Manifesto for a better societal impact evaluation

Abstract

In this chapter, ENRESSH collaborators write a “Manifesto for a Better Societal Impact” Evaluation. In this, authors have extracted key principles based on some conclusions from the individual country reports which are broken down and/or extrapolated into generalisable findings drawing from the cross-national comparison. In doing so, this manifesto explores what scholars and policymakers from other European countries, and indeed from far wider international backgrounds, can learn from those countries’ experiences and the cross-national comparison. The chapter also goes beyond analysis, in providing a series of condensed recommendations for the evaluation of societal impact in the SSH with a special focus on how the evaluation can impact the work of academics in a positive way. In this collaborative task, we have sought to simultaneously respect disciplinary differences in knowledge production practices as well as in societal functions of research, while making this process as visible as possible.