At the Impact and Innovation Mini-Symposium of the ELIXIR All Hands Meeting 2020
Earlier this month, Johanna Törnroos won the award for the best presentation at the Impact and Innovation Mini-Symposium during the All Hands Meeting 2020. The All Hands is ELIXIR’s annual event that gathers all ELIXIR members from across Europe in the same room or —exceptionally this year— in front of the same screen. The first online version of this event portrayed an interesting image of diversity in people and topics: including workshops, short talks and mini-symposia.
The Mini-Symposium on Impact and Innovation turned the tables upside down, transforming attendees into the protagonists of the meeting. Speakers were evaluated by the audience that pretended to be research funders to assess the impact of the presentations.
Johanna Törnroos (ELIXIR Finland) won the award for the best impact presentation followed by Annalisa Milano (ELIXIR UK) and Bálint Mészáros (EMBL), both voted into second place. While many presentations demonstrated compelling, impactful stories, Törnroos’ presentation stood out for its precise style highlighting the benefits of regional collaboration.
She presented ‘Impact through Collaboration’ in the Nordics within The Nordic e-Infrastructure Collaboration (NeIC) — from exchanging knowledge to increasing competencies and research quality. Johanna employed an example from the Tryggve2 Project, where NeIC supports the development of sensitive data management tools used, among others, in assessing the risk of heritable and familial cancers. She also emphasised the great engagement from all partners yet, stressed the need for patience with creating strong bonds to progress and succeed.
As the winner for the best presentation, Johanna received a grant to attend a training course on impact and innovation, industry relations or communication.
About Johanna Törnroos
Johanna Törnroos works at the CSC — IT Center For Science Ltd, which hosts the ELIXIR Finland Node, and with the Nordic e-Infrastructure Collaboration (NeIC) as a Senior Adviser. Her work focuses on identifying and evaluating the impact of NeIC and monitoring the implementation and the impact of CSC’s strategy. Previously, she worked at the Academy of Finland developing procedures and practices for monitoring research activities and their impact within, and beyond, academia.
Acknowledgements
The Mini-Symposium took place as the Research Infrastructure Impact Assessment Pathways (RI-PATHS) project came to an end. This EU-funded project has helped ELIXIR raise its game in the area of impact evaluation with a methodology to assist research infrastructures in demonstrating their public value. This session at the All Hands has brought to life the future legacy of the project.