Presentation on the Alpha Action Plan of Ghent University at INORMS2016 (Melbourne September 2016)

1. Oxygen for the
Alphas
Strengthening
research quality and
strategy in SSH
Esther De Smet
@sterretje8

2. Caution: rather bland
presentation coming up

3. Ghent University
― °1817, urban university with 11 schools (faculties)
― 42.000 students (15% international)
― Large research community: 1500 professors, 1200 postdocs, 3900 predocs
― €250 million research expenditure
― Iconic library, 2 science parks
― EC label HR Excellence in Research, ECTS label
― Shanghai ranking: 64
Research Department > Policy and Quality Control Unit

4. Set-up of Alpha Action Plan
(2012)
– Two main goals: better quality + better visibility / appreciation
– Developing methods and incentives relevant for SSH
– Bibliometrics bias
– Higher individuality, less ‘big’ funding, smaller groups
– High teaching load
– Societal value creation
– Lessons learned
from previous spearhead strategy (2010)

5. Set-up of Alpha Action Plan
– Budget: € 4,25 million over 5 years
– Four focus areas:
1. Research professors: 4 tenured professors + 15 tenure track positions
2. Research sabbaticals
3. Research coordinators
4. Research evaluation
– In parallel:
– Flemish Academic Bibliographic Database (VABB)
– New policy plan on societal value creation (IM-pact)
– New guidelines on research assessment

6. Focus area: research sabbaticals
– Funded by Special Research Fund (ideally as top-up to existing mobility grants)
– 80 professors for 6 months, 20 for 1 year = 1/3!
– No
– Neither for newbies or end-of-career
– Requirements: research plan, reporting

7. Focus area: research sabbaticals
– New projects
– Invest in communication and value creation of existing work
– Data
– Catching up
– New strategy/research focus
– Peace of mind/renewed energy
– Group dynamics
BUT
₋ Mixed feelings
₋ Preparation is crucial
₋ Administrative burden
₋ Should be a regular thing

8. Focus area: research
coordinators
– Main responsibilities:
– Proactively search out funding
– Grant proposal development
– Foster internal/external collaboration
– Value creation/Impact
– Clustering existing expertise:
5 SSH consortia
Mediaeval
History
Global
Studies
Clinical
Psychology
Criminology Business
models &
Innovation

9. Focus area: research
coordinators
– Consortia:
– Not self-sufficient but quality of research seems to have benefitted
– Critical mass needed to deal with initiatives/ideas of research coordinator
– Coordinator:
– Crucial in improving group mentality
– Insecure/uncertain position
– Different approaches by/uses of

10. Focus area: research evaluation
– International peer review panel (3-day visit)
– Self-evaluation report: institutional data + critical reflection

11. Focus area: research evaluation
– Essential for feedback on institutional/faculty policy
– Much needed self-reflection
– Huge investment (e.g. need for CRIS)
– Insecurity about follow-up:
differentiate between feedback
and assessment

12. Thank you for listening!
Get in touch @sterretje8
 Research Department
INORMS September 2016