Summary

‘Excellence’ is increasingly being placed at the centre of research funding, policy and evaluation frameworks, but it is an ambiguous concept that isn’t clearly defined.

Using unclear, restrictive or ambiguous definitions of ‘excellence’ could mean that some deserving researchers are overlooked or miss out on opportunities to contribute bright ideas.

The EXCELLENCE project aims to understand how funders use, define and apply the concept of ‘excellence’ when it comes to research – as well as other key players in the research ecosystem (including publishers, university managers, research evaluation agencies and researchers themselves)

Project team

Stephen Pinfield, University of Sheffield and Senior Research Fellow, RoRI