2024 Convening on Fostering a Public Impact Research Ecosystem 

APLU and The Pew Charitable Trusts (Pew) convened a cross-sector workshop to explore how to collectively foster the Public Impact Research (PIR) ecosystem. From the workshop discussions, a central theme emerged: the responsibility for facilitating a more robust PIR ecosystem must be shared equitably among all actors in the research enterprise. It is incumbent upon the entire ecosystem to align efforts, supports, and incentives to empower researchers in this crucial work.

Workshop participants identified priorities for action across the PIR ecosystem that are outlined in the Fostering a PIR Ecosystem report. We identify the top five areas here:

• Advocate for PIR: Advocate for national and international policies that recognize and incentivize Public Impact Research as a critical component of the research enterprise.
  
• Develop Shared Understanding: Co-develop a core set of PIR values that can be interpreted and applied by disciplinary societies, institutions of higher education, college and university departments, publishers, funders, and policymakers.
  
• Envision New Funding Practices: Strengthen innovative funding models to support PIR sustainably across the entire research cycle, including longer grant periods, targeted programs, and resources for both researchers and community partners.
  
• Create Quality Standards: Develop rubrics, definitions, and ethical standards for quality PIR that are adaptable across sectors and disciplines, broadening the definition of research excellence to include public use and community engagement.
  
• Align Research Incentives: Develop a shared vision for aligning research incentives across sectors and institutions, including recognizing PIR projects and scholars. Establish systems to track and evaluate PIR impact over time using quantitative and qualitative metrics.

With support from the National Science Foundation and the Burroughs Wellcome Fund, this workshop included over 60 participants representing disciplinary societies, government agencies, higher education associations, institutional leaders, private foundations, publishers, and researchers. The workshop aimed to develop shared understanding, identify opportunities to partner productively, and co-create strategic approaches that span sectors to help faculty’s public impact research (PIR) flourish.

The workshop report is here and the Supplementary materials are here.

This material is based upon the work of the APLU and supported by the Burroughs Wellcome Fund (#1022914) and the National Science Foundation (#1834518). Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the supporting organizations.