In April 2024, we launched the first round of the CoARA Boost cascade funding program to support institutions in their efforts to implement committments of the Agreement and reform research assessment practices within their organisations. The call targeted individual institutions within the European Research Area. The Cascade Funding Programme supports three types of projects—Institutional Pilot Projects, Teaming Projects, and Institutional Change Projects—to meet institutions at different stages in their reform journeys:
- Institutional Pilot Projects allow organizations to test new assessment models and approaches in targeted areas, fostering experimentation with tools like IT workflows, qualitative KPIs, and open science metrics. Each project may receive up to €30,000, with a one-year duration.
- Teaming Projects facilitate knowledge exchange between organizations with different levels of expertise, enabling mutual growth and best practice sharing. These projects are funded up to €40,000 for one year.
- Institutional Change Projects support more comprehensive reform by refining or creating new assessment structures aligned with the commitments of the Agreement on Reforming Research Assessment. These projects can receive up to €60,000 for a one-year term.
Following the first call of Cascade Funding, a maximum of 25 projects out of 72 applications were selected after careful evaluation by expert reviewer panels. The selections would not be possible without the dedicated effort of reviewers who offered their time and expertise to provide thorough assessment of each application. We want to extend a huge thank you to them! Their insights also contribute to shaping the second call, to be opened in mid February 2025.
Reviewers contributing to the first call:
| Professor Alis Oancea | University of Oxford |
| Professor Dominik Antonowicz | Nicolaus Copernicus University |
| Professor Emanuele Conte | Università Roma Tre |
| Dr. Mira Söderman | Federation of Finnish Learned Societies |
| Ms. Olivia Denk | Swiss Academies of Arts and Sciences |
| Dr. Tim Engels | University of Antwerp |
| Professor Ludo Waltman | Leiden University |
| Ms. Grace Murkett | University of Strathclyde |
| Dr. Oleksandr Berezko | Institute for Open Science and Innovation |
| Ms. Iryna Kuchma | EIFL |
| Mr. Jeroen Bosman | Utretcht University |
| Professor João Claro | INESC TEC |
| Dr. Kathrine Bennike | Aalborg University Library |
| Mr. Lennart Stoy | Technopolis Group |
| Dr. Marta Agostinho | EU-LIFE Alliance of Independent Research Institutes in Europe |
| Dr. Matthias Kiesselbach | DFG (German Research Foundation / Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft) |
| Professor Mikael Laakso | Tampere University |
| Professor Andreja Istenič | University of Primorska |
| Mr. Clifford Tatum | CWTS (Centre for Science and Technology Studies) |
| Professor Cameron neylon | Curtin University |
| Professor Fabien Borget | Aix-Marseille Université |
| Dr. Francesca Di Donato | CNR |
| Dr. Giuliana Sabbatini | St. Pölten University of Applied Sciences |
| Dr. Hannelore Vanhaverbeke | KU Leuven |
| Professor Ricardo Migueis | INESC |
| Dr. Sybille Hinze | Berlin University Alliance |
| Dr. Tony Ross-Hellauer | Know-Center Research GmbH |
| Professor Bruno Béu | Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) |
| Dr. David O’Connell | University College Cork |
| Dr. Ioana Spanache | UEFISCDI – Executive Agency for Higher Education, Research, Development and Innovation Funding |
| Professor Jadranka Stojanovski | University of Zadar |
| Professor Katarzyna Nawrot | Polish Academy of Sciences, Committee of Future Studies |
| Professor Ladislav Kristoufek | Charles University |
| Dr. Michael Ochsner | University of Lausanne |
| Mr. Ragnar Lie | Universities Norway |
Based on the decision of evaluation panels and panel chaors, the below 25 selected projects are expected to launch on December 1st, 2024:
Institutional Pilot Projects
|
Centria University of Applied Sciences |
CENTRIA COMPETENCES |
|
University of Coimbra |
TREASURE: Transforming Research Assessment through Responsible Research training of Early Stage Researchers: A pilot study |
|
Association of Healthcare Researcher, Italy (ARSI) |
Impact-based assessment of the translational research in the Italian research hospitals |
|
Health Sciences University |
Catalysing research assessment reform in a small and specialist university: Reimagining our Academic Framework and evaluating its implementation in a revised academic performance review exercise |
|
Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona |
Piloting new approaches and metrics for research assessment: A first step for a real transformation |
|
ELTE Eötvös Loránd University |
Participatory Diversification of Research Assessment in the Humanities: A Citizens’ Council approach |
|
Leeds Trinity University |
Assessing the quality of ‘non-standard’ research outputs in Business and Management: an institutional pilot study |
|
Middle East Technical University |
Qualitative KPIs Tailored for Creative Industries: A Pilot Study on Film-Making, Wearables, and Game Development |
|
Ramon Llull University |
Towards a Qualitative Paradigm: Rethinking Research and Researchers Assessment at Blanquerna, Universitat Ramon Llull- ReAss |
|
Fundació Centre de Regulació Genòmica |
Impact Narratives for biomedical research: a Co-creation Approach to fair implementation |
|
Swansea University |
Evaluating the Impact of Reformed Research Assessment and the use of Narrative CV’s in Academic Career Promotion at Swansea University |
|
Sofia University St Kliment Ohridski |
Advancing Sofia University St Klimen Ohridski’s Research Assessment Towards Open Research (AURA) |
Teaming Projects
| Organisation | Project Title |
|
University of Rijeka, University of Cyprus, European Office of Cyprus |
Open Science Collaboration for Research Career Advancement and Policy Innovation at UNIRI and UCY OSCAR |
|
University of Oulu, Ruhr University Bochum, Tampere University |
CoARA ExPECT – Exchange & Promote Evaluation Criteria Changes Together |
|
University of Carthage (UCAR) – National Institute of Applied Science and Technology (INSAT), Institute for Bioengineering of Catalonia (IBEC) |
Reforming Research Assessment in the University of Carthage Towards a Qualitative Original Approach, Multidisciplinary Model and Sustainable Procedures |
Institutional Change Projects
|
Amsterdam UMC |
IDEA: Integrating Diversity in Evaluation and Assessment of Researchers – Experiences from Amsterdam |
|
Czech Academy of Sciences |
New Assessment Tools for Internal Programs of the Czech Academy of Sciences |
|
Politecnico di Torino |
FEDRA – An institutional FAIR data lakE for transparent, inclusive, and reproDucible Research Assessment |
|
Fundació per a la Universitat Oberta de Catalunya |
ECE4CoARA – Effective Community Engagement for a successful CoARA action plan implementation at the Open University of Catalonia (UOC): a community engagement case study at institutional level |
|
Ilia State University |
Linking the Individual and Collective Responsibility: Transforming the Research Planning and Evaluation Culture |
|
University of Graz |
Managing the cultural transition associated with research assessment reform |
|
University of Gdańsk |
Reform of researchers’ assessment in the University of Gdańsk |
|
Häme University of Applied Sciences |
Strengthening the Qualitative Criteria for the Researcher Assessment at Häme University of Applied Sciences |
|
Steinbeis Transfer Center Solar Thermal Energy Systems |
Transforming Research Assessment at the Steinbeis Transfer Center – An Integrated Approach to Responsible and Impactful Evaluation |
|
Joanneum Research Forschungsgesellschaft mbh |
Reforming Assessment Policies and Practices at Joanneum Research |
As these projects launch, we anticipate transformative developments that will inform and inspire further change across the research community. We thank all applicants for their contributions and we look forward to sharing further updates in December.
Alongside the expected project launches, stay tuned for an upcoming second call for Cascade Funding in February 2025!