Abstract

Engaged research – and the stakeholder engagement underpinning it – now features prominently in most European and national research funding schemes. Horizon Europe, for example, views stakeholder engagement as a cross-cutting issue and has embedded it across all missions, stating that “Citizens and end-users will [therefore] be important contributors to research and innovation outcomes.”[1]

Stakeholder engagement in research can be mutually beneficial for researchers and stakeholders: it can help to identify and address the needs, expectations, and perspectives of different stakeholders, as well as enhancing the relevance, quality, and impact of research.

Authentic stakeholder engagement means advancing research with industrial, governmental and societal partners rather than for them.[2]

Early and authentic stakeholder engagement is of paramount importance in order to facilitate relationship and network building, co-generate research questions/topics/application areas, capture diversity of input as the research question takes shape, ensure research outputs resonate and are relevant, and ultimately maximise research impact.[3]

This roundtable discussion will ask “What is typical practice and what is best practice in stakeholder identification and prioritisation across research-performing organisations?”

Among the issues we will address are:
- Is stakeholder engagement thought out before, in parallel with, or after the design of the research question?
- How and by which criteria do we identify potential stakeholders?
- Which stakeholder mapping techniques do we use to prioritise stakeholders?
- Who is responsible for the initial engagement in your organisation?

Learning outcomes for discussion participants will include:
- Insights into the practices of research-performing organisations across Europe on the identification and prioritisation of stakeholders
- Sharing of experiences, challenges and lessons learned through stakeholder engagement endeavours
- Pointers on best practice for stakeholder identification and prioritisation
- Identification of points of similarity and difference among discussion participants

The discussion table will also facilitate networking among those interested in improving their organisations’ practice in this increasingly important aspect of research management and administration.

References:
[1] Horizon Europe (HORIZON) Programme Guide, April 2022
[2] Engaged Research: Society and Higher Education Working Together to Address Societal Challenges. Campus Engage, 2017
[3] Engaged Research Framework, Campus Engage, 2022