This text has been translated from Norwegian with the assistance of GPT UiO.
– Which research project are you most preoccupied with?
– I am working on the project Organising Impact. This project studies organisations that fund health research, and we look at how their own activities and routines influence the societal impact of the research they support.
– What do you hope to find out?
– Our main aim is to develop a deeper understanding of what we call “impact in the making”. We want to understand how societal impact develops through small steps in the research process before the final results become visible.
– Three aspects are particularly important to us. First, we will study how funding organisations influence research beyond the actual allocation of money, for example through follow-up and reporting requirements, and through flexibility.
– Second, we look at how those who are supposed to use the knowledge, such as health personnel and patient organisations, actually interact with research environments.
– And third, we are interested in how temporal aspects, such as speed and timing, affect the pathway from research to use in health services. We will do this using different empirical approaches: we are building a database of health research projects, conducting interviews with researchers and relevant users, and following some projects over time.
– Why is this important?
– Today we know too little about the role funders play after a grant has been awarded. Most previous studies have tried to measure effects after they have happened, but in our project we look at the small organisational steps taken along the way to help secure good outcomes for patients and the health system. In health and medicine this is particularly critical, because the effects are multifaceted – it covers everything from new medicines and guidelines to economic benefits and improved patient care. A better understanding of processes and time dynamics is interesting from a scholarly point of view, and we also want to help funding organisations make decisions that enable research to benefit society more effectively.
– Measured in money and people, health is the largest field we have. It is still the case that most of our knowledge about research is based on evaluations, simple indicators and cost–benefit thinking. Our small project seeks to open up for additional perspectives.
–?Who are you collaborating with?
– The project is a partnership between academia and practice. We work closely with three of the most important funders of health research in Norway: the Norwegian Cancer Society, the Dam Foundation and the South-Eastern Norway Regional Health Authority. I lead the project together with Associate Professor Silje Maria Tellmann, and we have recruited Linn Zapffe as a PhD candidate. In addition, we have an international advisory board of experts from the University of Bristol, the Wellcome Trust and the Research on Research Institute (RoRI).
– What do you look for when choosing collaborators?
– This particular call required collaboration with actors outside academia, and fortunately three of the most relevant organisations were interested in taking part. We are keen that they are active partners, meaning that they do more than just giving us access to data. In the project, we have designed the work so that perspectives and results will be discussed with all partners along the way.
– From a scholarly point of view, we have good contacts with many excellent groups that are interested in a better understanding of the research system. Ten years ago, we started a workshop at TIK on research and innovation in the health field. This has become an annual event, and we will organise it again in Oslo next year.
– What other research projects are you involved in?
– This year we are concluding the large research centre OSIRIS, where we have broadly examined how research is used in different parts of society. The main task now is to finalise a series of publications. Among other things, a special issue of Science and Public Policy on the use of research in policymaking is just around the corner, and during the spring we will submit around 20 chapters for an international book on new perspectives on “impact”.
– In addition, I am a member of two portfolio boards at the Research Council of Norway – the system board and the enabling technologies board – and these are very interesting arenas for learning more about the research system.
– What do you think is the most interesting aspect of being a researcher?
– I enjoy the sense of community both locally and internationally, and I am motivated by empirical and interdisciplinary work. Learning about other people’s experiences and realities through interviews, surveys and fieldwork is exciting – fun, you might even say – and for me the most important source of new perspectives and scholarly insight.
– At the same time, I believe we have a responsibility for maintaining a solid scholarly knowledge base. Much of what is happening in the world today, whether in geopolitics, security or radical new technologies, has also been a central theme in earlier work. Even though not everything from the Cold War era or from previous technologies will be relevant, it is our responsibility to maintain a body of knowledge rather than starting with a blank slate and new concepts every time something changes.
- More about the project Organising Impact
- More about the research centre OSIRIS