Summary Funders around the world increasingly expect the research they support to make a difference – to inform policy, improve practice, and address complex societal challenges. But how exactly does research travel from publication to use to impact? And what can funders do to support that journey? In partnership with the Impact Funders Forum, this […]
Summary As reforms in science assessment gain momentum, an increasing number of funding agencies and academic institutions are adopting Narrative CVs. These alternative formats reduce the emphasis on quantifiable metrics and instead incorporate narrative sections that allow applicants to describe their accomplishments in a more reflective, discursive manner. The introduction of Narrative CVs is driven […]
Summary Metascience is exploding into the mainstream. Its simple premise – to turn the data and methods of science back towards analysing and improving science itself – is increasingly being adopted and advanced by governments, funding agencies and researchers themselves. These agendas aren’t new: metascience builds on longstanding research into research systems. But there is […]
Summary The Matthew effect is one of the most widely discussed phenomena in research funding, and can be summed up as “the rich get richer and the poor get poorer.” Recent studies have highlighted complex dynamics at play in Matthew effects. We replicate two recent studies of Matthew effects using data from multiple funders. The […]
Summary Billions of pounds are spent on research every year but we don’t know whether it is being spent in the most effective way. Despite the importance of diversity, inequalities persist in research funding success by gender and scientific field. The best way to discover whether problems and inequities exist in the way in which […]
AFIRE Experimental Funders Group meetings (2026) Read More about AFIRE Experimental Funders Group meetings (2026) Read More about AFIRE Experimental Funders Group meetings (2026) Summary AFIRE (Accelerator For Innovation & Research Funding Experimentation) is RoRI’s programme for the design, implementation and synthesis of experiments with research and innovation funding. We partner with the Innovation Growth Lab (IGL) in […]
Summary The UNDISCIPLINED project, led by RoRI Senior Research Fellow Helen Buckley Woods, focused on the importance of definitions and descriptions of transdisciplinary research (TDR). It investigated how research funders define TDR, the facets of meaning within these definitions, and what can be learned from the different approaches used, within a range of TDR funding […]
Summary As demands intensify for research to address societal missions or challenges such as climate change, ageing or pandemic preparedness, research funders have developed funding instruments targeted at specific topics. This project explores how these targeted funding programmes shape the overall research landscape in comparison to non-targeted programmes. The evidence aims to support policymakers and funders in […]
Summary Peer review performs a vital and expanding role across the research system: in assessing funding proposals; registered reports (and other research designs and protocols); research outputs (including journal articles, proceedings, chapters, books, preprints and datasets); and in contributing to research evaluation exercises, academic appointment and promotion processes. The peer review system is under increasing […]
Summary A UK funder study of potential uses of AI in national research evaluation sparked debate in the journal Nature. Artificial intelligence (AI) is transforming research systems around the world. Research funders have a central role in enabling new AI innovations, but they are also increasingly AI users: as global research funding and assessment become […]
Summary Outputs Summary AGORRA (A Global Observatory of Responsible Research Assessment) is a collaboration between research funders, evaluation agencies and meta-researchers which aims to generate comparative data, evidence and analysis to support and accelerate responsible research assessment (RRA). With a specific focus on national-level assessment frameworks, it also aims to inform and accelerate the broader […]
MetaROR: MetaResearch Open Review A platform designed to transform how we review and share metaresearch Summary The Publish-Review-Curate (PRC) model adopted by MetaROR (MetaResearch Open Review), removes the binary “accept/reject” gate from the assessment of scholarly contributions. The evaluation process of articles submitted to the platform, through peer reviews and an editorial assessment, is openly accessible, […]
Summary The Funder Data Platform (FDP) is a secure digital platform for research funders to share their internal data for analysis. While data on funded grants and published outputs is freely available, the far more sensitive data on, for example, unsuccessful applications and review processes, is not. The FDP enables these types of data to be used […]
Summary The Atlas of Assessment is a webtool developed as part of the AGORRA project. It aims to collect information on national research assessment systems for all countries across the globe, creating the first global overview of national research assessment exercises. This is an especially critical task for two reasons. First, national systems for research […]
The value of RoRI really lies in the projects… RoRI is a living example of transdisciplinary research.
