UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — In collaboration with The Pew Charitable Trusts, Penn State President Neeli Bendapudi is leading a new coalition of university leaders from across the nation to envision the future of public-impact research in the United States that serves the greater good.
The new Presidents and Chancellors Council on Public Impact Research, led by Bendapudi as its founding chair, convenes more than a dozen leaders of research universities and institutions of higher education from across the nation.
The council will work closely with Pew’s Transforming Evidence Funders Network to bring together stakeholders from across the research ecosystem — including government agencies, philanthropic and funding organizations, nonprofit organizations, community leaders and more — to develop a roadmap for the future community-engaged, public-impact research.
“Scholarship that is undertaken in partnership with communities and designed to create positive societal impact through informing public policy, practice and public engagement directly aligns with the fundamental mission of research universities — to advance knowledge, find solutions to the world’s problems and enrich the communities we serve,” Bendapudi said. “This also reflects Penn State’s mission as a land-grant university and one of the world’s largest research enterprises, to leverage the power of our scholarship to drive innovation and positive impact across the commonwealth, nation and world. I’m grateful to The Pew Charitable Trusts and my fellow leaders in higher education for their partnership, and together, we look forward to charting a course for the future of public-impact research.”
Angela Bednarek, director of the evidence project at Pew and lead for the Transforming Evidence Funders Network, praised Penn State’s leadership in supporting and evaluating public impact research.
“Like the funders in our network, President Bendapudi is laser-focused on amplifying societal impact, public engagement and community leadership in research priorities,” she said. “It is crucial for funders and committed higher education leaders to learn from each other as we all work to accelerate momentum toward a more participatory and impactful research enterprise.”
What is public-impact research?
Public-impact research refers to research intentionally and strategically undertaken to affect positive change across society. An increasing focus for many universities and research funders, this work frequently involves multi-sector partnerships and participatory research undertaken in collaboration with the communities impacted by the work.
The creation of the new Presidents and Chancellors Council reflects the growing momentum in support of public-impact research across the national and international research ecosystems. The council’s goals include:
- Advancing innovative and rigorous approaches for evaluating research impact
- Strengthening partnerships among universities, nonprofits, governments and industry
- Advancing recognition and rewards for a wide spectrum of research approaches
- Equipping researchers across disciplines with the training and tools to shape positive outcomes, not only in the lab and the classroom, but also in policy debates and their local communities
Building momentum at the national level
The launch of this new Presidents and Chancellors Council aligns with two events occurring in Washington, D.C. to bring together stakeholders from across the research ecosystem — The Leadership Forum on Public Impact on June 12, which brought together the council and Pew’s Transforming Evidence Funders Network, as well as a workshop hosted by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine on building institutional capacity for engaged research. President Bendapudi chaired the forum at Pew, and she will be a featured speaker to offer reflections on the National Academies workshop on June 13.
The launch of the Presidents and Chancellors Council, aligned with these two events, aims to bring together leaders from across academia, government and philanthropy to address institutional challenges that limit public-impact research and develop new strategies to streamline, support and elevate this kind of scholarship.
“This work builds on important work already happening across Penn State — from the work of our Evidence-to-Impact Collaborative, which fosters collaboration among research, practitioners and policymakers, to new community-engaged research funding opportunities like the Presidential Public Impact Research Awards,” said Michael Donovan, associate director of the Evidence-to-Impact Collaborative. “By taking a leadership role in building momentum at the national level, Penn State is continuing to live out both our research and our public service missions.”
More information is available online about The Pew Charitable Trusts , the Transforming Evidence Funders Network and the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine.