Impact of Science – June Meetup

Understanding the impact of science
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#Update: for personal reasons, Gert G. Wagner had to cancel his talk; but we think provided a worthy substitute.

Scientists are increasingly asked to foster the societal impact of their research. But what exactly do funders, policy makers, and the civic society mean by societal impact? What are ways to foster it and what are risks and challenges? These questions will be at the core of our next meetup “Understanding the impact of science”. We are glad that we were able to get talks by core thinkers on that topic: Paul Wouters, professor of scientometrics and co-author of the Leiden manifesto, and Alexandra Giannopoulou, researcher at the Institute for Communication Sciences (ISCC).

— What do we mean by the societal impact of research and what are ways to foster it? —
Paul Wouters is Director of CWTS and Professor of Scientometrics. His is specialized in development of evaluation systems and how these systems are creating new constraints for the development of knowledge. He is also interested in the history of science in general and the role of information systems in these histories in particular. Earlier in his career he has worked as science journalist and as editor-in-chief of a daily newspaper.

— To share or not to share? Machine generated data for science —
Alexandra Giannopoulou, PhD in law, is an associate researcher at the Institute for Communication Sciences (ISCC), within the research group Information and Commons Governance in Paris, France and a research fellow at the Humboldt Institute for Internet and Society, within the research program "learning, knowledge, innovation". Alexandra’s research focuses on the legal frameworks and policies surrounding the digital commons. In particular, her research investigates open access and open data movements in the context of the scientific commons. She also examines the harmonisation of text and data mining policies and legal infrastructure.

If you would like to present your project in a 2-minute lightning talk at the end of the event, your are welcome to do so. And as always, there will be time to mingle with snacks and drinks on the HIIG terrace afterwards.