Research on Research Institute (RoRI)

Why researchers change direction - and what funders should do about it - Research on Research New insights from 21 biomedical researchers

Why do research projects sometimes end up somewhere unexpected?

In a new blog post, RoRI research fellow Josie Coburn shares findings from 21 interviews with biomedical scientists: researchonresearch.org/why-research...

How can science advice remain effective when misinformation spreads rapidly and expertise is increasingly contested?

Last week, we explored this in a seminar on communicating science advice in the age of populism, co-hosted by RoRI, UCL STEaPP, and Wellcome: www.youtube.com/watch?v=g20H...

UK Government boosts investment in metascience - Research on Research The UK government has announced a major increase in funding for metascience over the next four years, including a trebling […]

Other key measures:

🔹 £6m second round of Metascience Research Grants (launching Feb 2026)
🔹 UKRI rolling out Distributed Peer Review across all research councils
🔹 A National AI in Research Survey, led by the UK Metascience Unit

Read more: researchonresearch.org/uk-governmen...

🇬🇧 Big news for UK metascience: the government is trebling the UK Metascience Unit’s budget to £49m.

"This represents a resounding vote of confidence in the value and opportunities of metascience to improve the way the UK funds, manages and evaluates research", says RoRI's @jameswilsdon.bsky.social

RoRI joined colleagues in Pisa to explore stronger coordination across publishing and research assessment reform: www.universiteitleiden.nl/en/news/2025...

🧑‍🔬📰🧑‍💻🗞 More hearing and including; sticking to and digging into first-hand data over PR; transparent and persistent relationship-building; and not painting the public as The Problem.
Iinsightful ensemble @rorinstitute.bsky.social panel on scicomm vis-a-vis populism, at the @wellcometrust.bsky.social.

Distributed Peer Review – How the wisdom of the crowd can allocate grant funding - Impact of Social Sciences New research shows engaging the applicants in funding review processes can resolve and reframe many issues facing peer review.

👀Interesting to see the budget earlier this week confirming funding for @ukri.org trial of #DistributedPeerReview, we featured a post from @rorinstitute.bsky.social discussing their recent work on the subject back in September 👇

@metaror.bsky.social is now 1 year old 🎉

In our first year: 28 articles evaluated, 59 expert reviewers, most reviews published ahead of target, 9 partner journals, and growing visibility across conferences & media.

A strong start for community-owned, open peer review: metaror.org/metaror-turn...

The panel at today’s RoRi and STEaPP seminar at Wellcome on ‘science in a populist age’.

UCL’s @geoffmulgan.bsky.social kicks off tonight’s seminar on ‘Science in a populist age’ at @wellcometrust.bsky.social, with a stellar line-up inc @helenpearson.bsky.social @senseaboutsci.bsky.social @alokjha.bsky.social. We’ll post the video online soon. www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/science-ad...

Science advice in a populist age How should science advice adapt to an age of populism? A UCL-STEaPP Seminar in partnership with RoRI and hosted by Wellcome

The latest @rorinstitute.bsky.social/STEaPP seminar 'Science advice in a populist age' has a stellar line up to discuss this critical topic. Book now for 01 Dec to avoid disappointment. Free, but places are limited. www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/science-ad...

It has been an honour to partner with @rorinstitute.bsky.social in our mission to make peer review and curation of metascience more robust, transparent, and equitable.

Sarah de Rijcke appointed Rector Magnificus of Leiden University Professor Sarah de Rijcke will become the new Rector Magnificus on the Executive Board of Leiden University on 15 January 2026. She will succeed Professor Hester Bijl, who will become Rector Magnificu...

Huge congratulations to @sarahderijcke.nl on her appointment as Rector Magnificus @unileiden.bsky.social! Sarah is a brilliant scholar, a visionary & compassionate leader. I’m excited to see her channel her experience, wisdom & insight into this vital role www.universiteitleiden.nl/en/news/2025...

Join RoRI Co-Chair @ludowaltman.bsky.social in Cambridge on 3 Dec, where he'll be a keynote at a forum exploring the Publish, Review, Curate model.

The event will showcase initiatives and discuss how this model can shape the future of scholarly communication: coar-repositories.org/news-updates...

Work by @rorinstitute.bsky.social project team has been peer reviewed openly on the @metaror.bsky.social platform.

Nice demonstration of the commitment of RoRI colleagues to MetaROR's publish-review-curate model!

We’ve added 4 new countries to RoRI’s Atlas of Assessment: Latvia 🇱🇻, Portugal 🇵🇹, the Czech Republic 🇨🇿 and Namibia 🇳🇦.

The Atlas is designed to help compare national approaches, understand emerging trends, and support responsible assessment reform: researchonresearch.org/atlas/

RoRI’s AFIRE Sprints are back! 🌏 Join our Asia/Pacific-friendly sprint on AI in research funding, starting on 12 November. Funders and AI enthusiasts welcome.

Find out more: docs.google.com/presentation...

Representing RoRI at #AIS25, Denis Newman-Griffis shares insights from our Handbook on Responsible AI for Research Funders at the first European AI in Science Summit.

You can access the handbook here: rori.figshare.com/articles/boo...

RoRI's Helen Buckley Woods reflects on the growing push to regulate research security in response to geopolitical tensions, sharing insights from the European Flagship Conference on Research Security: researchonresearch.org/research-sec...

Research on Research Joint Initiative. Government of Canada.

#SSHRC, CIHR and Michael Smith Health Research BC have awarded more than 2.7 million in funding through the Research-on-Research Joint Initiative. 14 teams will be researching meta-research - the study of how research itself is funded, practiced, and shared. sshrc-crsh.canada.ca/en/news/2025...

"Could there be a risk of research becoming a self-fulfilling prophecy if we make decisions based on algorithms?" asks RoRI's @jameswilsdon.bsky.social in Chemistry World, discussing Funding the Frontier, a new AI tool mapping how funding shapes science: www.chemistryworld.com/news/ai-tool...

🌍 The Atlas of Assessment maps national research evaluation systems worldwide: researchonresearch.org/atlas/

Curated by RoRI with input from policymakers & funders in 13 countries, it helps researchers and leaders explore trends, compare systems, and see how different nations assess research.

European grant applications are at record highs, success rates below 10%: www.nature.com/articles/d41...

Time to rethink how we fund, assess and support research - not just increase competition.

Help shape how policy experimentation is supported across Europe. The European Commission is gathering insights from people working in policy and research & innovation.

Survey closes in 1 week: eu.mar.medallia.com?e=461456&d=l...

RoRI's MATTHEW project has a new reviewed preprint in @elife.bsky.social, studying the Matthew effect and early-career setbacks in research funding across 14 programmes and 6 funders ⬇️

32% of peer reviewers now use AI tools.

RoRI’s Wolfgang Kaltenbrunner and Denis Newman-Griffis discuss the rise of AI in peer review and why it may be a “sticking plaster” for deeper systemic problems: www.researchprofessionalnews.com/rr-news-worl...

🌟 RoRI is growing! We’re delighted to welcome nine new colleagues across UCL and CWTS (Leiden University), strengthening our work in metascience, AI, research assessment, and science policy.

Read more about our new team members and their work here: researchonresearch.org/rori-welcome...

“When there’s so much misinformation around and distrust about science, it’s more important than ever that we are transparent about how exactly science goes on” - RoRI's @scurry.bsky.social calls on the research sector to end the “publication bias” against negative results: tinyurl.com/ux5xtm4d

Australia’s universities are rethinking how they assess learning and research in the age of AI.

The Australian reports that AI “cheats” are almost impossible to detect - and RoRI partner Australian Research Council is reviewing its AI policy for grant assessment.

Read more(£): tinyurl.com/3tzfvvpk

“Using metrics to assess researchers can be ‘very dodgy terrain,’” says @jameswilsdon.bsky.social.

Great overview of how research assessment is changing worldwide in @nature.com , featuring recent work by RoRI with the Global Research Council: www.nature.com/articles/d41...

At our UCL seminar, ESRC Exec Chair @stianwestlake.bsky.social said UKRI’s analytic capacity is “pretty limited” and “geared towards compliance need.” Better use of data will be key for stronger investment decisions and to act as the UK’s “strategic brain” for R&D: tinyurl.com/5n742x5w