Baseline Assessment of the Public Research System in Ireland in the areas of Biotechnology and Information and Communication Technologies (original) (raw)
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2010
In the period 1995 to 2008 there has been an increased level of government funding for research and development in higher education institutions in Ireland. This thesis analyses the evolving theoretical literature on the production of knowledge, and traces how models of research and innovation have evolved in the contemporary period. Four models are discussed: (i) linear model, (ii) national systems of innovation, (iii) mode-2 science, and (iv) triple helix. The thesis presents a detailed analysis of a series of public documents produced in Ireland in the period, and discusses how each one relates to the theoretical background. Some of these relationships are explicit, where documents cite key authors and the models as discussed in the theoretical literature. Some of the relationships are implicit, where the manner in which the process of research and development is described implies that certain models are being assumed. The thesis subsequently discusses the results of this analysi...
Research units in Portugal undergo a formal evaluation process based on peer review which is the basis for distributing funding from the national research council. This article analyses the evaluation results and asks how good they are at predicting future research performance. Better research evaluations mean the institution receives more funding, so the key question is to what extent research evaluations are able to predict future performance as measured by bibliometric indicators. We use data from the peer evaluation of units in 2007-08, and analyze how well it is able to predict the results of a bibliometric study of the units’ Web of Science publications in the period 2007-10. We found that, in general, units that had better peer ratings, and thus more funding, as well as an increased capacity to attract extra funding, were not necessarily those that ended up producing more excellent research. The results provide an empirical contribution to the discussion regarding whether science can be measured and how, and reinforce the importance of evaluations where the use of quantitative data is defined and the differences between areas are accounted for. This analysis provides a snapshot of Portugal´s recent scientific performance. Chemistry and physics are among the subfields with higher output and impact, which agrees with a traditional preferential funding of these areas. Institutions also excel in areas that may be assuming an increased relevance (Plant Sciences, Food Science and Technology, Neurosciences and other health-related subfields), which should be taken into account when implementing future science policies. This is a pre-copyedited, author-produced PDF of an article accepted for publication in Research Evaluation following peer review.
Quantitative Science Studies, 2020
Numerous EU documents praise the excellence of EU research without empirical evidence and in contradiction of academic studies. We investigated research performance in two fields of high socioeconomic importance, advanced technology and basic medical research, in two sets of European countries, Germany, France, Italy, and Spain (GFIS), and the UK, Netherlands, and Switzerland (UKNCH). Despite their historical and geographical proximity, research performance in GFIS is much lower than in UKNCH, and well below the world average. Funding from the European Research Council (ERC) greatly improves performance in both GFIS and UKNCH, but ERC-GFIS publications are less cited than ERC-UKNCH publications. We conclude that research performance in GFIS and in other EU countries is intrinsically low, even in highly selected and generously funded projects. The technological and economic future of the EU depends on improving research, which requires structural changes in research policy within the...