Research on Research

We use a range of innovative methods to help policymakers understand the returns and outcomes from investing in scientific and social research

Research, commentary, and events

Project
Updating an Evaluation of Grant Peer Review in the Health Sciences
15 Jun 2018

The Canadian Institutes of Health Research asked RAND Europe to update the 2009 study on grant peer review to provide a more widely applicable source of evidence around the strengths and weaknesses of peer review for grant funding assessment.
Project
Evaluating the Impact of EU R&D into PRNDs
21 Feb 2018

EU-funded research and development into poverty-related and neglected diseases has had a significant impact on strengthening research capacity in low- and middle-income countries, but its effects on encouraging universal health coverage is less clear.
Project
Exploring Why an Incentivised Pay Study Failed to Recruit Enough Teachers
05 Feb 2018

Researchers tried to conduct a randomised control trial to understand whether UK teachers could be motivated with incentivised pay and coaching, but they failed to recruit enough participants. To help future studies, they changed their research to explore why the recruitment effort failed.
Project
Reviewing the Hong Kong Research Grants Council
03 Nov 2017

The Hong Kong Research Grants Council has established a positive reputation as the territory's primary research grant funder. Stakeholder interviews uncovered many positive views about what the council has achieved, as well as suggestions for improvement.
Commentary
Tracking Global Trends in Open Peer Review
27 Oct 2017

Open peer review is happening in a variety of forms, but it still accounts for a small percentage of reviews carried out, and it is not clear whether open peer review is increasing in usage. In the future, as the Publons dataset grows, it will be worth exploring the data in more detail.
Commentary
Can Open Science Help to Make Research More Accessible?
13 Oct 2017

The leading principle of open science is that anyone, whether they are part of the research community or the public, should be able to access scientific knowledge. Free circulation of knowledge, the sharing of research results, and transparency of methodology are core tenets of the scientific method.
Commentary
Professional Expectations, Families and Brexit Shape Future for UK International Researchers
05 May 2017

Mobility has become an even higher priority for researchers since the results of the UK’s EU referendum, Brexit. To continue to attract and keep top talent, the UK needs to understand how and why researchers move between countries.
Commentary
Why We Need to Experiment with Grant Peer Review
04 Apr 2017

More than 95 per cent of academic biomedical research funding is controlled by peer review of grant applications. It is generally cited as the gold standard for awarding funding, but it appears most effective when used conservatively.
Commentary
In a 'Post-Truth' World, Evidence and Experts Matter More Than Ever
16 Dec 2016

For policymakers and politicians, evidence should be at the heart of everything because it is crucial to the policymaking cycle. It frames what kind of questions need to be asked, what research or analysis needs to be done, what policy options can be considered, and how they should be evaluated. Put simply, we need evidence to know what works and why.
Project
Helping universities measure their research impact
20 Nov 2016

ImpactFinder helps universities manage their research funding submissions to UK Higher Education Funding Councils and identify and review impact case studies that meet the requirements of the Research Excellence Framework.
Project
How Can Research Be Evaluated?
14 Nov 2016

Because of the growing demand for transparency and accountability in research evaluation, researchers developed a comprehensive list of evaluation tools and techniques and explained when each might be most useful and why. They then offered a list of 100 ideas for metrics that can be used to assess and communicate the value of biomedical research.
Commentary
Who's Funding Mental Health Research Worldwide?
17 Aug 2016

The size and diversity of mental health research is significant, but it remains a loosely defined field in which funders tend not to spell out what counts as mental health. An outline of the current state of mental health research funding worldwide helps to address the huge challenges of mental illness.
Commentary
What Can We Learn from High-Performing Research Units?
28 Jun 2016

Central characteristics of high-performing research units are the high quality of the people and the culture and values displayed within the department, which is often a result of leadership. It is also interesting to explore their differences, such as what makes a unit particularly good at having impact versus producing high-quality publications.
Project
The National Institute of Health Research at 10 Years
18 May 2016

To mark the NIHR's tenth anniversary, the UK Department of Health commissioned an impact synthesis of how NIHR has benefited the health research landscape.
Commentary
Why Research Funders Looking for Impact Need to Be 'DECISIVE'
14 Apr 2016

Funding decisions in the UK direct the flow of billions of pounds of public and philanthropic funding but there is little evidence to suggest how to allocate grants to researchers to increase the chances that the work they support changes lives and improves society. New research helps inform funders' strategies.