The impact of technology on society is deep. Project administration, If societal impact is to be a new paradigm of science governance, it is important to better understand how societal impact emerges. Researchers at applied universities agree that societal relevance should have more weight in evaluation more often than those at independent institutes and universitiesthe approval rates are 62%, 49%, and 53% respectively. To gain a better understanding of how researchers perceive societal impact as a paradigm in research governance, we included questions to elicit respondents opinions on the role of societal impact at their institutions and in their work, on whether societal impact should be given more weight in evaluations, and on whether their institutional communication departments are reaching relevant societal stakeholders [38,39] (opinions, RQ1). No, Is the Subject Area "Social communication" applicable to this article? However, we personally invited certain researchers so that we could adequately cover the explanatory dimensions (i.e., the different organizational settings, disciplines, and career stages in Germany). Overall, 89% of the respondents agree that public engagement is part of scientific activity. In general, we considered agreement as the last two answer categories of the scale (agree + strongly agree) and report on this. We bring together leading experts in government and academia from all . Rigidity of caste system, untouchability, dowry system and purdah system have done enormous harm to our society. The challenges of measuring and assessing impacts are well known in the prior literature on evaluations of societal impact. Based on the 2021 AUA Match statistics, 357 positions were filled during this cycle, and this cohort represents 32% of the matched pool of candidates for this season. Something about me. Students are always looking for inspiring presentation topics for their academic assignments because employers look for people who have exc The program brings together humanists, social scientists, engineers, and natural scientists, all committed to transcending the boundaries of their disciplines in a joint search for new insights and new ways of reaching science and engineering students. Researchers from applied universities are the primary users of advisory formats: 57% of researchers at applied universities have used advisory formats compared to 40% of researchers at independent institutes and only 26% of the researchers at universities. Of course, REF impact case studies are written to succeed in the evaluation in question [81]. Y} 721})-TP?zahw:CZ5{=>)]S3fy'=maoqV[.')ri:=f|nNjn~=o_G5ezQ:=MG"KS?cW%gEo7Mj8"spElB#;= /+ For instance, the Leibniz Association, a union of 96 nonuniversity research institutes, adopted a new mission statement for the transfer of scientific knowledge to society, the economy, and politics in 2019 [20]. Interested in reshaping the way the international business market evolves by constantly learning and evolving with the business, while utilizing the knowledge and skill sets that are being taught to positively impact society. Technology has largely influenced every aspect of living. Societal impact, and hence what academic research offers the economy, society, culture, public administration, health, environment and overall quality of life, is gaining in importance in science governance [2, 5, 6]. Although there is no evaluation exercise in Germany comparable to the REF in the UK, it is evident that the topic has gained momentum in Germany in recent years as well. 0000068543 00000 n it is good to have more impact), we can still draw some practical conclusions: First, considering the discontent with institutional communication departments, it might be worthwhile to implement decentralized support structures on the mesolevel of research organizations. It contributes to ensuring a longer and healthier life, monitors our health, provides medicine to cure our diseases, alleviates aches and pains, helps us to provide water for our basic needs including our food, provides energy and makes life more fun, including sports, music, entertainment and the latest communication technology. We designed a semi-convenience sample, which means that in principle any researcher with the link to the survey could participate. Citation: Fecher B, Hebing M (2021) How do researchers approach societal impact? We live in an information-driven society. To face sustainable development challenges, governments and citizens alike must understand the language of science and must become scientifically literate. Second, because the sample consisted of researchers in Germany, the transferability of the results to other research and innovation systems is limited. This study measures the safety impact of different types of bus stops on the interactions between passengers and cyclists. Others have pointed to the increased legitimation pressure exerted by research organizations and the increase in PR and marketing [40]. The goals are either to improve policies that affect science (policy for science) or to improve policies that can benefit from scientific understanding (science for policy). 0000008586 00000 n Marcel Hebing, Roles The original question contained two more options ( contribute to national and/or international security. and create an entertainment offering.), but these were chosen by less than 10% of the respondents and are therefore excluded. Science must respond to societal needs and global challenges. 0000128395 00000 n Challenges today cut across the traditional boundaries of disciplines and stretch across the lifecycle of innovation -- from research to knowledge development and its application. I am candidate of science (Ph.D) of cultural studies. We also contacted the German Research Associations (DFG) graduate schools. In contrast, researchers from independent institutes are most the policy-oriented ones: 54% of the researchers from independent institutes aim to contribute to political decision-making (31% at universities and 37% at applied universities). Two scholarly discourses are particularly relevant for the subject of this study: 1) the discourse in communication and science and technology studies (STS) on the relationship between science and society and 2) the discourse on societal impact measurement in scientometrics and evaluation research. 0:04 Science & Society; 1:09 Physics & Natural Phenomena; 1:43 Quantum & Nuclear Physics; 3:14 Astrophysics; 4:08 Lesson Summary; . Three research questions guided our analysis and structured the presentation of the results; when analyzing each question, we use our three dimensions of explanatory variables (i.e., content, organization, individual) to structure and compare the results. Our analysis is based on an empirical survey among 499 researchers in Germany conducted from April to June 2020. Yes In our society there are many practices and traditions which are based on ignorance and which have withheld the progress of our society. In addition, there are two further points of criticism concerning the concept of societal impact: On the one hand, critics point to the inadequate representation of the complexity of science, for example, because impact logics of the natural sciences are used as a yardstick for evaluations [6, 57]. Researchers at universities show the lowest agreement to the statement that knowledge transfer plays an important role at their institution: Only 19% approve compared to 36% at applied universities and 37% at independent institutes. Validation, Only 28% of the researchers from universities have used collaboration formats, compared to 53% of researchers from applied universities and 35% of researchers from independent institutes. Science generates solutions for everyday life and helps us to answer the great mysteries of the universe. I have included a range of topics with positive, negative and thought provoking questions for students to consider. impact of science on society. For example, many associations for the social sciences and humanities in Germany expressed concern that the BMBF initiative does not take into account the current state of science communication research [24]. Think you'll never have to ask for help? Also in 2020, the Alliance of Science Organizations issued an agreement containing four fields of action; this highlighted, among other things, scientific freedom and the need to anticipate disciplinary differences. A total of 116 PGY-1 residents completed the survey; 80 completed the entire survey and 36 provided partial responses. Therefore, we conducted an exploratory analysis and focused on descriptive methods. on Society and the Economy', Vienna, 11 May 2007. . positive and negative impact on society, Overview Join one of the most influential, most quoted and most trusted think tanks! The German Council of Sciences and Humanities, an advisory body to the German federal government, called for more recognition for knowledge and technology transfer [18]. Each question allowed further responses in an open text fieldfrom the few additional responses and the high response rate, we concluded that the identified categories were robust. When it comes to gender, male researchers are more inclined to pursue goals that are also related to their disciplines and vice versa. We show that most researchers regard societal engagement as part of their job and are generally in favor of impact evaluation. In addition, we suggest that national innovation systems should be studied comparatively in order to understand the impact of policies and to study more closely the relationship between transfer practices and societal impact in specific disciplines. &t#9-=-. 0000002383 00000 n On the other hand, criticism is directed towards the representation of society, whose benefit has often been reduced to economic indicators (e.g., revenue, jobs) and not the broader societal impact [5, 63]. In others the impact has been negative, as in the case of bombs with ever-increasing destructive power. Interested in environmental science, sustainable aviation & space flight, citizen science, SAR and emergency . Developing students capacities and Age does not seem to affect opinions on whether public engagement is part of scientific work. Yes Activate your 30 day free trialto unlock unlimited reading. The REF evaluates societal impact via case studies, which are narratives that describe how research conducted at a higher education institution created a wider societal benefit. For more information about PLOS Subject Areas, click In recent years, new approaches have been developed that specifically address the SSH [6, 61, 62]. 0000003342 00000 n Alexander von Humboldt Institute for Internet and Society, Berlin, Germany, Is the Subject Area "Scientists" applicable to this article? 0000056395 00000 n Clipping is a handy way to collect important slides you want to go back to later. You can read the details below. We used the 13 goals that we identified by coding the REF use cases as a framework (e.g., supporting legislative decision making, driving technical innovation, preserving cultural heritage, or protecting the environment). Modern science is relatively new having it's origin about 350 years ago. It should be noted that science is part of society and both the sciences and their publics have differing ideas about robustness and usefulness [32]. The numbers are based on the question What social effects do you most likely want to achieve with your research? H\j@>,EN(I However, female researchers agree that societal relevance should be part of research evaluation more often than male researchers (62% compared to 44%). Yes By whitelisting SlideShare on your ad-blocker, you are supporting our community of content creators. So when we speak of the impact of science on society we are speaking about the more advanced countries, and when we speculate on the future, it usually concerns the same areas of the world. Visualization, https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0254006.g003. In light of complex societal challenges and the further integration of German research bodies into the European research area, the societal impact of research will likely become an even more prominent concern in research governance in the near future. Hence, this study offers empirical evidence on a group that has received remarkably little attention in the scholarly discourse on the societal impact of researchacademic researchers. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0254006.t001. Conceptualization, Supervision, Regarding sociodemographic characteristics, the genders were equally distributed (50% male, 49% female, and 1% others). Alexander von Humboldt Institute for Internet and Society, Berlin, Germany, 0000067689 00000 n Furthermore, researchers at universities particularly disagree with the statement that their communication departments are able to reach relevant stakeholders in society: Only 15% approve compared to 28% at applied universities and 44% at independent research institutes. This PowerPoint goes through the food web and has a picture of the ocean food energy pyramid. However, researchers from applied universities typically have a higher teaching workload. Despite these efforts, our sample was not probabilistic and we assumed a certain self-selection bias due to the topic of the survey. In this article, we address this question from the perspective of researchers, that is, we ask what their views on societal impact are, what their goals are, and what formats they use to achieve them. Science and technology has led to the construction of good and reliable roads, rails and bridges which has made transportation easier and comfortable. The second most used communication format is public relations (i.e., comment pieces in newspapers or interviews)45% of respondents have used these in the past. Later, entire lines of (communication) research addressed how the public deals with science, for example, the public understanding or awareness of science (PUS, PAwS), scientific literacy, or more recently the public engagement with science and technology (PEST) and the science of science communication [3033]. No, PLOS is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) corporation, #C2354500, based in San Francisco, California, US, Corrections, Expressions of Concern, and Retractions, https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0254006, https://www.wihoforschung.de/de/impaqt-2631.php, https://www.impactdistillery.com/2020-impact-survey/, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-2091-0_2, https://dataportal.arc.gov.au/ERA/NationalReport/2018/, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-7028-7_4, https://www.vsnu.nl/files/documenten/Domeinen/Onderzoek/SEP2015-2021.pdf, http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_IP-12-790_en.htm, https://www.leopoldina.org/fileadmin/redaktion/Publikationen/Allianz/201806_Stellungnahme_9FRP_der_Allianz.pdf, https://www.bmbf.de/de/karliczek-wissenschaftskommunikation-staerker-in-der-wissenschaft-verankern-12620.html, https://www.wissenschaftsrat.de/download/archiv/pm_2816.pdf?__blob=publicationFile&v=2, https://www.hrk.de/positionen/beschluss/detail/transfer-und-kooperation-als-aufgaben-der-hochschulen, https://www.dgpuk.de/sites/default/files/Stellungnahme_WissKomm_DGPuK_DGS_2020_20200821.pdf, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-12898-2, https://royalsociety.org/~/media/Royal_Society_Content/policy/publications/2006/1111111395.pdf, https://doi.org/10.1007/s12115-010-9383-6, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-01048-5_2, http://www.qualitative-research.net/index.php/fqs/article/view/1089, https://www.dfg.de/download/pdf/dfg_im_profil/gremien/fachkollegien/amtsperiode_2016_2019/fachsystematik_20162019_de_grafik.pdf, https://www.destatis.de/DE/Themen/Gesellschaft-Umwelt/Bildung-Forschung-Kultur/Hochschulen/Publikationen/Downloads-Hochschulen/personal-hochschulen-2110440187004.html. This might be explained by the fact that university researchers have teaching obligations not faced by those at independent institutes and thus less time for engagement activities. Smoking advertisements have "promoted the continued social acceptability and encouraged the incorrect belief that the majority of people smoke" (Source B). impact on society of:global warming,genetic engineering,animal testing,deforestationpractices,nuclear testing and environmental legislations. As far as researchers individual characteristics are concerned, it is notable that social media is used more by younger researchers, indicating that social media will likely become more important as a means of engagement. 0 ratings 0% found this document useful (0 votes) (1) To what extent do researchers from the three disciplinary groups (natural sciences, social sciences, and humanities) consider their work as basic or applied research? 0000006247 00000 n The problems of keeping everyone fed, clothed, and in reasonable health, and of protecting the country from foreign invasion cannot be solved without science. 0000068741 00000 n 3,136 passengers and 4,135 cyclists are observed at twelve typical bus stops in Nanjing, China. Researchers from independent institutes should in theory be able to devote more resources to transfer activities than researchers at universities and applied universities, as this latter group has teaching obligations. This article contributes to this discourse by addressing researchers perspectives on societal impact, that is, their opinions on societal impact (RQ1), the societal goals they associate with their research (RQ2), and the formats they use to engage with society (RQ3). Writing review & editing, Affiliations No, Is the Subject Area "Decision making" applicable to this article? Drawing from the wider field of evaluation research, we examine how academic researchers anticipate the broader societal impact of their research. There are noteworthy differences among academic status groups: 60% of doctoral researchers but only 42% of postdocs and 47% of professors in our sample agree that societal relevance should have more weight in evaluation. Often, these relationships are viewed from one of two opposite directions. Note that university researchers report remarkably low usage of any communication format compared to researchers at applied universities or at independent institutes. Based on a communication-centered approach, this article examines how researchers approach societal impact, that is, what they think about societal impact in research governance, what their societal goals are, and how they use communication formats. These pages outline a summative project about human impact on the environment (Habitat Destruction, Invasive Species, Pollution, Population Growth, Overconsumption, and Climate Change). The Brookings Institution is a nonprofit public policy organization based in Washington, DC. The SlideShare family just got bigger. Interested in consumer behaviors, value chains, commercial and social impact and sustainability, engaging with various stakeholders to drive . Data curation, This is a PowerPoint that has excellent pictures of different types of species that live in aquatic biomes--primarily the oceans and sloughs. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0254006.g002. (2) Distribution of the disciplinary groups across the prevailing institutional types. A topic that meets a societal need or promises to garner the attention of society is often more likely to be picked up as a research topic than an obscure question with little prospect for a larger impact. Humanities scholars also chose discourse-oriented goals and focused on societal goals in the cultural sphere. Building peace in the minds of men and women. Regarding gender differences, more male than female researchers have used advisory formats: 43% of male researchers have done so compared to 24% of female researchers. No, Is the Subject Area "Research quality assessment" applicable to this article? It appears that you have an ad-blocker running. The word technology can also mean the products resulting from such efforts,: 117 including both tangible tools such as utensils or machines, and intangible ones such as software.Technology plays a critical role in science . The answer categories were based on a structuring content analysis of the REF impact case studies, which we carried out as a prestudy in spring 2019. broad scope, and wide readership a perfect fit for your research every time. Investigation, Founder and Leader of a startup focused on developing Rehabilitation and clinical skills . Basic researchers do not use advisory formats (14% vs. 47%) or collaborations (17% vs 39%) anything as often as applied researchers. Focus on innovation and new business for the healthcare segment, without losing sight of excellence in service. For example, if economic and technical impact were the sole basis for assessing societal impact, social sciences and humanities scholars would be discriminated against [6, 63]. Female researchers are more interested in supporting minorities (41%) than male researchers (25%). The findings further suggest that, where applicable, organizational factors (e.g., institutional investments in transfer, training offerings, support infrastructures) should be more strongly incorporated into assessments of societal impactfor example. It makes sense for critical evaluation research to make use of empirical work on the exchange between science and society. Colorful Retro Vintage Illustration Animated Medical Technology Education Sci No public clipboards found for this slide, Enjoy access to millions of presentations, documents, ebooks, audiobooks, magazines, and more. Analyze some household dust and there they are. The radar chart illustrates which goals researchers from our three disciplinary groups pursue when communicating with nonscientific audiences. The differences between applied and basic researchers in terms of their societal goals are negligible. Furthermore, female researchers (controlled for discipline), applied researchers, and younger researchers are significantly more in favor of including societal relevance in research evaluation. The case studies were analyzed by two coders separately and frequently discussed in the research group in order to achieve intercoder reliability. This shows that researchers are generally in favor of societal impact and regard public engagement as part of scientific activity. Now customize the name of a clipboard to store your clips. Fig 3 provides an overview of the societal goals the respondents could choose from by disciplinary group. Description: INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY AND ITS IMPACT ON SCIENCE, CULTURE AND SOCIETY Lotfi A. Zadeh Computer Science Division Department of EECS UC Berkeley University of Bremen - PowerPoint PPT presentation Number of Views: 788 Avg rating:3.0/5.0 Slides: 51 Provided by: cindyInfo Category: The main categories of the content analysis were reflected in the questions on societal goals (i.e., What societal impacts do you want to achieve with your research? (3) Distribution of the researchers sex across age groups. In this paper, we focus on those who stated that their primary work location is Germany, leaving us with 499 valid (59%) cases to analyze. Yes One reason for this discrepancy may be that researchers fear that evaluations will lead to additional work or that they will not adequately record their transfer activities [23, 60, 64]. Decisions are rout 0000040852 00000 n It has made life easy, but so easy that it may lose its charm some day. Software, If this cannot be done, science will precipitate evils greater than any that mankind has ever experienced. Assessing the Impact of Unfolding Case Study Scenarios during. If science is to be assessed based on its contribution to society, the conditions under which social impact arises should be clear. This concerns the organization of societal impact at scientific institutions. We found very little empirical research that looked at how researchers approach societal impact. My scientific work included a large number of studies on the history of art, history, and theory of culture in modern society, which required initiative, motivation, and a diverse set of skills, such as . We also find that young researchers (age 1829) are less keen on stimulating public discourse than older ones (37% in comparison to 65% for 3039-year-old researchers) or informing political decision-making (21% for young researchers compared to 48% for 4049-year-old researchers). Building Wealth Chapter 3 Lesson 5Efficient Strategy chapter-3-wealth-building-test. This could more adequately address the complexities of the sciences and their many publics [5, 6, 57, 63]. The second pretest round involved researchers from different disciplines who completed the survey, focusing on its usability and providing us with a first dataset for preliminary analysis and optimization. The German Rectors Conference, the umbrella organization of German universities, decided at its general assembly (November 14, 2017) that knowledge transfer is a priority for universities [19]. Expertise in sustainable livelihoods, food and nutrition security, mobile connectivity. Researchers from applied universities are especially likely to have used advisory and collaboration formats. 0 vo endstream endobj 58 0 obj <> endobj 59 0 obj <>stream Martin (2007 . Search. We further provide initial evidence on potentially relevant research perspectives. The SEP is used by research institutions to evaluate research units and focuses strongly on relevance for society as well as research quality [10, 11]. B\$ $>Q (%3F`LKjI/MB /qd&8 i!ew*JP~DG/ `02@d`f`xxqCC2cga|Dk7ogUpo`dg0h+P*o2|hgs p ` PG endstream endobj 49 0 obj <>>> endobj 50 0 obj <>/Font<>/ProcSet[/PDF/Text/ImageC]/XObject<>>>/Rotate 0/TrimBox[0.0 0.0 612.0 792.0]/Type/Page>> endobj 51 0 obj <> endobj 52 0 obj <> endobj 53 0 obj <> endobj 54 0 obj <> endobj 55 0 obj <> endobj 56 0 obj <> endobj 57 0 obj <>stream Young researchers (age group 1829 years, mostly PhD students) reported less often that they aim to contribute to public discourse (37% in comparison to 65% for 3039-year-olds) or political decision-making (21% in comparison to 48% for 4049-year-olds). 0000008333 00000 n Participants were invited with an initial email and one reminder, both including a request to distribute the survey among colleagues. The responses are differentiated by how much the researchers consider their work to be basic or applied research and the three disciplinary groups. Equal proportions of respondents37% eachregard contributing to informed political decision-making and to the physical and mental wellbeing of the population as a societal goal associated with their work. Enjoy access to millions of ebooks, audiobooks, magazines, and more from Scribd. Various gadgets that were thought of fiction fifty years ago previous, for instance, cell phones, microwaves, planes and various others are underestimated lately. Public understanding and engagement with science, and citizen participation including through the popularization of science are essential to equip citizens to make informed personal and professional choices.