#	Pagina
attuale pagina	/open-h2020/projects/214891/results.html

Report

Teaser, summary, work performed and final results

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - MULTI-ACT (A Collective Research Impact Framework and multi-variate models to foster the true engagement of actors and stakeholders in Health Research and Innovation)

Teaser

Summary

MULTI-ACTâ€™s ultimate objective is to increase the impact of health research on people with brain diseases. To this aim, MULTI-ACT is going to provide a new Collective Research Impact Framework (CRIF) which will be translated into an online toolbox and a set of guidelines to improve stakeholder co-accountability in health (and specifically, brain) research and innovation (R&I).

The CRIF is thought to support Multi-Stakeholder Research Initiatives (MSRIs) in three different ways:
- EX ANTE: to set the research priorities and define the agenda of the initiative;
- ONGOING: while implementing the R&I programme or project, to monitor its performance;
- EX POST: after the completion of each programme or project, to evaluate its impact.

The CRIF is intended to provide MSRIs with the knowledge and tools they need to meet the different (and sometimes competing) needs of all the actors involved in the R&I process and improve their capacity to assess collective impact.
One innovative feature of the CRIF versus the existing models is that it considers the mission-related dimension as one explicit driver for accountability. The evaluation of the mission dimension (along with the other impact dimensions detailed hereafter) in measuring the performance of MSRIs is urgent in delivering strategies to promote research programmes and projects that have an impact on patients and society.

Work performed

The MULTI-ACT consortium has identified the following three key phases in the project (the first of them having been successfully completed during the first 15 months of the project):

- Phase 1 â€œBuild knowledgeâ€: this preliminary phase has been intended to build the theoretical foundations of the MULTI-ACT CRIF which ultimate purpose is enabling better cooperation and co-accountability in MSRIs. To this aim, the framework is designed to contain two core components: (i) a Governance Model for MSRIs; (ii) a Master Scorecard made of selected research impact indicators along 5 impact dimensions: efficacy (mission-related dimension), social impact, economic impact, excellence and patient-reported impact. Furthermore, Phase 1 served to establish and consolidate the basis for the â€œScience with and of patient inputsâ€, this meaning how the needs and claims of the ultimate beneficiaries of research (i.e. the patients) can be better integrated in R&I processes via their inclusion in the decision and management processes and the introduction of a specific patient reported dimension among the ones measured.

- Phase 2 â€œApply knowledgeâ€: this is the recently started implementation Phase during which the Framework developed in Phase 1 is going to be tested in a real life setting. To this purpose a MSRI focused on Multiple Sclerosis has been selected and the framework is being used for the first time iwith the aim to validate it and check its usability, utility and easiness to adopt. Later on, a review of the whole CRIF will be done and inputs from the pilot MSRI will be taken into account to improve and consolidate it. Moreover, this Phase foresees the design and development of an online Toolbox which will be the entry point for those MSRIs that wish to use MULTI-ACT CRIF.

- Phase 3 â€œUse knowledgeâ€: this Phase, roughly corresponding to the third and last year of the project, will be devoted to expand the community of the potential users of MULTI-ACT CRIF beyond the MS domain, produce usable manuals and guidelines to accompany the user and improve the toolbox by adding more interactive functionalities.

During the first period, the consortium put considerable effort in building the stakeholder community of MULTI-ACT and setting collaboration bridges with other relevant RRI projects (e.g. NewHoRRizon), patient engagement initiatives (e.g. EUPATI and PARADIGM) and flagship initiatives (e.g. Human Brain Project). Lastly, an outstanding panel of experts is composing the two advisory bodies the project relies upon (i.e. the Patient Forum and the External Advisory Board).

Final results

MULTI-ACT is addressing the complexities which are inherent to the governance and collective impact assessment of Multi-Stakeholder Research Initiatives (MSRIs) through a rigorous approach intended to build a novel Collective Research Impact Framework enabling better cooperation and co-accountability.
Such core expected result is going to be delivered to the health research community via a digital Toolbox and a set of guidelines which will make the Framework and its components accessible and usable by the (either research funding or performing) organizations which are engaged or about to settle a MSRIs.

A NOVEL APPROACH TO STAKEHOLDER ENGAGEMENT
In health R&I the ultimate beneficiaries of research (i.e. the patients) are those whose needs and interests are often not appropriately taken into account. As the analysis of existing MSRIs and patient engagement initiatives revealed, in the majority of cases patient engagement is limited to consulting patients without granting them decision-making roles and involving them only in certain phases of the research path.
For this reason, MULTI-ACT has first initiated a thorough mapping of relevant stakeholders with a view to enable diversification of constellations of actors as well as participation and inclusion of all relevant stakeholders in R&I processes.
Different stakeholders of the Health R&I sector have been engaged, such as the main brain Multiple Sclerosis international MSRIs as well as relevant multi-stakeholder initiatives in other sectors than health to the purpose of getting a common understating of governance and impact assessment methods and tools in place.
In parallel, dedicated analysis of patient engagement related initiatives has been carried out including relevant international networks and platforms (e.g. Multiple Sclerosis International Federation, European Multiple Sclerosis Platform, etc.) as well as other projects (e.g. NewHoRRIzon).

BUILDING THE MULTI-ACT \'COMMUNITY OF PRACTICES\'
The framework, its components, the guidelines and, above all, the online Toolbox which will make all that knowledge accessible and usable are the key outcomes of the project and represent the assets which will allow the creation of a \'community of practices\' around it.
Such community is being already established with the engagement of multiple external stakeholders (i.e. those involved in the patient engagement landscape analysis, the External Advisory Board and Patient Forum members, and the selected MSRI as case study for testing) and will be further enlarged with the launch of a public consultation.
The Toolbox itself is designed to promote mutual learning and sharing of aggregated information on research impact and relevant good practices so to sustain the MULTI-ACT community even beyond the projectâ€™s end.

ENABLING GOVERNANCE TRANSFORMATION
As said above, one of the core components of the CRIF is the governance model. The case study will represent the first case of ground implementation of such model, being at the same time an opportunity to test and improve it.
Governance framework transformation in MSRIs is a demanding process. However, the MULTI-ACT model is designed to allow flexible and gradual adoption. It might be used to either assess the preparedness of a certain MSRIs to undertake the transformation process or implement a phased transformation process focusing first on certain criteria that are most relevant than others.