Are Narrative CVs contributing towards shifting research culture? Workshop Report from the 2023 Recognition and...

Over the past decade, calls for research assessment reform have grown, led by initiatives such as the Declaration on Research Assessment (DORA) and the Leiden Manifesto, and, more recently, the Coalition for Advancing Research Assessment (CoARA). A key element being discussed as part of research assessment reform is a shift towards more qualitative assessments, focussed on the content of research and the broad skills and competencies of researchers, and the array of contributions they make to knowledge creation and innovation. Narrative CV formats have emerged as a good practice example for enabling qualitative assessments of research projects and researchers, and are becoming more widely piloted and implemented.

As part of the 2023 Dutch Recognition and Rewards Festival, the authors hosted a workshop to gather perspectives on Narrative CVs, including whether and how they may contribute to shifts in research culture that are needed to support research assessment reform.

Participants, representing research organisations and the research community, discussed both beneficial and critical aspects of narrative-style CV implementations from their experiences. The effects observed since narrative CVs have been implemented were discussed, with perspectives provided on career prospects and the empowerment of the research community to direct change. Finally, the discussion turned to expectations for the future, with workshop participants calling for focus on the roles that narrative-style CVs can play in improving research careers, recognition of collaborative work, and equality, diversity, and inclusion. A short informal survey exploring levels of implementation of narrative CVs across different research organisations was run prior to the workshop, the results of which are also presented as part of this report.

The authors intend to expand this discussion to other scientific and policy conferences, and this report serves as a basis for a wider and deeper dialogue in the community.