STFC e-Val

To continue demonstrating the case for investment in science, it is vital that STFC has accurate data on the outputs of our research funding. Following a successful pilot scheme, we are rolling out the e-Val system to ensure that we have a robust, repeatable method to collect this information.

We will use the e-Val system to collect data on impacts arising from grants which we fund in our core areas of:

• astronomy
• space science exploitation
• particle and nuclear physics

We will also collect data from areas such as:

• Facility Research and Development
• Science in Society
• High Performance Computing
• Follow-on Funding
• Innovation Partnerships
• Project Research and Development

The first data collection started on 22 February and closed on 18 April 2011.

We will be conducting a review and lessons learned exercise with the goal of making modifications to the system to take account of this year's experience.

The system will be open for update for 8 weeks each year, with read-only access to the PI for the rest of the time. We are now in the process of analysing the data and the performance of the system, and will be providing regular updates on our activities.

This will become an annual exercise which allows each PI to review the existing data and add new information, and will run for the lifetime of the grant and for up to 5 years afterwards. In this way we will be able to build up a picture of the outputs and track progress as the grant matures.