GRC
World's leading funding agencies gather in The Hague for annual meeting of the Global Research Council English version
Event organized by NWO and FAPESP will discuss two main themes: "How to reward and recognize scientists" and "Principles and practices for funding climate change research"
Karina Toledo | FAPESP Agency – The Annual Meeting of the Global Research Council (GRC) – an entity that brings together more than 60 public funding agencies for research around the world – will start next Monday (May 29th) in The Hague, in the Netherlands. The Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO) and FAPESP are the hosts of the 2023 edition, which will discuss two main themes: "how to reward and recognize scientists" and "research on climate change." The objective is that, at the end, the member agencies endorse, for each subject, a declaration of principles and practices that should guide the work developed in these areas.
"This type of document is important because it creates a set of common values that facilitate scientific cooperation. When it’s necessary to evaluate the merit of a project, for example, everyone is already aligned. Of course it’s not mandatory, it has no legal implications, but it’s a commitment that research funders make," explains Euclides de Mesquita Neto, a member of the FAPESP Deputy Coordination for Special Programs and Research Collaborations and executive secretary of the GRC.
The 2023 themes were proposed by the organizing agencies, NWO and FAPESP, which were also responsible for drafting the documents. These texts were widely discussed throughout 2022, both at the Executive Support Group meeting held in September and at the five regional meetings: Americas, Asia-Pacific, Europe, Middle East-North Africa, and Sub-Saharan Africa. "The realities are very different in each of the regions. And these previous meetings allow us to incorporate the different views on the theme into the document," comments Mesquita Neto.
Once approved by the Governing Board (the main governance body of the GRC), the statements of principles and practices can be endorsed by the member agencies. "During the Annual Meeting the content of the documents will no longer be discussed, which is already agreed upon. The objective is to widen the debate by including related topics and to look for strategies to implement these principles and practices," explains the executive secretary.
When it comes to climate change, for example, one of the aspects already agreed upon is that socioeconomic and gender inequality makes certain groups of people more vulnerable to climate impacts – something that must be taken into account in research on the subject. The document also highlights that, due to the complexity of the problem, studies should cover all areas of knowledge (transdisciplinarity and multidisciplinarity), in addition to involving citizens, policy makers, and other stakeholders.
The text on rewarding and recognizing scientists, on the other hand, stresses the need to go beyond metrics based on scientific publications (journal impact factor and number of citations to an article), making the merit assessment process broader, more holistic, and adapted to each context.
"In principle, these guidelines apply to the agencies that are part of the GRC, but indirectly they end up influencing the policies of research institutions and, consequently, researchers. For example, the evaluation mechanisms and programs adopted by FAPESP are clearly reflected in the practices adopted by universities in São Paulo," says Mesquita Neto.
In parallel to the main event – which will be held at the Peace Palace, where the International Court of Justice is housed – a series of side meetings will be held at the Hilton The Hague hotel. Among the topics that will be discussed are: inclusion and diversity in the research ecosystem; research integrity and security; and support for researchers at risk. The full program of the event, which will take place between Monday (May 29th) and Friday (June 2nd) of next week, can be found at: www.grc2023thehague.nl.