ShareAQU Catalunya gathers 300 people at the seminar 'Qualitative research assessment: challenges and experiences'
Chaired by the Agency's director, Jaume Valls Pasola, the conference was also attended by Maria Pau Ginebra, chair of the AQU Catalunya Research Assessment Commission.
AQU Catalunya gathered around 300 people yesterday afternoon in the webinar Qualitative research assessment: challenges and experiences, aimed at exploring new approaches to research evaluation, mainly in relation to university faculty evaluations. Aware of the debate that is currently taking place internationally around the need to orient the evaluation of research towards more qualitative and multidimensional approaches, the Agency invited several experts to participate in this day, who, together, could give a plural view of this issue.
Chaired by the director of AQU Catalunya, Jaume Valls Pasola, the seminar included a speech by Maria Pau Ginebra, chair of the Research Assessment Commission (CAR), who stated that "the best way to transform assessment systems is to strengthen the knowledge of the assessors and to have people who are familiar with the environment of the people being assessed". "Despite the changes in the accreditation criteria, the CAR's message remains valid: quality must prevail over the quantity of contributions. It is a principle that must not be lost sight of", added Ginebra, who at the end gave way to the three planned presentations.
The first presentation was given by Ismael Ràfols Garcia, UNESCO Chair in Diversity and Inclusion in Global Science at the Center for Science and Technology Studies (CWTS) of Leiden University, who presented Elements towards a pluralistic and equitable evaluation. The second speaker was Wenceslao Arroyo Machado, PhD in ICT from the University of Granada (UGR) and specialised in altmetrics and big data problems, with the presentation of Bibliometric Narratives. Finally, Núria Benítez Monforte, from the Catalan Institute of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology, and Teresa Sanchis Estruch, from the Bioengineering Institute of Catalonia, presented the paper Cases of multidimensional research assessment.
The full content of the seminar, which was broadcast live on YouTube, can be seen in the video below. The video also captures the questions that attendees were able to ask the various speakers after each speech.