• "ISRIA provides students with a solid, systematic approach to impact assessment. This common approach is ideal for encouraging both inter-organizational and sectoral-wide collaborations to improve the methods and approaches for measuring impact."

    Andrew Dzuba, Evaluations and Impact Advisor, Canadian Agency for Drugs and Technologies in Health (CADTH), and ISRIA Barcelona 2013 Alumnus

  • "I was searching for how to demonstrate the impact that my area of research was having not only on the Alberta community, but the national and international environment as well. The School is offered on an international stage and introduced me to world leaders in this burgeoning science."

    Colleen M. Norris, PhD, Scientific Director, Cardiovascular Health and Stroke Strategic Clinical Network, Alberta, Canada

  • "...ironically, as a researcher who submitted hundreds of grants over a career, I knew little of how to incorporate research impact assessment into my protocols ... in four days this school taught me more than I had learned in a decade..."

    Richard N. Fedorak, MD, FRCPC, FRCP (London), FRSC, Professor of Medicine, University of Alberta, Canada

  • "At the School, we were presented with the science behind research impact assessment, and also had the opportunity to get down to the nuts and bolts of actually doing the work of assessing the impact of research. I refer to the materials provided on a weekly basis and continue to benefit immeasurably from having attended this brilliant school."

    Colleen M. Norris, PhD, Scientific Director, Cardiovascular Health and Stroke Strategic Clinical Network, Alberta, Canada

  • "...research impact assessment ... I am now including it in all my research applications..."

    Richard N. Fedorak, MD, FRCPC, FRCP (London), FRSC, Professor of Medicine, University of Alberta, Canada

  • "It was an immensely useful and enjoyable week - I wasn't expecting both! The joint organisers introduced some really high-level yet practical concepts to the crowd. I left with a solid foundation of how to develop a robust research impact assessment plan for my organisation, and the reassurance of knowing others were also working through shared challenges in this emerging field."

    2013 School participant

  • "...the school was phenomenal... hands on... provoking... stimulating... transformative..."

    Richard N. Fedorak, MD, FRCPC, FRCP (London), FRSC, Professor of Medicine, University of Alberta, Canada



History

ISRIA was founded by Paula Adam (AQuAS, Spain), Jonathan Grant (King’s College, London, UK) and Kathryn Graham, (Alberta Innovates, Canada) in 2013 in response to a growing demand for skilled people who can assess the impact of research investments and activities.

Through the development of an intense, week-long course, the School was designed to give participants the opportunity to enhance their skills for the planning and development of assessment studies, to better understand how best to report and implement research impact assessments, and how to use those tools and techniques within their own organisations. Most importantly, participants are given the chance to create lasting connections with the people they meet and to become a part of a growing global community of practice.

The inaugural School was hosted in Barcelona, Spain in September 2013, followed by a second edition in Banff, Canada in September 2014, a third in Doha, Qatar in October 2015 and a fourth in Melbourne, Australia in September 2016. The Novo Nordisk Foundation will host the fifth edition of the School in Denmark in October 2017. In addition to these international courses, so far two regional Schools have also been held in Canada and one in Chile.