This post summarizes the June 2026 DORA Funder Groups Strategic Planning Workshops, which gathered global input to shape DORA’s upcoming 2027–2030 Strategic Plan. It outlines the funding community’s 15-year vision for Responsible Research Assessment (RRA), emphasizing a shift toward values-based evaluation, qualitative indicators like narrative CVs, and improved system efficiency.
On June 18, 2026, the DORA’s Funder Discussion Groups – the Asia-Pacific (AP) and Africa, Americas, and Europe (AAE) regions – convened to participate in DORA’s strategic planning workshop series. With DORA’s current strategic plan concluding at the end of 2026, these sessions were designed to gather direct input from the research funder community to help shape DORA’s vision and objectives for the upcoming 2027–2030 Strategic Plan.
The meetings opened with an update on DORA’s strategic planning process, which consists of internal review on progress to meet existing strategic objectives and community participation via a survey in April 2026 and a five-part workshop series with DORA’s CoPs and Steering Committee members in June 2026. During the opening of the meeting, participants were asked to reflect on a finding from DORA’s recent strategic planning community survey: a strong call for DORA to more actively engage with governments, funding agencies, and ministries to support more concrete action to implement RRA. Participants widely supported this direction. In the discussions, funders highlighted that while they control critical funding criteria and national research priorities, they are often just one piece of a fragmented puzzle. Funders noted that DORA can serve as a powerful, neutral advocate to help align collective messaging across ministries and the broader research innovation sector.
Envisioning a Successful RRA System in 15 Years
The core of the workshops focused on a big-picture question: What does a successful RRA system look like in 15 years?. Across both the AP and AAE groups, several unified themes emerged from the workshop discussions:
- Values-Based Assessment: A shift away from inappropriate proxy metrics (like journal impact factors) toward evaluation systems that inherently reward transparency, open science, real-world impact, and diverse researcher contributions.
- Embracing Agility in Assessment Systems: A future where narrative CVs and qualitative metrics are standard practice, seamlessly capturing diverse career pathways and cross-sector mobility.
- Efficiency and Trust: The need for a streamlined assessment system that reduces the implementation burden for applicants and reviewers alike. Participants also emphasized the need for proactive and careful approaches when considering the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) by applicants, reviewers, and funders. AI has the potential to reduce burden on these communities, but must be implemented without compromising transparency and trust and with the potential for error and biases in mind.
Driving the Change: System-Level Coordination and Capacity Building
After considering what an ideal assessment system looks like in the future, participants discussed the mechanisms of change. They emphasized that system-level activities, such as international coordination and aligned data collection, are essential to limit siloing and reduce the burden of redundant assessments. However, local context remains crucial; participants noted that principles must be adaptable to specific national and institutional frameworks: “context is king”.
When discussing funder implementation and capacity building, attendees agreed that funders play a critical role in sending powerful signals to the research community. A significant challenge identified was the inertia and the need to shift the culture among some in the research community that act as peer reviewers, who have relied on traditional assessment methods for decades.
Creating Valuable Resources and Infrastructure
When asked to consider how DORA can continue to provide value and support the future envisioned, funders emphasized the importance of DORA continuing to create shared resources and updated, concrete tools. Particularly valuable additions would be context-specific case studies that demonstrate how different funders can navigate implementing RRA. Participants also suggested the creation of “myth-busting” resources and tailored starter kits to help educate those who are new to RRA concepts.
What’s Next?
An international and interdisciplinary taskforce composed of DORA’s Steering Committee members will spend the remainder of 2026 synthesizing the rich feedback from this and other workshops, the April 2026 community survey, and the internal review conducted by the DORA team. They will use these background materials to draft the 2027–2030 Strategic Plan, which is slated to be announced in January 2027. In the meantime, the Funder Discussion Groups will meet in Q3 to focus on the role of scholarly communication. They will explore how funders, publishers, and infrastructure providers can collaborate to advance responsible research assessment.
We are incredibly grateful to all the funders who participated and shared their expertise. Your insights are vital to ensuring DORA’s next chapter is practical, impactful, and globally resonant.
If you are employed by a public or private research funder and are interested in joining the Funder Discussion Group, please find more information on our webpage or email us at info@sfdora.org.
Each quarter, DORA holds two Community of Practice (CoP) meetings for research funding organizations. One meeting takes place for organizations in the Asia-Pacific (AP) region and the other is for organizations in Africa, the Americas, and Europe (AAE). These groups provide a space for funders to learn from each other, share new policies and practices, and collaborate on advancing fair and responsible research assessment (RRA).