Arwin van Buuren, research director and professor of public administration at Erasmus University Rotterdam, has the floor in the last of the five masterclasses in the Impact of Research series. Van Buuren’s multifaceted experience makes him a compelling speaker to conclude this masterclass series. He developed the impact strategy for Erasmus University Rotterdam (EUR), is a lead in impact education and impact evaluation and collaborates with the City of Rotterdam in several projects.
Van Buuren starts with a brief introduction on his search for impact. Social sciences, he says, are good at explaining social issues, but the practical contributions are usually not that meaningful. Public administrators, for example, have a keen eye for failing policies but are less adept at coming up with concrete solutions to social issues. Early on in his career, Van Buuren set out to find a different methodology, a way of research that is more solution-oriented. Solution-oriented research requires a design-oriented approach, says Van Buuren. Research by design, in other words, where different parties – like researchers, policy officers and designers – work in partnerships to find solutions to social issues. Using this method, EUR closely works with the City of Rotterdam on a number of projects.
A key lesson from these partnerships is that impact requires robust co-creation. For continuous effects to occur, researchers need to interact closely with practitioners and engage in co-production to devise possible solutions and results that are applicable and usable in real-life situations. This requires a different research method than the classical academic approach, Van Buuren argues, namely one that combines academic rigour with social relevance. A design-oriented approach is desirable here, as is research driven by social demand.
The question that comes up again in this masterclass is how impact or continuous effects might be assessed. This is not an easy question, as the director of research points out. At the university, different ways and methods such as REF, Theory of Change, productive interactions and stakeholder mapping are used to look at how social impact of research would best be evaluated. What are compelling narratives and what indicators are valuable in this regard? Impact evaluation has a learning purpose, Van Buuren argues. It makes researchers think about questions like ‘Who are my stakeholders?’ ‘How can we involve them in the research project and process?’ A researcher rarely talks to an end user. Stakeholders are instrumental in reaching end users and creating impact, Van Buuren says.
The level at which the research director looks at impact is another question raised in this masterclass. Is it at the level of individual output, research line or at a higher level? Van Buuren believes it is relevant question. Impact takes time, which is why Van Buuren favours programmatic-level evaluation in a multi-year timeframe. It is essential to ask in advance which lines of research are intended to create impact. This may vary between research projects and research lines. Not all research lines can or will have an impact, which is why impact evaluation is only relevant if it is clear beforehand what the ambition is, no matter the level. Although this type of strategic cycle has yet to be established at EUR, Van Buuren believes it is urgently needed.
In his engaging masterclass, Van Buuren also explains the relationship between research and education, with a focus on instilling in young researchers the importance of research impact and making it understandable. Impact needs to be considered from the inception of research. It is a good start.
Article by Arwin van Buuren: Successful collaboration between bottom-up initiatives and local governments – Development of a comprehensive framework (2018).
Esther Tielen
