Accountability in Academic Life

Edited by Michael Ochsner, Senior Researcher, Swiss Centre of Expertise in the Social Sciences (FORS), University of Lausanne, Switzerland and Zoe Hope Bulaitis, Assistant Professor of Liberal Arts and Natural Sciences, University of Birmingham, UK

Contents:

1 Accountability in academic life: introduction to European
perspectives on societal impact evaluation 1
Michael Ochsner and Zoe Bulaitis

PART I PERSPECTIVES AND POLICYMAKING:
SUMMARISING SOCIETAL IMPACT
EVALUATION PRACTICES IN EUROPE
2 Manifesto for a better societal impact evaluation 10
Michael Ochsner, Zoe Hope Bulaitis, Corina Balaban,
Elena Castro-Martínez, Ondřej Daniel, Aldis Gedutis,
Elea Giménez-Toledo, Marlène Iseli, Stefan de Jong, Lai
Ma, Jorge Mañana-Rodríguez, Reeta Muhonen, Julia
Olmos-Peñuela, Ginevra Peruginelli, Eiríkur Smári
Sigurðarson, Karel Šima, Jack Spaapen and Marc Vanholsbeeck
3 The need for historical inquiry into societal impact
evaluation: towards a genealogy of the notion of useful research 30
Aldis Gedutis, Zoe Hope Bulaitis and Michael Ochsner
4 Beyond the frame: hard-to-assess research–impact
nexuses in the Social Sciences and the Humanities 51
Alis Oancea
5 Considering international contexts in societal impact
evaluation and SSH: a perspective from EASSH 60
Gabi Lombardo

PART II NATIONAL PERSPECTIVES ON SOCIETAL
IMPACT EVALUATION PRACTICES
6 Engaged scientists or public intellectuals: the disputed
public role of SSH researchers within the French
Community of Belgium 67
Marc Vanholsbeeck
7 Societal impact evaluation in SSH in the Czech Republic:
in defence against the strong STEM application discourse 81
Karel Šima and Ondřej Daniel
8 Evaluation of societal impact of the Social Sciences and
Humanities in Finland 96
Reetta Muhonen, Laura Himanen and Janne Pölönen
9 From moral panic to accountability: societal impact,
evaluations, and bibliometrics in Iceland 114
Eiríkur Smári Sigurðarson
10 Responsible societal impact (without) evaluation:
reflections from Ireland 127
Lai Ma
11 The Italian path to the evaluation of the Third Mission 139
Andrea Bonaccorsi and Ginevra Peruginelli
12 The (SSH) impact discourses in Lithuania: blissful
impactlessness versus imminent impact? 155
Aldis Gedutis and Kęstas Kirtiklis
13 Formative evaluation in the Netherlands: an opportunity
for the arts, humanities and social sciences 173
Stefan de Jong and Jack Spaapen
14 SSH knowledge transfer and societal impact in Spain:
from recognition at the individual level to institutional initiatives 187
Elea Giménez-Toledo, Elena Castro-Martínez, Julia
Olmos-Penuela and Jorge Mañana-Rodríguez
15 Societal impact, innovation, or public value?
Switzerland’s approach to research impact evaluation and
the SSH 204
Michael Ochsner, Corina Balaban and Marlène Iseli
16 Impact, innovation and the public humanities: evaluating
the societal impact of research in the United Kingdom 224
Zoe Hope Bulaitis

Index