Showing the value of MRC research
5 August 2008
A new survey will help gather information on MRC funded research
There is an ever greater need for the MRC to demonstrate the importance of its research funding and strengthen the evaluation of research. Last year’s spending review saw a substantial increase in MRC funding. Research councils are under increasing pressure to demonstrate to government the quality, progress and impact of the research they support.
Working with members of the research community, the MRC has developed an innovative online form to collect information on outputs from research programmes and grants. The form has been designed to rationalise existing requests and collect information that can be analysed effectively. An important consideration in its development has been the commitment to reduce the administrative burden placed on researchers.
Ian Viney, head of evaluation at the MRC, said: “There is a vision to have a shared system across all research councils for the collection of research outputs and outcomes; by designing and implementing the MRC online system now, we are ensuring that the MRC is in the best possible position to help shape this joint approach.”
The form will be launched during September. For this year’s data collection we will be asking for information on the outputs from current MRC funded agreements or for agreements that ended in 2006, 2007 or 2008. The associated grant holders and programme leaders will be contacted individually, where applicable, and will also be provided with a unique reference to access the system and given detailed instructions to enable them to complete their submission. Initial reports on the data gathered will be published early in 2009. To find out more, email evaluation@headoffice.mrc.ac.uk.
