In February 2022, DORA organized the online workshop series “Using Narrative CVs: Identifying shared objectives and monitoring effectiveness” in partnership with FORGEN CoP, Science Foundation Ireland, the Swiss National Science Foundation, UK Research and Innovation, and the University of Bristol, Elizabeth Blackwell Institute for Health Research.
The aim of the workshop was to develop a shared definition for narrative CV and create a list of common objectives for its use in grant evaluation. The workshop took place on two occasions to accommodate global participation, and more than 180 individuals from over 50 funding organizations in more than 30 countries registered for the events. To support alignment of values and collective action towards the iterative adoption of narrative CVs at funding organizations, we worked with attendees to discuss a shared definition for the narrative CV, generate a list of common objectives for its use in grant evaluation, and identify ideas to support the optimization of narrative CVs as a robust tool for research assessment.
The group defined narrative CV’s as “a type of CV format that provides structured written descriptions of academics’ or researchers’ contributions and achievements that reflect a broad range of relevant skills and experiences” and identified three primary shared objectives for use:
1) Increase the recognition of a wider range of research contributions
2) Increase fairness in grant funding decisions
3) Increase flexibility for researchers to demonstrate contributions.
Our short report on the workshop summarizes the takeaways, provides a shared definition and objectives, and includes a one-page tip sheet “Ideas for Optimization: Five things to consider to optimize, evaluate & iterate on the use of narrative CVs” (see report page 6 or resource library entry Ideas for Optimization: Five things to consider to optimize, evaluate and iterate on the use of narrative CVs).
Click here to read the full report