International evaluation of sport sciences in the Nordic countries
The Academy of Finland will carry out, in cooperation with the Nordic research funding agencies (Research Council of Norway [Norway], Icelandic Centre for Research, RANNIS [Iceland], Swedish National Centre for Research in Sports [CIF, Sweden], Swedish Research Council [Sweden], and Danish Agency for Science, Technology and Innovation [Denmark] an international evaluation of sport sciences in the Nordic countries in 2010‒2011. The evaluation will cover the whole discipline of sport sciences, and the aim is to assess aspects such as the focus and status of sport science research in different countries, the standard of research, funding systems, the strategy, and the impact of research. The evaluation is funded by NordForsk.
In Finland, the evaluation is commissioned by the Research Council for Health of the Academy of Finland. The evaluation is steered by a steering group chaired by Professor Michael Kjær (Copenhagen, Denmark). A project group, chaired by Director Mikael Fogelholm from the Academy of Finland, is responsible for the practical implementation of the evaluation. The evaluation is coordinated by Riikka Pellinen.
The steering group and the project group are preparing the evaluation. More information on the evaluation will be posted on this website.
The Finnish Ministry of Education and Culture will arrange a kick-off seminar for the evaluation on 17 August 2010 in Helsinki (registration).
Steering group:
Professor Michael Kjær (Denmark, chair), Professor Erlingur Sigurður Jóhannsson (Iceland), Professor Nina Vøllestad (Norway), Research Director Sarianne Sipilä (Finland), Per Nilsson (Sweden) and Mats Ulfendahl (Sweden)
Project group:
Mikael Fogelholm (Academy of Finland, chair), Riikka Pellinen (Academy of Finland, coordinator), Saara Leppinen, (Academy of Finland), Minna Paajanen (Finnish Ministry of Education and Culture), Hilde Grindvik Nielsen, Research Council of Norway, Norway), Magnús Lyngdal Magnússon (RANNIS, Iceland), Christine Dartsch (CIF, Sweden), Johan Dixelius (Swedish Research Council, Sweden), Jesper Allerup (Danish Agency for Science, Technology and Innovation, Denmark)
Monica Lund (NordForsk, Norway, representative of the funding organisation) will attend the meetings as an observer.
The evaluation panel consists of the following specialists:
Prof. Stuart Biddle, Loughborough University, UK
Prof. Peter Bärtsch, Heidelberg University Hospital, Germany
Prof. Karyn Esser, University of Kentucky, USA
Prof. Jennifer Hargreaves, University of Brighton, UK
Prof. Ron Maughan, Loughborough University, UK
Prof. Bart Vanreusel, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Belgium
Please find enclosed the schedule of the interviews.
The Steering group has drawn up the Terms of Reference defining the objectives of the evaluation and the tasks of the evaluation panel.