Social Impact @ Sciences: the end of the ivory tower?

Abstract

This book is the result of a seminar (‘Social Impact @ Sciences: Why Does Science Matter?’ - ISS April 16, 2014). ISS invited representatives from academia, from the business community, policy-makers, the media and other relevant organisations to discuss the social impact and valorisation of science. This is a topic that has gained interest due to the new Standard Evaluation Protocol that will be used in the Netherlands to evaluate academic research from 2015-2021. The Protocol highlights the importance of social impact, but leaves the question of how to measure and/or report social impact unanswered, thereby challenging the academic community to develop methodologies. The discussion held at the seminar will have broader implications for that ‘work in progress’ (throughout the Netherlands, within the Erasmus University as a whole and at ISS). We invited the five keynote speakers each to provide a chapter for this publication and we added a further chapter that reports on the key perspectives shared during the discussions and four text boxes with examples of how ISS generates social impact.