The focus is set on the use of qualitative metrics in the assessment of institutions by national evaluation agencies. The scope and feasibility of peer-review in qualitative evaluation of researchers, research teams and research performing institutions will be discussed to create a broader view – how to include various academic activities in the assessment criteria, going beyond narrowly defined research. Consideration is given to extend CoARA principles of research assessment to more comprehensive academic assessment, including also teaching, science communication and public engagement.

Another important aspect is the discussion on how to use the reform to initiate changes in the research culture towards promoting frontier (risky) studies conducted in a long-term perspective (sustainability of research activities). The ultimate goal is the development of fair criteria for creating predicable career paths to attract and support the most talented researchers.

Polish academic community is mostly concerned with the central, legally declared national system of the institutional evaluation, which is widely considered as dominated by bibliometric indicators. Moreover, those rules are too often inexpertly mirrored in the internal assessments of individual researchers in hiring, promotion or rewarding procedures. This situation calls for a deep change, and suggestions for the reforms come from various sources. However, implementing the CoARA principles of limiting the importance of quantitative indicators in favor of qualitative assessment using expert reviews may be much more difficult to implement for the institutional evaluation than in the case of individuals or teams. These tasks will need different approaches, what requires comprehensive discussions at national level with all stakeholders. Main mission assumed for the National Chapter is to interface the ideas worked out within CoARA to Polish national legislation. 

The overarching goal of the NC-PL addresses two issues: 

1. i) proposal for the assessment of research institutions that will take into account differences in their activity profiles (universities, polytechnics, research institutes). 
2. ii) the evaluation of scientists and research teams that will promote ambitious and long-term research. 

There are 60 CoARA signatories in Poland. The NC-PL comprises 47 members, including universities and other HEIs, research institutes, junior researcher associations, the Polish Academy of Science, and the Rectors Conference. We are open to both CoARA signatories (with voting status) and non-signatories (with observer status). Importantly, we work in close contact with the Main Council of Science and Higher Education and the Science Evaluation Committee – the body preparing national evaluation rules.  

Taking advantage of the diversity of our NC-PL, including the presence of research funding agencies and representatives of ministerial advisory bodies, we want to monitor emerging reform proposals and assess their compliance with the national legal framework, with possible suggestions for the desired legal changes. We also want to prevent inconsistencies between different types of evaluations to which researchers are subjected. That should include diminishing negative aspects of long-term self-employments relying solely on temporary positions within projects awarded from granting agencies by introducing a systemic solution allowing to offer scientists entry into a tenure track. All our actions will be accompanied by a constant strive towards extending the numbers of active participants of the national chapter, its task forces, and CoARA as a whole. 

The NC-PL is coordinated by the Jagiellonian University and the Koszalin University of Technology. Activities are carried out within six task forces: i) Data collection and analysis; ii) Research career pathways; iii) Academic career diversity; iv) Institutional evaluation; v) Project assessment; vi) CoARA monitoring. Each institution included in NC-PL appoints its representative or representatives to any number of task forces. The activity of each task force is organized by the leader or leaders chosen by each team. Our members are also involved in six CoARA working groups and co-lead two of them. 

Task force meetings are organized online every few weeks. Additionally, the NC-PL has two types of meetings: of the steering group, i.e. task forces leaders and NC-PL coordinators (online, depending on needs), and plenary meetings with all interested members, probably 1-2 per year. One of such plenary meetings is planned to take the form of an in-person seminar.  

If necessary, between meetings, we distribute documents to all NC-PL members for review (e.g. call for opinion on a ministerial proposal for the regulation of open science or discussion on the proposal for the research evaluation reform prepared by the team of the Polish Academy of Sciences). These collected opinions may become the basis for seminar discussions and formulating the NC-PL positions.  

Last meeting: 

14.06.2024, Katowice. As a part of EuroScience Open Forum Katowice 2024, NC-PL co-organized a discussion panel “CoARA National Chapters – benefits and challenges of networking for the advancement of research assessment on a national level”, together with National Chapters from Hungary, Spain and Switzerland. There were four panelists: Elena Dominguez (Spain), Stanislaw Kistryn (Poland), Michaela Strinzel (Switzerland) and Melinda Szemerkenyi-Szondy (Hungary). The discussion was moderated by Miklos Gyorffi (Hungary). The aim of the session was to provide a roundtable debate on the benefits identified and challenges emerged during the process of the establishment of the National Chapters of  CoARA, what aims these NCs have set, how they would integrate within the general targets of CoARA, what activities they develop, what perspectives can be identified at national level, as well as what they add to the other activities of CoARA Working Groups. Panelist discussion, with lively involvement and many questions asked by the audience, allowed for a better understanding of the differences in initial conditions as well as diversity in legal and organizational frameworks in different countries. The round-table discussion was followed by a meeting for representatives of the Polish National Chapter, open to all interested participants. The discussion, with active participation of representatives of the of Science Evaluation Committee, focused on the currently proposed reform of the institutional evaluation system. The second important topic was the exchange of experiences on the preparation of institutional Action Plans. 

Next meeting: 

12.09.2024, Warsaw. The National Chapter is preparing a panel discussion as part of the 2nd Internationalization Congress organized by the National Agency for Academic Exchange, the National Science Center and the National Center for Research and Development. The main goal of the Congress is to develop recommendations for the National Internationalization Strategy. The panel coordinated by the National Chapter will focus on the main principles of the planned reforms of research evaluation. The goals of the CoARA and examples of successful solutions will be presented.