Coordination of transnational research for organic farming and food in Europe (ERANet Core Organic Plus)

General introduction

Using an impact analysis, CO PLUS aims to assess whether the funded projects within the COREOrganic ERAnet have had a positive impact on the development of organic agriculture and the development of research for organic agriculture at national and European levels. Why was one project more successful than another? It is generally assumed that the success of a research process is related to the extent to which different stakeholders get and play their roles in an optimal way. This aspect was taken into account in the evaluation.

Research approach

By means of a quantitative enumeration of the various types of output (scientific and vulgarising publications, doctoral and master's theses, workshops, lectures, etc.), it was determined whether and how the various target groups were reached. This quantitative analysis was supplemented within the project with qualitative information from interviews. Several (national) actors in organic agriculture were questioned about their knowledge of the projects, their interaction with researchers, their expectations of the project and the extent to which these were met, and to what extent the results influenced practice. The researchers involved were questioned about their experiences as partners within a transnational consortium and their efforts to disseminate the project results.

Relevance/Valorisation

The results of the impact analysis led to a number of recommendations for the national research funders within the COREOrganic consortium when launching research calls and selecting projects. For example, the results show that in transnational research it is challenging to create the necessary impact both scientifically and for practitioners. To increase the potential impact of projects in each of the partner countries, attention should be given to a dissemination plan both at the project level and the national level. Research consortia involving not only researchers but also organizations with a close link to the organic sector at the national level are more successful in translating the results to the specific national context and in successfully implementing them in practice. Another recommendation is that national partners are best integrated into all the work packages. This increases the coherence in a project and better assures the dissemination of all project results to all partner countries.