011). Qualitative case‐study based methods (Donovan, 2011; Spaapen and Van Drooge, 2011) allow to engage with the complexity of impact generation mechanisms related to networks of knowledge translation (Callon, 1986) evolving along various stages of an impact pathway. These methods generally are implemented ex‐post but may be used for policy learning purposes.

Thematic sessions

The conference will gather presentations covering these two impact assessment methods and will be organized in four thematic sessions:

• New challenges of broader impact assessment
• Economic approaches to the productivity of research
• Case‐study based approaches mixing qualitative and quantitative methodologies
• Learning from ex‐post approaches to design ex‐ante assessment methods

Empirical as well as theoretical papers are welcome. Although this conference is mainly focused on agricultural research, papers dealing with other areas will also be welcomed.

The sessions will be introduced by a keynote speaker, followed by selected presentations.

Keynote speakers: Barry Bozeman (Arizona State University), Irwin Feller (Penn State University), etc…

Submission guidelines

Deadline for extended abstract (500 words) submission is

July 14th.

Notification of the selected communications by the scientific committee will be given on July 20th and full papers will be expected by October 19th.

Deadline for free but required registration online is October 5th.

The conference will be held in Paris on the 3rd and 4th of November 2015

A special issue of an international agricultural journal or a collective book will be devoted to the publication of the papers presented at the conference.

More information, abstract submission and registration here: https://colloque.inra.fr/impar)

Scientific Committee

• J. M. Alston (University of California),
• M. Gaughan (Arizona State University),
• D. Guellec (OECD),
• M. Matt (INRA),
• P. Midmore (Aberystwyth University),
• P‐B. Joly (INRA‐IFRIS),
• P. Larédo (IFRIS),
• B. Schmitt (INRA).

References

• Alston, J.M., Andersen, M.A., James, J.S., Pardey, P.G., 2011. The Economic Returns to U.S. Public Agricultural Research. Am. J. Agric. Econ.
• Bozeman, B., 2003. Public Value Mapping of Science Outcomes: Theory and Method, in: D. Sarewitz, Et. Al. Knowledge Flows & Knowledge Collectives:
• Understanding the Role of Science & Technology Policies in Development, 2.
• Callon, M., 1986. The sociology of an actor‐network, in: Mapping the Dynamics of Science and Technology. M. Callon, J. Law, and A. Rip, London.
• Donovan, C., 2011. State of the art of assessing research impact: introduction to a special issue, Research Evaluation. Res. Eval. 20, 175–179.
• Spaapen, J.M., Van Drooge, L., 2011. Introducing “productive interactions” in social assessment. Res. Eval. 20, 211–218.