For approximately the last two decades, the need to assess the social impact of scientific research.

This insight has come from different stratums of society (government, financing agencies, research centres, academic institutes, industry and patients' associations) and has been expressly with particular intensity in countries like Great Britain, Canada, the Netherlands, the United States and Australia. They are all concerned about the destination and true yields of the material and human efforts that have been increasingly invested in medical research.

In Catalonia and throughout Spain, this interest has been aroused particularly at assessment agencies and in the world of universities, although far-reaching projects have still not been executed.

For this reason, the Catalan Agency for Health Information and Quality (CAHIAQ) (Agència d'Informació, Avaluació i Qualitat en Salut; AIAQS) has committed to this strategic line with the objective of providing a assessment methodology and tool.

In order to provide responses to these needs, the ISOR Project was created in the heart of CAHIAQ in order to:

1. To carry on the evaluation of the impact of research funded by CAHIAQ (accountability in relation to public investment) 
2. To develop a methodology and/or tool for the assessment of research projects in the context of CAHIAQ (transfer methods and capacity-building) 
3. To contribute to the spreading of these assessment practices beyond CAHIAQ (advocate for research impact assessment practices)  

One strength of the ISOR Project is that it is comprised of a multidisciplinary team, both in the field of medical and healthcare, economic and social expertise and in technical experience with regard to quantitative and qualitative assessment and analysis tools.

The ISOR projec has been developed in collaboration with the Epidemiology Unit, Cardiology Service of Vall d'Hebron Hospital . The activities were set on the top of the pillars build in biomedical research assessment by former CAHIAQ members.

The members of the ISOR Group in CAHIAQ and CIBERESP are:

Paula Adam (IP)
Imma Guillamón
Joan MV Pons
Maite Solans
Gaietà Permanyer-Miralda*

* Vall d'Hebron Hospital, Epidemiology Unit, Cardiology Service.

For more information please contact:

Paula Adam
Catalan Agency for Health Information, Assessment and Quality
Phone: (+34) 93 551 39 44
padam@aatrm.catsalut.cat
http://impact.aatrm.net

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Funding agencies