Abstract

The Coalition on Advancing Research Assessment (CoARA) was established in 2022 to bring together organizations that support the reform of research and researcher evaluation in line with the new Agreement on Reforming Research Assessment*. The vision behind CoARA is to improve the quality, impact, and inclusivity of the research system by developing a holistic, fair, and accurate research assessment framework. The agreement advocates for more diverse outputs, activities, and roles to be seen as valuable for and within research. It promotes the development of new assessment criteria and methods based on qualitative evaluation, for which peer review is central, supported by responsible use of quantitative metrics.

As of August 2023, 608 organisations have signed the CoARA agreement. These include research funding organisations, assessment authorities and agencies, as well as different types of research performing organisations. A majority of the coalition members stem from the community of traditional research universities, but also several Universities of Applied Sciences (UAS) have signed the agreement.

UAS stand to benefit from the research assessment reform due to their focus on applied research and innovation. Current research systems often recognise institutionalized academic careers and, for example, emphasize publications in a narrow set of academic journals based on journal ranking lists. In comparison, the assessment reform aims to give credit to a more diverse set of activities and outputs, emphasizing the diverse impact that research activities have – activities that prevail in UAS’ problem-oriented and practice-based approach to research, but are not always easily quantifiable. For example, new assessment criteria could serve to elevate the role of societal and economic impact, interdisciplinary work that bridges gaps between academia, industry, and policy, or close interaction and development work with local communities and ecosystems. Valuing diverse contributions also has the potential to facilitate mobility between sectors. This can increase the appeal of academia as a long-term career option in general, as well as enable UAS to attract a broader range of talent by offering holistic and adaptive career paths.

This poster presents a case of a UAS from Finland, namely Haaga-Helia UAS, and has a focus on the way in which it has approached the research assessment reform after signing the CoARA agreement. The objective is to showcase how the agreement can be implemented and its core commitments interpreted in research performing organisations where innovation and development activities play an important role. We also provide an example for more traditional research organisations on how to valorise diverse research activities and outputs. The poster first presents the rationale for Haaga-Helia UAS to join CoARA and its links to our other strategic initiatives such as the development of researcher career paths and other support for the improvement of research activities. We then describe the results of our internal survey for researchers, review the internal processes affected by CoARA and the assessment criteria and methods to be developed in line with the core commitments, and present our action plan. We conclude with a reflection on the challenges faced during the process and key learnings.

* https://coara.eu/agreement