Recognition and rewards from a funder's perspective

As a recent winner of a national mentorship award said: “Research is about people. If you care about research, you care about people.” To best support the people doing the research, we need to foster a research environment and culture that allows these people to do their best and be proud of what comes out of the research they do.

The main way for a funder to do this is to focus on grant evaluation and management processes. As a funder, the concept of recognition and reward is central to most of what we do, and we have a responsibility to make sure that we ask for the right things throughout the lifespan of a research project. As a result, we think about this when:

• Developing new funding schemes
• Evaluating and updating current funding schemes
• Changing our CV template (for example towards a narrative-style CV)
• Rethinking our reporting processes (to allow a broader range of recognition and reward what comes out of what we fund)

We at the FNR have concrete examples of a more diverse recognition and reward system in all of these situations, based upon internal need for changes, discussion with people in our national system, and understanding international best practices. Communication is key throughout the process, so that everyone understands the need, reasoning, and changes that are occurring.

What is recognized and rewarded is what people tend to focus on, as this is what funders and institutions concretely ask for, representing the underlying “currency” of research. As the dialogue around recognition and rewards shifts, so do the discussions within funding organizations. We recognize our responsibility to the people involved in research and try our best to balance the changes we see as necessary with the constraints inherent in how we fund research in our local or national context.

For me personally, this is about trying to foster a diverse and inclusive research culture. To do this, shifting what is made visible, recognized, rewarded is one of the foundations of the shift. We need to engage in dialogue with not only our stakeholders in the national research ecosystem, but also others across the world to make sure that we are advancing together, making sure that the changes we make don’t adversely affect specific groups of people. Feedback is always welcome, and funders need to hear your opinions and ideas. Even if they aren’t all directly implemented, this dialogue is critical to ensure that the shift moves in a positive direction.