Working Group 4: Academic Institutions: Societal Engagement and Impact

Working Group FOUR

Academic Institutions: Societal Engagement and Impact

Overview
Why This Matters
Key Areas of Focus
How the Group Works
Members

Overview

This Working Group aims to define the roles and responsibilities of academia in contributing to society. It examines how academic institutions and researchers can engage with governments, communities, civil society, industry, and students, and how their societal impact can be better understood and assessed.

The group focuses particularly on contributions to social justice, population health and well-being, trust in science, and the responsible creation and use of knowledge for public benefit.

Its work aims to develop a core principle for academic engagement across the full academic cycle, from priority setting to knowledge utilization, identify and categorize academia's key roles and responsibilities in societal engagement, and explore what evidence and examples are needed to demonstrate effective academic-societal partnerships.

Why This Matters

Academic impact extends beyond publications, research funding, and teaching. Academic institutions can help shape priorities, inform policy, strengthen communities, support public understanding of science, and contribute to better health and well-being.

For this contribution to be meaningful, engagement with society needs to be part of the academic mission, from setting priorities to creating, communicating, and applying knowledge. Working Group 4 examines how this can be strengthened while also protecting space for independent research and scientific exploration.

Key Areas of Focus

Understanding societal expectations: What does society expect from academia, and how has society been engaging with academic, including whether society recognizes academia's contributions?
Building effective partnerships: What makes collaboration between academia and society successful, and what conditions help these partnerships create meaningful impact?
Defining and measuring impact: How can societal impact be defined and measured for individual academics and academic institutions?

How the Group Works

The group combines literature reviews, interviews, case studies, comparative analysis, and consensus-building approaches.

Its work will first examine current expectations of academia and existing forms of societal engagement. It will then analyze examples of successful academic-societal partnerships and, based on these findings, explore approaches to defining and measuring societal impact across different geographic and institutional settings.

Members