The assessment of researchers increasingly moves away from individual metrics to a qualitative assessment supported by the sustainable use of quantitative indicators. Once started with the San Francisco Declaration on Research Assessment (SF DORA), the European community is spearheading the transformation with the Coalition on Advancing Research Assessment (CoARA). This shift is driven by the scientific insights on the shortcomings of hitherto used metrics and to address global issues, such as the reproducibility crisis, the inflation of publication numbers and a growing precarity of young researchers.

The ongoing reform poses the question, though: How to meaningfully and objectively implement a qualitative research assessment? – One approach that has been used for many years in prestigous European programmes such as the Marie Curie programme (MSCA) and the European Research Council (ERC) is the use of a narrative presentation of a researchers resume, which adds context rather than just providing a bullet point list of bibliometrics. Such practices were already adopted in advanced scientific research systems, such as the Luxembourg National Research Fund (FNR), which we will also present to you in more detail. The FNR not only introduced the narrative CV as a standard for funding calls, but also accompanied the reform with scientific research on its impact on evaluation procedures and research culture.

During the one-day hybrid event, we will be introduced to the narrative CV, its impact on research culture and years of experience using it on a national scale in two keynote presentations. Following these introductory talks, a high-level panel discussion will explore, how the use of the narrative CV might fit the Slovenian context as a valuable tool. In addition, the Peer Exchange Platform for Narrative-style CVs (PEP-CV) will be presented as a digital platform supporting the pratical use of narrative CVs as an impactful assessment tool, a collaborative initiative between six funding agencies across Europe and the UK (the Luxembourg National Research Fund (FNR), UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), the Dutch Research Council (NWO), Taighde Éireann – Research Ireland, the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF), and the Wellcome Trust), managed by the Marie Curie Alumni Association (MCAA) and supported by the Young Academy of Europe (YAE). In the afternoon, our international speakers will conduct a workshop for researchers to practically explore the use of the narrative CV and become proficient in writing their own narrative CVs tailored to a specific context, e.g. grant applications.