Title | Inequalities in research priorities in relation to societal needs

Abstract | To what extent is scientific research responding to societal needs across the world? Which and whose societal needs and demands are being addressed? Which are being ignored in research agendas? To try to answer these questions we need to contrast indicators of research priorities with indications (and where possible indicators) of societal needs, demands or aspirations. In this presentation I will show through various studies (including disease burden, rice, mental health) that research priorities tend to be aligned with the sociotechnical trajectories consistent with the dominant political economy. In consequence, priorities are only aligned with a country’s research trajectory to a limited extent and there is a strong inequality in the research investments of different societal needs. We propose the use of portfolio analysis for informing research priorities through deliberative processes.

Bio | Ismael Rafols leads the UNESCO Chair on Diversity and Inclusion in Global Science at the Centre for Science Technology Studies (CWTS) in Leiden University. He works on evaluation and science policy with approaches aimed at fostering epistemic pluralism, broadening participation, and widening the distribution of the benefits from science. Ismael has worked funding portfolios and priority setting for societal challenges Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), particularly in health and agriculture. Previously, he had developed methods for the evaluation of interdisciplinary research. Ismael has also been involved in policy initiatives related to ‘responsible research assessment’, such as the implementation of UNESCO’s Open Science Recommendations, the Leiden Manifesto, the EC Expert Group on Open Science Indicators, and on discussions on biases against research topics from the Global South in assessment and databases. He received an MSc in Science and Technology Policy from SPRU (Sussex Univ.), a PhD in biophysics from Tohoku University (Sendai, Japan) and was a postdoc in nanobiotechnology at Cornell University. Before CWTS, he worked at SPRU (Sussex) (2005-12) and Ingenio (CSIC-UPV) (2012-19). In between academic positions, he has worked on international cooperation in Oxfam and the City Council of Barcelona.

Location | Corvinus University, Building C, Room 714. This is a hybrid event: you can attend on ZOOM (link above).