On June 16, 2026, the DORA Initiatives Community of Practice hosted a strategic planning workshop where members collaborated to envision the next 15 years of responsible research assessment (RRA). Participants addressed pressing challenges like “reform fatigue” and outlined system-level, institutional, and infrastructure-building strategies needed to transition toward trust-based evaluation models. The collaborative insights gathered during these breakout discussions will shape the development and priorities of DORA’s upcoming 2027–2030 Strategic Plan.
During the DORA National and International Initiatives Discussion Group meeting on June 16, 2026, the group participated 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 national and international inititiatives community to help shape DORA’s vision and objectives for the upcoming 2027–2030 Strategic Plan.
Navigating an Evolving and Complex Landscape
The meeting began with a discussion about the shifting academic environment and the broader world that RRA initiatives must navigate. Participants acknowledged a heightened strain on the global research system, marked by the politicization of evidence, reduced trust in science, and decreased funding for reform efforts like equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI). Group members noted that researchers are increasingly experiencing “reform fatigue”. Movements like open scholarships, RRA, and EDI are frequently perceived by researchers as separate, layered demands rather than a cohesive, integrated agenda. Emerging technologies like generative AI present new challenges like exacerbating the volume of peer review and shifting scholarly communication models. Participants also highlighted positive trends, like the increasing maturity of open infrastructures, which are making it more feasible for institutions to transition away from closed, commercial providers.
Breakout Discussions: Envisioning a Successful RRA System
Participants split into breakout groups, all tasked with answering a core question: What does a successful RRA system look like in 15 years?. Across all groups, the envisioned future included a shift towards trust-based systems with fewer but more in-depth assessments, a focus on diverse competencies and team science over individual metric counting, and the decoupling of institutional KPIs from individual researcher evaluations.
Each group then examined different activities needed to achieve this future:
- System-Level Activities. This group emphasized the critical need to more deliberately bridge reform agendas (e.g., open scholarship, EDI, etc.) with RRA. These reform agendas can appear to be disparate to researchers and implementers, when in reality they are all deeply interconnected to RRA (see Chapter 4 of the Practical Guide to Implementing Responsible Research Assessment at Research Performing Organizations). By making the interconnections between open scholarship, EDI, and RRA more explicit, the advocacy community can help alleviate reform fatigue. This group advised DORA to focus on sharing success stories globally while allowing for regional contextualization, helping define DORA’s unique role among an expanding network of RRA initiatives.
- Institutional Implementation and Capacity Building. This group discussed the drivers of institutional change. While funders and national policymakers are often the necessary “first movers”, institutions are where most changes materialize. A major barrier remains at the institutional leadership level, where university rankings are frequently used as a reason for hesitancy. The group suggested creating short, persuasive narratives and resources to help advocates counter common arguments against reform for different target audiences.
- Resource and Infrastructure Creation. This group highlighted the urgent need for RRA advocates to move beyond their “bubble”. The group highlighted that the advocacy community should focus more on coalition-building with early-career researchers, who will be the decision-makers in 15 years. The group also emphasized the importance of RRA representation at disciplinary conferences where researchers gather. The presence of RRA advocates at conferences, talking to researchers directly, could be a valuable avenue to reaching new audiences and ECRs.
Updates and Opportunities for Collaboration
Following the strategic planning discussions, the meeting concluded with a roundtable where group members shared regional updates and new resources:
- Finnish CAM & Global CAM: In the upcoming September meeting, participants will hear about the Finnish Career Assessment Matrix (FIN-CAM), connecting to ongoing work surrounding a potential global career assessment matrix.
- ORCA: The Open Research Community Accelerator (ORCA) shared that their MA3 challenge cohort has started, featuring a funding opportunity for institutions to implement academic appointment reforms, supported in a joint roundtable with the Aspen Institute and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
- German CoARA National Chapter: Published a new workshop report discussing how scientific excellence and research assessment reforms go hand-in-hand, providing vital speaking points for advocates facing resistance.
- Upcoming Events: Members were invited to save the date for the Canadian Knowledge Mobilization Forum in Toronto from July 28-30, the CoARA In-Person Conference in Paris on September 7-8, and the Dutch Recognition & Rewards Festival and Barcelona Declaration Conference in November.
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 Q3 discussion group meeting will focus on the FIN-CAM.
We are incredibly grateful to all who participated and shared their expertise. Your insights are vital to ensuring DORA’s next chapter is practical, impactful, and globally resonant.
Each quarter, DORA holds a Community of Practice (CoP) meeting for National and International Initiatives working to address responsible research assessment reform. This CoP is a space for initiatives to learn from each other, make connections with like-minded organizations, and collaborate on projects or topics of common interest. Meeting agendas are shaped by participants. If you lead an initiative, coalition, or organization working to improve research assessment and are interested in joining the group, please find more information here.