Measuring Excellence in Science Engagement

Aims and Objectives

Scientists are increasingly urged to engage beyond academia to improve decision-making, public discourse, and lay understanding of science, and many young scientists are active in these ways. Many institutions encourage such engagement and consider it an important component of staff responsibilities, but how do they measure it in promotion, tenure, professional review, etc.? The Working Group “Measuring Excellence in Science Engagement (MESE)” aims to answer this question.

Calls for Contributions

10-15 minute survey that gets to the heart of what it means to be a scientist/researcher.

Whereas research outputs and impacts are receiving a great deal of attention, relatively little attention has been paid to the measurement of excellence in science engagement/outreach (which some argue is key to making science relevant and contribute to ‘a better world’).

The GYA Working Group “Measuring Excellence in Science Engagement” is launching a novel effort to understand how engagement is assessed in our jobs and how we perceive it. It also seeks to assess how these perceptions about engagement, measurement, and importance, differ between researchers and their managers/heads of department, etc.

Url for university, government, NGO and industry staff with a PhD: http://fluidsurveys.com/s/scientists_engagement/

Url for students and postdocs: http://fluidsurveys.com/s/student_scientists_engagement/

Progress

In 2014, the MESE group designed and pilot-tested a survey to understand current measurement systems for science engagement activities. One aim of the survey is to compare perceptions of social importance/benefit with the weight that such engagement efforts receive in three kinds of review processes (hiring, periodic review, and promotion).

The working group anticipates that it might benefit many science institutions by shaping institutional policies for more effective science outreach. Two surveys—targeting principal investigators and students, respectively—are available online and have been circulated among the GYA membership for dissemination within their networks.

Outcomes

The analysis of the survey results will be published in a peer-reviewed journal article and is to contribute to a best-practices guide for assessing engagement, which will foster a substantial role of science in creating a better world.