Organising Committee

Paula Adam

Paula Adam (PhD) is an expert in research impact assessment from the perspective of public policy, implementation and change management. Since 2010, she works at the Agency for Health Quality and Assessment (AQuAS https://aquas.gencat.cat/ca/ambits/recerca-salut/) of the Government of Catalonia. In 2013, she co-funded together with Jonathan Grant and Kathryn Graham ‘The International School on Research Impact Assessment’ (ISRIA). This school trained a few hundreds of science practitioners from all over the globe during 5 years. She led a testimonial of this experience in co-authorship with Pavel V Ovseiko and others through the publication of an ISRIA Statement. In her carrier, she has payed special focus on the assessment of biomedical research centers and the key performance indicators in collaboration with the ‘Instituto de Salud Carlos III’ from the Spanish Government. Over the past years, Paula has gained expertise on gender policies in science and the promotion of professional and public involvement in research. She also has a long-standing experience on public policy analysis and evaluation (at the OECD in Paris). She obtained her PhD from the European University Institute in Florence, Italy in 1996.

Gert V. Balling

Dr. Gert Balling is Senior Impact Partner at the Novo Nordisk Foundation, Denmark where he has worked since 2014. He is responsible for the implementation and continuous development of impact assessment in the Foundation as well as presentation of impact results to internal and external stakeholders. He is appointed member of NIHR Impact Board and Researchfish Steering Board. Gert was selected as school director for The International School of Research Impact Assessment in 2017 and is a member of the organizing committee behind the international ‘In the Trenches’ symposia.

Gert has a background in knowledge transfer and research evaluation on a national and international level and has on more occasions been appointed independent expert on EU Commission Expert Groups.

Dr. Kathryn Graham

Dr Kathryn Graham (PhD, FCAHS) is the Executive Director of Performance Management and Evaluation at Alberta Innovates (www.albertainnovates.ca), a Canadian‐based publicly funded provincial research and innovation organization. She is a Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences (CAHS). A co‐founder of the International School on Research Impact Assessment and was Director of the School when it was hosted in Banff in 2014. She is the Co-Director of the AESIS International course on “Integrating Societal Impact in a Research Strategy”. She has over 25 years of strategic evaluation experience in health care, research and innovation. Her expertise is in developing performance management and impact strategies and implementing assessment frameworks for complex systems across a diversity of organizations. She and her team successfully implemented the CAHS (2009) health research impact framework and was instrumental in its application nationally and internationally. Kathryn is social scientist, bridge builder and advisor on numerous boards and expert committees that focus on research and innovation. She is invited to present both nationally and internationally.

Tamika Heiden

Dr Tamika Heiden is the Principal of the Research Impact Academy (https://researchimpactacademy.com/). She has more than a decade of career experience as a researcher and research manager in the fields of health, sport and medical research that began with a sports science degree and a PhD in Biomechanics. She has a certification’s in Knowledge Translation from the University of Toronto, and from the International School on Research Impact. Tamika is an honorary research fellow at the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute in Victoria, an Adjunct Research Fellow at the University of Western Australia, sits on the scientific committee for the Medical Research Foundation at Royal Perth Hospital, and has a formal partnership with SickKids Hospital in Toronto.

Tamika’s national and international work brings together researchers and research users to share, create and translate knowledge for the betterment of society. She has worked with many government and non-government organisations to facilitate high-level overviews and strategic thinking, particularly relevant to the Australian research funding landscape where she gave evidence to the Senate Committee enquiry for the Medical Research Future Fund.

Tamika won the 2018 award for Excellence in Knowledge Translation from the SickKids Learning Institute in Toronto and the Award for Innovation from the Institute for Knowledge Mobilization. Tamika has shared her knowledge with a variety of audiences at conferences and symposiums, run workshops, been published in numerous professional and academic journals, and been involved in the development of Knowledge Translation strategies at the organisational and project levels.

Shaun Leamon

Shaun Leamon is a research manager with over 15 years of experience in the design, commissioning and evaluation of research and grant programs to inform health and care practice and policy. Shaun currently works at the Health Foundation (https://www.health.org.uk/), where he is responsible for a number of large infrastructure grants designed to support a greater use of research knowledge and evidence in health and social care, and support the translation of evidence into policy and practice. Shaun also leads the Health Foundation’s Research Strategy and Operating Framework, designed to ensure the research funded by the Foundation is catalytic, of the highest quality, and adds value and impact by supporting a vibrant and flourishing research culture. Shaun sits on a number of UK advisory groups working in the field of research on research and is a member of a number of professional associations, including the UK Evaluation Society, the Charity Evaluation Working Group and the Association of Research Managers and Administrators.

Yulye Jessica Romo Ramos (Jessica Romo)

Yulye Jessica Romo Ramos is a leader specialized in strategic management, organizational change and monitoring, evaluation, research and learning (MERL). MSc-educated with approx. 15 years of monitoring, evaluation, research and learning (MERL) experience in a wide range of thematic areas across Latin America, Africa, Asia and Europe. Jessica is a leader that loves developing and improving MERL functions and is specialized in the use of theory-based evaluation approaches and systems thinking for complex interventions. Her experience includes top MERL positions at international organizations where she has been responsible for facilitating strategic, adaptive and evidence-based management as well as enabling strong project design and business development with the help of MERL approaches. Currently Jessica works for Wellcome Trust (https://wellcome.org/) , where she provides MERL leadership, and is a member of the American, UK and European Evaluation Societies.

For a list of publications and talks please consult this page: https://jessicaromo.wordpress.com/publications/

Dr Mark Taylor

Dr Mark Taylor has just stepped down as Head of Impact for the Central Commissioning Facility of the National Institute for Health Research (www.nihr.ac.uk). Before that he has worked, amongst other places, for Merck KGaA, 3i plc, Oxford University Hospitals NHS Trust, the NHS Institute for Innovation and Improvement and Oxford University Innovation (the University’s knowledge transfer arm). He has been a trustee for the MS Society and briefly for Asthma UK as well as on the British Medical Journal’s Patient Panel. He was diagnosed with relapsing remitting multiple sclerosis in 2003. He is currently a visiting academic at the University of Oxford and has recently begun his new role as Head of Strategic Partnerships at NIHR CCF.

Organising Committee

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