ANECA, CRUE and CSIC promote research reform in Spain

On 9 February, the presentation of the National Chapter of the Coalition for the Advancement of Research Assessment (CoARA) in Spain, coordinated by ANECA, the Conference of Rectors of Spanish Universities (CRUE) and the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC), took place at the headquarters of the Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities.

The conference was opened by the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Universities, Juan Cruz Cigudosa, who pointed out that "open science must be a powerful lever for change to democratise and accelerate the arrival of knowledge to all corners of society with the guarantee that it will be a real driving force for economic progress and social welfare". "We improve scientific methods to improve people's lives", said Cigudosa, who also appealed to the commitment and collaboration of all the actors in the scientific and university world and all the administrations.

Pilar Paneque, director of ANECA, Eloísa del Pino, president of CSIC, and Eva Alcón, president of CRUE and rector of the Universitat Jaume I, also took part in the event. Also present were rectors, vice-rectors for teaching and research, directors of quality agencies, research centres and doctoral schools, among others.
 
During the conference, the European and national context was analysed, as well as the objectives and lines of work of this initiative. Institutional experiences on evaluation criteria and methodologies, awareness-raising and training, and the evaluation of multidisciplinarity and interdisciplinarity were also presented.

At the opening of the event, the director of ANECA, Pilar Paneque, summarised the actions that the Agency has developed in 2023 to advance in the fulfilment of the principles and commitments acquired with its adhesion to CoARA. Specifically, the director highlighted the measures articulated "to value a greater diversity of contributions and research careers and profiles; to promote a science open to society, in its broadest conception, and giving specific value to citizen science; to guarantee an adequate evaluation of multi- and interdisciplinary research, with the creation of specific evaluation commissions and committees, and with the incorporation in all commissions of people with experience in this type of research; avoiding biases in evaluation and incorporating specialists in research evaluation with a gender perspective in all commissions; advancing in qualitative evaluation models and in the use of the narrative curriculum; and proposing new metrics that allow us to move from theory to practice in this new framework. Pilar Paneque also stressed that this process has been carried out "by establishing channels for information, consultation and participation of all members of the system".

A total of 84 Spanish institutions are currently participating in this national initiative: 12 quality agencies, 11 research centres, one research funding body, two associations and 58 universities. This working group aims to create a joint initiative to promote and support the review and development of criteria, tools and procedures for research evaluation in Spain through a process of co-creation involving representatives from research centres, quality agencies and universities. In addition, the aim is to generate a space for mutual learning internally, but also in collaboration with other National Chapters and CoARA working groups in Europe, a good example of which is the Forum held in Oporto on 22-23 February, where the Spanish National Chapter was presented.