Making research useful (MARU)

Aligning social challenges, researchers’ translation efforts, and users’ transdisciplinary problem-solving 

Our project aims to enhance strategies and policies for utilizing scientific knowledge more effectively to address key societal challenges, including sustainability and digitalization. At the same time, it seeks to provide a better understanding of the underlying processes by moving beyond the conventional linear model of research application, which often underestimates the diversity of ways that research is being used by different actors. In particular, the role of higher education is undervalued. To this end, we will offer a more nuanced understanding of research use, informing the design of more responsive national science, higher education, and innovation policies. 

We work in close collaboration with partners from industry, government, and academia, who are either applying research findings or promoting their application in innovation, problem-solving, and policymaking. 

A primary objective of the project is to create an inventory of research utilization practices based on a novel understanding of such practices in problem-solving across sectors. This goal directly responds to the call for a better understanding of the interplay between research, society, and business, and the focus will also extend to promoting just and inclusive sustainability transitions, considering regional and digitalization challenges. In this manner, we will generate new scholarly knowledge about how research is used in transdisciplinary problem-solving across sectors. Another objective is to analyze the policymaking underlying current practices and how it may be improved. How do the partner organization shape and facilitate the use of research, in particular, what strategies are pursued by researchers to bring their knowledge into use? How may these insights improve Norwegian science, higher education, and innovation policy and the efforts of research institutions?