Our annual Impact Report and the method behind it, ranging from philosophy to data infrastructure, continues to garner attention. We have been happy to share the experiences and insights with partners and stakeholders in our network, and it is an enlightening learning process for us. We are continuously iterating toward a direction that makes sense in the light of what we now know, considering ease of access, readability, epistemological validity, processes, and feasibility. A key change since previous releases is that we have chosen to delimit the impact report data to our active portfolio. That is, this report contains data reported by the projects that are active at the time of the measurement cross section.
For context, this covers 164 projects in total, of which 134 reported in this years submission period, yielding a 81.71 per cent response rate. The lower rate relative to prior years (92 per cent last year) is not a surprise as the active portfolio is young. Many projects were initiated in large scale calls in 2025 and 2026 and are running through to 2031. Early-stage projects naturally have less to report, and some are still finding their footing in the data collection process. We consider the response rate a reasonable reflection of engagement.
Methodologically, this year we also a took step toward greater internal consistency. We have systematised how we define and apply three analytical frames: the full historical portfolio, the active portfolio, and the actively reporting portfolio. This makes the distinctions between them explicit and replicable. This is less visible to the reader but matters a great deal to us as it is part of building our data infrastructure.
Heading towards 2027, we are working on revamping our reporting infrastructure. This gives us the opportunity to streamline and revise our own protocols and processes, and we aim for a lean, easy-to-use, end product. The objective is that this will provide even better documentation of the outputs, outcomes and impact of NordForsk-funded research.
Happy Insights,
Simon Jernroth, analytics officer