Current projects
Transforming Evidence Synthesis: AI and the (R)evolution of the Evidence Ecosystem (PI), ESRC
This research investigates the implications of AI on the practice of evidence synthesis and the broader research ecosystem -including evolving methods and routines, skills and career trajectories, professional norms and standards, and academic institutions and cultures.
The key innovation of this project is its comparative focus on two types of settings in evidence synthesis: 1.) Settings where practices have been ‘augmented’ by introducing AI tools to enhance some elements of the review process; 2.) Settings where practices are being ‘replaced’ by the automated evidence infrastructure for real-time evidence synthesis. Through this comparison, the project will offer significant new knowledge and theoretical language to capture both the micro- and macro implications of AI in research synthesis and the broader research landscape.
Everything we (think we) know about Narrative CVs, UKRI Metascience grant (Co-I)
The use of narrative CVs to assess researchers has become a widespread practice in academia in the UK and worldwide in recent years, though rigorous evaluation of the policy is lacking. A number of studies have already been conducted or are in progress: these cover multiple organisations, narrative CV formats, uses and evaluation methodologies. The small scale of many of the studies limits the questions that can be answered within the individual data sets, but the rich variety across them means that, when brought together, the data could be extremely powerful.
This research aims to produce a comprehensive and coherent community-owned understanding of the implementation of narrative CVs (NCVs) to support evidence base and decision-making.
Narrative CVs – evaluative storytelling and the construction of academic value, SRHE (PI)
The project explores the emergent practices of evaluation involved in the assessment of narrative CVs. This CV format, recently introduced by UKRI, asks researchers for a descriptive story of their contributions to the field, leadership potential and wider societal impact, rather than just a list of publications and grants.
The aim of this innovation is to reconfigure the reward and recognition system in order to capture a diversity of contributions, practices and career paths in academia. The goal of this SRHE project is to explore the narrative evaluative inquiry involved in the assessment of narrative CVs to investigate whether this format indeed lends itself to an appreciation of different values in academic life and whether (and how) it extends the idea of ‘excellence’ beyond metrics.
Awards
- Newer Researcher Award (2022) Society for Research in Higher Education
- Carol Weiss Prize at Evidence and Policy (2021)
- ECPR Excellent Paper Award awarded by the Knowledge Politics and Policy Standing Group (2020)