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Science policymakers are devoting increasing attention to enhancing the social valorization of scientific knowledge. Since 2010, several interna-tional evaluation initiatives have been implemented to assess knowledge transfer and exchange practices and the societal impacts of research. Analysis of these initiatives would allow investigation of the different knowledge transfer and exchange channels and their effects on society and how their effects could be evaluated and boosted. The present study analyses the transfer sexenio programme, which is a first (pilot) assess-ment that was conducted in Spain to evaluate the engagement of individual researchers in knowledge transfer to and knowledge exchange with non-academic stakeholders, including professionals and society at large. The breadth of the information and supporting documentation available (more than 16,000 applications and 81,000 contributions) allows an exploration of knowledge valorization practices in terms of the transfer forms used and the researchers involved—distinguishing between the Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) and Social Sciences, Humanities and Arts (SSHA) areas. By focusing on SSHA fields, we explore knowledge dissemination via enlightenment or profes-sional outputs. We conduct quantitative and qualitative analysis which provide a more comprehensive overview of knowledge transfer practices in Spain in the SSHA field, in particular, and has implications for future assessment exercises.

In this chapter, ENRESSH collaborators write a “Manifesto for a Better Societal Impact” Evaluation. In this, authors have extracted key principles based on some conclusions from the individual country reports which are broken down and/or extrapolated into generalisable findings drawing from the cross-national comparison. In doing so, this manifesto explores what scholars and policymakers from other European countries, and indeed from far wider international backgrounds, can learn from those countries’ experiences and the cross-national comparison. The chapter also goes beyond analysis, in providing a series of condensed recommendations for the evaluation of societal impact in the SSH with a special focus on how the evaluation can impact the work of academics in a positive way. In this collaborative task, we have sought to simultaneously respect disciplinary differences in knowledge production practices as well as in societal functions of research, while making this process as visible as possible.

Societal impact has not often been systematically included in research evaluation procedures. Where societal impact is included in research evaluation, it is often defined in a restrictive way relating exclusively to directly measurable economic returns. This limitation is especially important for research, which does not aim to generate direct profits but interacts with, adds value to, and makes sense of, society. This policy brief presents ten recommendations for the evaluation of societal impact with a special focus on how its evaluation can better facilitate research. These recommendations are based on the findings of a long-term multi-country project examining the interactions and roles of research and society across Europe with a special focus on the social sciences and humanities (SSH). Country case studies, conceptual analyses, and policy perspectives are presented in the edited volume “Accountability in Academic Life: European Perspectives on Societal Impact Evaluation” (Edward Elgar, 2023).

El proceso de evaluación es un aspecto fundamental de las políticas científicas y las estrategias institucionales encaminadas a identificar, evaluar y mejorar el desempeño de las actividades sometidas a examen; para ello, es fundamental fijar el fin perseguido con este proceso. Por poner algunos ejemplos, se puede realizar una evaluación para verificar que los objetivos establecidos se están alcanzando, para retribuir el desempeño de las personas implicadas o para ofrecer retroalimentación que contribuya a la mejora del desempeño futuro. Así mismo, también es necesario diseñar unos criterios claros que permitan identificar el desempeño de la actividad evaluada y unos indicadores que describan su alcance.

Since the mid-1980s, Spanish science policy has taken account of the need to establish mechanisms to promote the social utility of the knowledge produced by the academic community. This has affected both the funding of scientific activities and the recruitment and promotion of scientists as well as their individual incentives, but always within a general approach and considering the specific aspects of STEM and not SSH. The choice was made to broaden the mechanisms enabling knowledge transfer and knowledge exchange to allow all areas to develop their own plans for the dissemination and social use of knowledge. However, although science policy includes humanities and social sciences, policy mechanisms are not always aligned to their particularities and their role is often not visible to society.

El objetivo de este estudio es ofrecer un análisis de los resultados de la convocatoria 2018 del sexenio de transferencia de conocimiento e innovación, focalizado en el análisis de los diferentes tipos de aportaciones presentadas, y utilizando, para ello, exclusivamente la base de datos de las aportaciones solicitadas y concedidas a fecha 5 de octubre de 2020. La base de datos utilizada, elaborada sobre la base de las aportaciones de los solicitantes, contenía un total de 81.366 registros, correspondientes a un total de 16.316 solicitudes, una vez eliminadas las solicitudes desestimadas. Como quiera que la convocatoria no definía el rango de años que se podía someter a evaluación, las personas solicitantes propusieron tramos a partir de 1982, pero los tres últimos tramos de 6 años acumulan el 88% de las solicitudes; el análisis de los intervalos muestra que las solicitudes denegadas se caracterizan por un intervalo y dispersión más amplios que las concedidas. El 43% de las solicitudes de sexenio fueron aprobadas. La distribución de solicitudes y concesiones por tipo de entidad (universidad pública, universidad privada, CSIC, otros OPI) muestra que las universidades presentaron, proporcionalmente, más solicitudes que los OPI y que catorce entidades (9 universidades públicas, 3 privadas, el ISCIII y el CSIC) consiguieron superar el 50% de aprobados respecto a las solicitudes presentadas. La distribución de solicitudes y concesiones de sexenios por escalas científicas de universidades y OPI muestra que las personas pertenecientes a las escalas altas han logrado tasas de concesión notablemente superiores. Las mujeres han presentado menos solicitudes que los hombres en todas las escalas y rangos de edad, y, además, han obtenido peores tasas de concesión (en conjunto, un 34%, frente al 47,6% de los hombres). El análisis de las concesiones por campos científicos muestra grandes diferencias entre ellos. En tres campos (ciencias de la naturaleza y bioquímica, ingeniería elec

Festivals are one of the most diffused examples of living production in cultural and creative industries. In recent years, festivals have attracted increased attention and have increased in number. While several studies focus on music and film festivals, which are the most traditional festivals, few examine festivals related to other sectors, including publishing. The aim of this chapter is to investigate these smaller less known events through a comparison of comics’ festivals in different countries. Comics constitute a specific publishing industry domain. We consider the location structural organization and impact of selected festivals organized in small cities in France and in Spain. We provide a detailed analysis of their characteristics along their various editions in order to substantiate in which extent they clear up the structuration of a multi-faced economic model, specifically linked to the characteristics of the sectors and the Festivals promoting them.

In this paper we seek to realise the potential that Spaapen and van Drooge’s productive interactions concept offers, but which we argue has been lost through its operationalisation as a process of ‘counting interactions’. Productive interactions arise through moments of contact between two very different systems (the societal and the scientific), and each system values societal impact in very different ways. Finding mutual value in that interaction is important, and we argue that value in both arises when network arrangements shift, as academic disciplines solve urgent scientific problems and as societies improve living conditions. Productive interactions approach assumes the value-frameworks of the wider networks within which particular knowledge sets become actionable. However, our constructive critique highlights the omission of the wider elements of science and social systems within which productive interactions takes place (and whose dynamics ultimately determine the final scientific and societal impact of that research). Indeed, research evaluation to date has not considered the consequences of the productive interactions in terms of these changing relationships. To contribute to this lacuna, we propose a model that conceptualises a meso-level system comprising interactions between actors within two subsystems, highlighting the importance of coupling between researchers and users, valuation signals given to particular productive interactions from researcher and societal communities and the way these signals in turn embed useful knowledge practices. We apply it to a set of examples of productive interactions in the field of social sciences and humanities (SSH) gathered in the framework of a European project.

Esta obra en dos volúmenes analiza de manera comprensiva el proceso de surgimiento, transformación y consolidación del Festival de Música Antigua de Úbeda y Baeza (FeMAUB) en el contexto nacional e internacional del movimiento de la música antigua. El primer volumen, preparado por un equipo internacional y multidisciplinar de autores, contiene una colección de estudios articulada en torno a distintos ejes temáticos y se completa con un directorio que compendia y categoriza datos de diversa naturaleza sobre la historia del festival. El segundo volumen reúne una recopilación de testimonios de distintos actores sociales, una galería fotográfica, una antología de críticas musicales y enlaces a una selección de grabaciones sonoras en vivo. La perspectiva multidimensional adoptada para el análisis y la incorporación de las últimas tendencias teóricas y metodológicas en los estudios académicos sobre festivales hacen de esta obra no solo una completa historia del FeMAUB, sino una relevante aportación al emergente campo de los "festival studies".

La Unidad de Mujeres y Ciencia del Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación elabora y difunde desde 2007 un informe anual llamado “Científicas en cifras” que informa sobre la dimensión de género en la producción de conocimiento científico; este esfuerzo se suma a otras iniciativas a nivel europeo como el documento “She figures” que difunde periódicamente la D.G. de Investigación e Innovación de la Comisión Europea. Sin embargo, estos informes no incluyen datos sobre innovación, sino solo sobre producción tecnológica, aportando exclusivamente las ratios de patentes producidas por mujeres y hombres.