Strategic Research Agenda Research Articles

Macroeconomic and environmental impacts of circular economy innovation policy

In this paper, we quantify the macroeconomic and environmental impacts of an innovation-driven shift towards a circular economy, with specific emphasis on distribution impacts across regions and sectors. In contrast to most of the existing literature, we use a very wide range of circular economy objectives, taken from recently published Circular Economy Strategic Research Agenda, developed for the European Commission. We first quantify the qualitative objectives, and then use a multi-region Computable General Equilibrium model to estimate economic and environmental impacts of the entire agenda and its sub-components. We show that although many elements of a circular future have strong positive economic and environmental effects, only a wide-ranging portfolio of measures can address a wide range of pollutants. We also show that a shift to a circular economy can have large distributional effects, geographically but especially between individual sectors. This demonstrates that circular economy policy is unlikely to be feasible and socially accepted without the support of complementary re-distributional policies.

Foodsafety4eu: paving the way for the food safety system of the future.

Food safety is a top priority for the European Commission, which policies aim at sustaining a high level of protection of human health and consumers' interests, while ensuring an effective functioning of the internal EU market. Under the New Transparency Regulation (EU/2019/138), the 3-year EU-funded foodsafety4eu project (FS4EU) kicked off in January 2021, represents a significant step for the European Union (EU) food safety system (FSS), towards more transparency, better engagement, and closer cooperation. This Horizon 2020 Project, coordinated by CNR-ISPA (Italy), focuses on building a multi-stakeholder platform for the future EU FSS. The foodsafety4eu Network currently consists of 23 consortium partners and around 50 stakeholders: Food Safety Authorities (FSA), consumer associations, academia, research centres and networks, food industries and sector associations, thinktanks, etc. Through a structured, digitally supported, participatory process, the platform hosts the co-design of future strategic research and innovation agenda (SRIA), as well as risk communication models tailored to the specificities of various target groups. Among the goals: providing scientific advice and technical support for EU food safety policies, by enabling actors to access, share and exchange scientific knowledge, resources, and data more efficiently, to better synchronise food safety research and policies, and to contribute to a more transparent communication through the FSS. Overall, the FS4EU project underpins the EFSA missions in risk assessment, including risk communication, with the ambition to be a basis for a Knowledge Centre for Food Safety in Europe. Accordingly, the EU-FORA 2021-2022 fellow (based in CNR-ISPA under the Work Programme RECIPE: Risk AssEssment/Risk CommunIcation: understanding the context and addressing Priorities of the futurE - a learning-by-doing approach) committed to multiple Work Packages, actively participated to various activities, thus successfully contributing to the FS4EU project meeting its objectives by the end of 2023.

A Strategic Management Framework Analysis and Research Agenda of Social Pressures, COVID-19 Pandemic, Russia-Ukraine War, and Global Sustainability of Organizational Responses – Implications, Insights, New Directions, and Challenges for Future

The purpose of this paper is to explore a variety of social pressures influencing organizational performance and capabilities to achieve long term sustainability. Organizations continuously assess their business strategies to achieve their version of success. Both internal and external pressures greatly influence changes in these strategies for the organization to adapt to these social pressures at various levels of degree. To better understand the impacts that social pressures have on an organization’s strategic management efforts, this research has included published research articles along with fairly-recent news and opinion-based articles. Understanding that news and opinion-based writings typically present a bias leaning towards a particular perspective, this study believes that such events further accentuate the impact social pressures have on the strategic management process of an organization. Strategic management involves the continuous planning, monitoring, analyzing, and assessing the needs of an organization to successfully achieve its goals and objectives. The impacts social pressures have require constantly revising an organization’s strategy to adapt to these pressures, especially now with COVID-19. The implications this study highlights are the broader extrinsic values associated with multiple aspects of an organization.

Paving the microbiome way for improved food systems

Paving the microbiome way for improved food systems MicrobiomeSupport’s mission is to guide the creation of a sustainable and circular microbiome-based bioeconomy. The project has contributed towards establishing standards for microbiome research and aligning research funding globally. Furthermore, it has developed a set of recommendations for a strategic research and innovation agenda in Europe and worldwide, addressing key policy challenges that can lead to innovative microbiome applications.

Meeting the Challenges Facing Wheat Production: The Strategic Research Agenda of the Global Wheat Initiative

Wheat occupies a special role in global food security since, in addition to providing 20% of our carbohydrates and protein, almost 25% of the global production is traded internationally. The importance of wheat for food security was recognised by the Chief Agricultural Scientists of the G20 group of countries when they endorsed the establishment of the Wheat Initiative in 2011. The Wheat Initiative was tasked with supporting the wheat research community by facilitating collaboration, information and resource sharing and helping to build the capacity to address challenges facing production in an increasingly variable environment. Many countries invest in wheat research. Innovations in wheat breeding and agronomy have delivered enormous gains over the past few decades, with the average global yield increasing from just over 1 tonne per hectare in the early 1960s to around 3.5 tonnes in the past decade. These gains are threatened by climate change, the rapidly rising financial and environmental costs of fertilizer, and pesticides, combined with declines in water availability for irrigation in many regions. The international wheat research community has worked to identify major opportunities to help ensure that global wheat production can meet demand. The outcomes of these discussions are presented in this paper.

Exploring community knowledge, attitudes and perceptions of Alzheimer's Disease/Alzheimer's Disease-Related Dementias and healthy ageing in Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islanders.

Alzheimer's disease and related dementias (AD/ADRD) disparities exist in the rapidly growing and extremely heterogeneous Asian American and Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander (NH/PI) ageing populations in the United States. Limited community-clinical resources supporting culturally competent and timely diagnosis exacerbate barriers to existing care services in these populations. Community-based participatory research or community-engaged research are proven community-academic research approaches that can support the development and implementation of community-focused programmes to maximise community benefit. The NYU Center for the Study of Asian American Health engaged our national and local community partners to gain a deeper understanding of AD/ADRD in this diverse and growing population, to develop a strategic community-engaged research agenda to understand, address and reduce AD/ADRD disparities among Asian American and NH/PI communities. Findings from an initial scoping review identified significant research gaps. We conducted a series of key informant interviews (n= 11) and a modified Delphi survey (n= 14) with Asian American and NH/PI community leaders and older adult service providers followed by a facilitated group discussion of survey findings to gain consensus on key priority research areas identified in the literature and to determine culturally and contextually appropriate approaches to support AD/ADRD prevention, early identification and treatment in Asian American and NH/PI communities. Future research and health education should focus on raising Asian American and NH/PI basic individual- and community-level awareness about AD/ADRD and leveraging existing community assets to integrate effective engagement strategies to access AD/ADRD services within the healthcare system.

The strategic research agenda of academics and the involvement of non-academic peers in research in regimes of academic nested hybridity

ABSTRACT The involvement of non-academics in academic research is key to boosting knowledge exchange and ensuring that academic research is more effective in contributing to tackling the challenges faced by organizations and citizens. Although incentives, together with new organizational and knowledge producing modes, have fostered this involvement, the literature has found that the willingness of academics to collaborate with non-academics is mixed and related to individual traits and preferences, conflicting working logics, and other constraints. This study contributes to this literature by assessing the strategic research agendas of academics as a novel factor in determining their willingness to involve non-academic peers in research activities. The findings underlined the critical importance of academics’ strategic research agendas in determining their engagement with non-academics in their research. The findings also showed conflicting logics, suggesting that PhD training, career progression, and organizational incentives fostering knowledge output activities need to be considered and adapted.

Toward a Demand-Driven, Collaborative Data Agenda for Adolescent Mental Health

PurposeExisting datasets and research in the field of adolescent mental health do not always meet the needs of practitioners, policymakers, and program implementers, particularly in the context of vulnerable populations. Here, we introduce a collaborative, demand-driven methodology for the development of a strategic adolescent mental health research agenda. Ultimately, this agenda aims to guide future data sharing and collection efforts that meet the most pressing data needs of key stakeholders. MethodsWe conducted a rapid literature search to summarize common themes in adolescent mental health research into a “topic map”. We then hosted two virtual workshops with a range of international experts to discuss the topic map and identify shared priorities for future collaboration and research. ResultsOur topic map identifies 10 major themes in adolescent mental health, organized into system-level, community-level, and individual-level categories. The engagement of cross-sectoral experts resulted in the validation of the mapping exercise, critical insights for refining the topic map, and a collaborative list of priorities for future research. DiscussionThis innovative agile methodology enables a focused deliberation with diverse stakeholders and can serve as the starting point for data generation and collaboration practices, both in the field of adolescent mental health and other topics.

The relationship between academics' strategic research agendas and their preferences for basic research, applied research, or experimental development.

In this study, we assess the association between academics’ research agendas and their preferences for basic research, applied research, or experimental development. Using a sample of Mexican academics working in some of the country’s most research-oriented universities, we identify three clusters. The largest is composed of applied research-oriented academics, the second largest is composed of basic research-oriented academics, and the smallest is composed of academics who engage in both basic and applied research, and experimental development. The strategic research agendas of the three clusters are distinguished from each other along four main dimensions: Divergence, Discovery, Mentor Influence, and Social Orientation. These findings show that strategic research agendas are associated with preferences for basic research, applied research, or experimental development, but only to some extent. We also extend the Multi-Dimensional Research Agendas Inventory – Revised, a widely used instrument for measuring strategic research agendas, by adding a new dimension, “Government,” and validating the instrument in a new context. We also make the scale available in Spanish for use by academics, practitioners, managers, and administrators in Spanish-speaking countries.

Correction to: Are the strategic research agendas of researchers in the social sciences determinants of research productivity?

Correction to: Are the strategic research agendas of researchers in the social sciences determinants of research productivity?

A Comprehensive Programmatic Investigation of the Antecedents and Consequences Related With the Great Resignation of Individuals and Organizations – A COVID-19 Strategic Review and Research Agenda

“The Great Resignation” has caused an impact across every industry in the U.S. (Thompson, 2021b). Since it began with record-high resignation rates in April 2021, there has been much speculation on why workers are resigning as organizations struggle to deal with these impacts (Iacurci, 2022). This study reviews emergent research into the causes of “The Great Resignation” to determine if recent research and preliminary studies support popular theory/ opinions and aim to link the emergent causes with more developed studies in employee retention to provide actionable strategies for organizations. This review finds that wages, childcare issues, and workplace culture are all leading causes of resignations (Fuller & Kerr, 2022; Slater, 2022). Other popular theories on resignation causes such as government aid, preference for remote work, burnout, and employer requirements were also considered. Because this study provides an initial review of emergent research and seeks to add further contributions, future research is needed to provide additional insights to fully understand and determine the causes and impacts of “The Great Resignation” in the U.S.

Energizing collaborative industry-academia learning: a present case and future visions

In Industry-Academia Collaborations (IAC) both academic, scientific research results and industrial practitioner findings and experiences are produced. Both types of knowledge should be gathered, codified, and disseminated efficiently and effectively. This paper investigates a recent (2014–2017) large-scale IAC R&D&I program case (Need for Speed, N4S) from a learning perspective. It was one of the programs in the Finnish SHOK (Strategic Centres of Science, Technology, and Innovation) system. The theoretical bases are in innovation management, knowledge management, and higher education (university) pedagogy. In the future, IAC projects should be more and more commonplace since major innovations are hardly ever done in isolation, not even by the largest companies. Both intra-organizational and inter-organizational learning networks are increasingly critical success factors. Collaborative learning capabilities will thus be required more often from all the participating parties. Efficient and effective knowledge creation and sharing are underpinning future core competencies. In this paper, we present and evaluate a collaboratively created and publicly shared digital knowledge repository called “Treasure Chest” produced during our case program. The starting point was a jointly created Strategic Research and Innovation Agenda (SRIA), which defined the main research themes and listed motivating research questions to begin with—i.e., intended learning outcomes (ILO). During the 4-year program, our collaborative industry-academia (I-A) learning process produced a range of theoretical and empirical results, which were iteratively collected and packaged into the Treasure Chest repository. Outstandingly, it contained, in addition to traditional research documents, narratives of the industrial learning experiences and more than 100 actionable knowledge items. In conclusion, our vision of the future is that such transparently shared, ambitious, and versatile outcome goals with a continuous integrative collection of the results are keys to effective networked I-A collaboration and learning. In that way, the N4S largely avoided the general problem of often conflicting motives between industrial firms seeking answers and applied solutions to their immediate practical problems and academic researchers aiming at more generalizable knowledge creation and high-quality scientific publications.

The Role of Remote Sensing in Agriculture and Future Vision

The sustainability of agriculture became one of the key priorities for policy frameworks at global and European levels. The global initiative of the United Nations that defined the Sustainable Development Goals and the European Green Deal. Use of remote sensing to achieve sustainable practices in the entire agriculture value chain can significantly contribute to fulfil the set goals by the policy frameworks. This paper analyses the stakeholders involved in agriculture including the agri-food, public, financial and food security sectors, and their needs. In situ and virtual workshops with relevant stakeholders including an online survey served as a primary source of input for the user requirements analysis and as a platform for feedback and discussion. As a result, a set of key documents including a white paper, a policy roadmap and a strategic research agenda were published. Recommendations for future utilisation of remote sensing in agriculture are described in this paper.

Are the strategic research agendas of researchers in the social sciences determinants of research productivity?

This study analyzes the association between the strategic research agendas of researchers in the social sciences and their research performance. Based on a worldwide sample of 604 researchers, this study assesses whether researchers’ strategic research agendas are predictors of both short-term (last 3 years) and long-term career publications and citations, after controlling for relevant literature-informed determinants of research productivity. The results show that, in a short-term perspective, research agendas have a limited association with productivity and visibility. Solely the research agendas strategically oriented towards publishing and those collaborative in nature have positive associations with research productivity and visibility. This changes when a long-term perspective is considered. Over the course of a career, research agendas are significantly associated with number of publications and citations. Research agendas oriented towards publishing and collaboration, and those focused on a single field of knowledge, prestige gain and discovery have a positive effect on career research performance, while those research agendas that are overspecialized, dispersed over several fields of knowledge and topics, and influenced by a mentor have opposite associations. This study also finds that prolific research productivity shapes one’s strategic research agenda: the more one publishes, the more one is bound to have a strategic research agenda that is focused on prestige, discovery, a further drive to publish, engagement in a multitude of topics to research, and pursuing multidisciplinary and collaborative research. This effect is driven by an accumulation of publications, not citations. These findings highlight how strategic research choices interact with the individual performance of researchers in the social sciences in performativity-oriented research landscapes.

Materials for Sustainable Nuclear Energy: A European Strategic Research and Innovation Agenda for All Reactor Generations

Nuclear energy is presently the single major low-carbon electricity source in Europe and is overall expected to maintain (perhaps eventually even increase) its current installed power from now to 2045. Long-term operation (LTO) is a reality in essentially all nuclear European countries, even when planning to phase out. New builds are planned. Moreover, several European countries, including non-nuclear or phasing out ones, have interests in next generation nuclear systems. In this framework, materials and material science play a crucial role towards safer, more efficient, more economical and overall more sustainable nuclear energy. This paper proposes a research agenda that combines modern digital technologies with materials science practices to pursue a change of paradigm that promotes innovation, equally serving the different nuclear energy interests and positions throughout Europe. This paper chooses to overview structural and fuel materials used in current generation reactors, as well as their wider spectrum for next generation reactors, summarising the relevant issues. Next, it describes the materials science approaches that are common to any nuclear materials (including classes that are not addressed here, such as concrete, polymers and functional materials), identifying for each of them a research agenda goal. It is concluded that among these goals are the development of structured materials qualification test-beds and materials acceleration platforms (MAPs) for materials that operate under harsh conditions. Another goal is the development of multi-parameter-based approaches for materials health monitoring based on different non-destructive examination and testing (NDE&T) techniques. Hybrid models that suitably combine physics-based and data-driven approaches for materials behaviour prediction can valuably support these developments, together with the creation and population of a centralised, “smart” database for nuclear materials.

Medical applications of ionizing radiation and radiation protection for European patients, population and environment

Medical applications of ionising radiation (IR) represent a key component of the diagnosis and treatment of many diseases, guaranteeing efficient health care. The use of IR in medicine, the largest source of general population radiation exposure, is potentially associated with increased risk of cancer and non-cancer diseases, which needs to be evaluated to provide evidence-based input for risk-benefit considerations. Efforts are also needed to improve the safety and efficacy of medical applications through optimisation. The EC Euratom programme enhances research in medical radiation protection. The four complementary multidisciplinary projects presented here contribute to (1) improving knowledge on exposure and effects of diagnostic and therapeutic applications and (2) transferring results into clinical practice. The common aim is to optimise use for individual patients, enhance education and training, ensuring adherence to ethical standards, particularly related to technologies based on artificial intelligence. MEDIRAD, SINFONIA and HARMONIC focus on improving exposure estimation and studying the detrimental effects of diagnostic and therapeutic medical exposures in patients and staff using different endpoints. EURAMED rocc-n-roll brings together the results of the projects and the recommendations generated by them to build, in collaboration with the EU Radiation Protection research platforms, a strategic research agenda and a roadmap for research priorities.

A Relational Dimension of Open Innovation: Towards A Comprehensive Strategic Communication Research Agenda

ABSTRACT Open innovation is a strategic phenomenon that has arisen in corporate life since the beginning of the 21st century. The management of this process involves a communicative dimension that both management and communication scholarship have overlooked over the last twenty years. At the same time, communication management in open innovation processes enacts the strategic nature of the discipline and practice. However, there is scant knowledge and evidence to be found in this discipline, despite the fact that the topic itself calls for deeper exploration of mainly a relational and communicative phenomena. We argue for the promotion of a comprehensive research agenda that entails delving into the theoretical and empirical challenges of the strategic communication discipline in open innovation. Likewise, this article responds to the call for greater interdisciplinary research. Findings include six research gaps, the examination of nine research lines, as it relates to discussion of specific methods/methodologies which would fill those gaps. Moreover, the proposed research pathways map out a starting-point for the future of this growing field of inquiry while also positioning strategic communication as a catalyst discipline and practice that will help to foster open innovation management and research.

Towards a single European strategic research and innovation agenda on materials for all reactor generations through dedicated projects

The goal of the ORIENT-NM action is to produce a single European strategic vision on research and innovation concerning nuclear materials in the EU, serving all reactor generations and nuclear systems. The key in this endeavour is to focus on advanced materials science practices that, combined with digital techniques, will enable acceleration in materials development, manufacturing, supply, qualification, and monitoring, in support of nuclear energy safety, efficiency, economy and sustainability. The research agenda will be rooted in existing virtuous examples of nuclear materials science projects. Here the results of three of them are summarised, thereby covering different reactor applications and families of materials, as well as a range of advanced material research approaches. GEMMA addressed a number of key areas concerning the development and qualification of metallic structural materials for GenIV reactor conditions, focusing on austenitic steels and their compatibility with several non-aqueous coolants, their welds and the modelling of their stability under irradiation. INSPYRE was an integrated project applying a basic science approach to (U,Pu)O2fuels, to develop physics-based models for the behaviour of nuclear fuels under irradiation and improve fuel performance codes. Modelling was also the focus of the M4F project, which brought together the fission and fusion materials communities to study the effects of localised deformation under irradiation in ferritic/martensitic steels and to develop good practices to use ion irradiation as a tool to evaluate radiation effects on materials.

An examination of technologies in complementary medicine education and practice: The perceptions and experiences of naturopathy students, faculty and educational leaders

ObjectivesLittle is known about the education of future CM practitioners. The objective is to explore the perceptions and experiences of students, faculty and professional leaders toward technologies in complementary medicine education and practice. Design and settingQualitative focus groups and one-on-one semi-structured interviews were conducted in CM educational organizations and institutions in North America (United States / Canada) and Australia involving seven focus groups (29 naturopathic students), and 30 one-on-one interviews (faculty, educational and professional leaders of the naturopathic profession). ResultsData analysis identified five issues reported. These related to perceptions of; the shortfalls of CM classroom technology, the value of technology within CM clinical practice, learning technologies in the classroom, addressing equity concerns as a consequence of learning technology use, and the need to develop technology literacy skills amongst students and faculty. ConclusionThis is the first study to examine the perceptions of students, faculty and professional leaders toward technologies in CM education and practice within an education setting. CM students exhibited complex attitudes and adoption patterns to technology. CM students were critical of faculty who have perceived low levels of digital literacy. The technology issue that students in our study found most challenging was PowerPoint use in the classroom. There is an urgent need to establish a strategic research agenda and modelling around this important area of health care education in order to ensure a well-educated, effective workforce able to deliver the best outcomes for the patients and communities they serve.

Metrology for radiation protection: a new European network in the foundation phase

Abstract. More than 23 million workers worldwide are occupationally exposed to ionizing radiation and all people in the world are exposed to environmental radiation. The mean exposure, that is the mean annual dose of per person, is dominated by medical applications and exposure to natural sources. Due to recent developments in healthcare, e.g. the increasing application of ionising radiation in medical imaging with relative high doses like CT, and modern high dose applications (for example CT angiography), the exposure due to medical application has risen. Additionally, the changes in living conditions increase the exposure to natural radioactivity also: More living time is spent in buildings or in an urban environment, which causes higher exposure to Naturally Occurring Radioactive Materials (NORM) in building materials and higher exposure to radon. The level of radon activity concentration in buildings is far higher than in the environment (outdoor). This effect is often amplified by modern energy-efficient buildings which reduce the air exchange and thus increase the radon indoor activity concentration. In summary both medical application of ionizing radiation and natural sources are responsible for the increase of the mean annual exposure of the population. The accurate measurement of radiation dose is key to ensuring safety but there are two challenges to be faced: First, new standards and reference fields are needed due to the rapid developments in medical imaging, radiotherapy and industrial applications. Second, direct communication channels are needed to ensure that information on best practice in measurements reaches effectively and quickly the people concerned. It is therefore necessary to allow for an international exchange of information on identified problems and solutions. Consequently, a European Metrology Network (EMN) for radiation protection under the roof of EURAMET is in the foundation phase. This network EMN for Radiation Protection is being prepared by the project EMPIR 19NET03 supportBSS. The project aims to prepare this EMN by addressing this issue through the identification of stakeholder research needs and by implementing a long-term ongoing dialogue between stakeholders and the metrology community. The EMN will serve as a unique point of contact to address all metrological needs related to radiation protection and it will relate to all environmental processes where ionising radiation and radionuclides are involved. A Strategic Research Agenda and two roadmaps are in development, covering the metrology needs of both the Euratom Treaty and the EU Council Directive 2013/59/EURATOM pinning down the basic safety standards for protection against the dangers arising from exposure to ionizing radiation. Furthermore, long-term knowledge sharing, and capacity building will be supported and a proposal for a sustainable joint European metrology infrastructure is under way. This will significantly strengthen the radiation protection metrology and support radiation protection measures. The final goal of the network project is a harmonised, sustainable, coordinated and smartly specialised infrastructure to underpin the current and future needs expressed in the European regulations for radiation protection.