Dr al-Taie moderating a panel as Prof Grant Dr Ibrahim Janahi (executive director, HMC), Eric Stenehjem (executive director, QF R&D) and Dr Paula Adam (co-founder, ISRIA) look on.


Qatar National Research Fund (QNRF), a member of Qatar Foundation Research and Development (QF R&D), has hosted the third International School on Research Impact Assessment (ISRIA).
The five-day event brought together more than 80 delegates from 10 counties, to shape the understanding, planning, valorisation, and dissemination of research outcomes, as well as the impact they have on a local and global scale.
By playing host to the ISRIA, QNRF continues to support Qatar Foundation for Education, Science and Community Development’s (QF) on its mission to fostering a culture of research, and developing Qatar’s innovation and technology capacity.
The participants learnt how to assess, measure, and optimise the impact of research findings, while re-shaping the frameworks, tools, and approaches currently utilised to evaluate research outcomes.
They were also encouraged to increase their part in the collaborative networks that exist among research and development decision-makers and stakeholders.
ISRIA, with its multi-disciplinary and practical approach, offered an international dimension in the quality of its content developed by a group of experts from leading institutions from around the world.
Dr Abdul Sattar al-Taie, executive director, QNRF, said: “Enhancing participants’ skills on how to plan, implement, and manage Research Impact Assessment, how to communicate with their target audience and how to measure and optimise the returns generated by investments in research, reflects the motto of the school, which is ‘learning to assess research with the aim to optimise returns’.”
Professor Jonathan Grant, ISRIA co-founder and director of the Policy Institute at King’s College, London, said: “Research Impact Assessment (RIA) is not easy and no funder has the answer, but the school’s approach of demonstrating accountability through RIA, focusing on transparency and efficiency, is a practical approach to evaluating a societal return.”
ISRIA focuses primarily on RIA programme management, evaluation, knowledge translation, policy, and decision-making in areas such as research and development for government, research funding organisations, academia, not-for-profits, health industry and so on.
Dr Omar Boukhris, school’s scientific director, announced that the fourth edition of the school will be hosted by the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation in Melbourne, Australia in 2016.