Projektbeskrivelse

Today, DIIS together with the Danish Institute for Human Rights constitute the Danish Cen-tre for International Studies and Human Rights (DCISM), sharing a common administration and library. DIIS covers the following fields of specialisation, which, furthermore, define the framework for the activities of the institute within research, dissemination, teaching and revenue-generated activities: 

• foreign policy;
• EU’s internal dynamics; 
• defence and security; 
• trade and development; 
• holocaust and genocide; 
• migration; 
• natural resources and poverty; 
• religion, social conflict and the Middle East; 
• politics and governance; 
• political violence, terrorism and radicalisation; 
• reports, analyses and other commissioned work.

During 2003 and 2004, DIIS entered into development contracts with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark for the periods 2003-2007 and 2005-2007. The contracts stipulate that DIIS’s research activities within a time span of five years should be externally evaluated by independent researchers. DIIS has appointed the Danish Evaluation Institute (EVA) to carry out the evaluation in co-operation with an international expert panel.

Purpose

The purpose of the evaluation is to examine and assess DIIS’s fulfilment of its mission, vision and objectives according to criteria for international research quality. Furthermore, the evaluation will examine the expediency of DIIS’s strategy with regard to fulfilling mission, vision and objectives.

The evaluation will deploy a number of focus points, setting the framework for the expert panel’s analyses, conclusions and recommendations. The focus points are EVA’s interpreta-tion of the overall purpose of the evaluation. The focus points are: 

• strategy; 
• organisation; 
• eesearch; 
• teaching; 
• administration; 
• dissemination; 
• policy studies, policy advisory work and ad hoc assignments (e.g. consultancy work); 
• co-operation and networking.

Together with the expert panel, EVA will further develop the focus points into criteria that are to be deployed in the evaluation. The preliminary studies and further involvement of DIIS and DIIS stakeholders (e.g. Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark, Ministry of Defence Denmark, and the Board of DIIS) will form the basis of the criteria design. The criteria will be submitted to the DIIS management for consultation.

Criteria design is strictly dependent on thorough preliminary studies and, consequently, cannot at present be described. An example, however, of criteria for the focus point “re-search” could be: 

1. DIIS conducts independent research into the politics of globalisation, security and development; 
2. DIIS publishes articles and monographs of the highest international standard; 
3. DIIS conducts research to an extent that ensures a leading role within its field, nationally and internationally; 
4. DIIS exchanges researchers with Danish and international research institutions; 
5. DIIS partakes in relevant Danish and international networks; 
6. DIIS contributes to the teaching of PhD students; 
7. etc.

Organisation

The evaluation method will be international peer reviews of DIIS’s strategy, activities and organisation. EVA will appoint an international panel of experts, with expertise matching the scope of DIIS. The tasks of the expert panel are to: 

• in co-operation with EVA, design evaluation criteria; 
• participate in meetings with a project group from EVA; 
• analyse a self-evaluation report to be written by DIIS; 
• analyse supplementary documentation in relation to the evaluation; 
• participate in interviews with DIIS stakeholders; 
• participate in a site visit at DIIS (3 days); 
• formulate analyses, conclusions and recommendations in a final evaluation report.

EVA will appoint the expert panel. DIIS may contribute with suggestions and proposals for relevant expert candidates, and EVA will also seek advice from relevant research environ-ments such as the Danish Social Science Research Council. The expert panel will consist of four members and should as a whole cover the following areas: 

• transverse knowledge of DIIS’s fields of specialisation; 
• management experience from an international research institution similar to DIIS; 
• experience with international research evaluation.

Transverse knowledge of DIIS’s fields of specialisation is of particular importance in the appointment of the expert panel. The expert panel will consist of international members, and, as part of DIIS’s research is published in Danish, at least one member will be from Scandinavia.

EVA will assume responsibility for methodological and practical aspects of the evaluation. EVA will appoint an internal project group to manage the practical organisation of the evaluation, to provide a secretariat to the expert panel and to assist in writing the evalua-tion report. The working language will be English, and the report will be written in English.

Evaluation method

The evaluation will consist of the following elements.

Preliminary studies

EVA will conduct preliminary studies in order to qualify and substantiate the evaluation process. The evaluation will, therefore, be initiated with desk research, meetings with stakeholders and regular communication with the DIIS management. Subsequently, EVA will appoint the expert panel, outline evaluation criteria and prepare self-evaluation guide-lines.

It may be expedient to assemble the expert panel and discuss the evaluation process, attend collective meetings with stakeholders and to visit DIIS’s premises. However, it may also prove more expedient to combine this with the site visit.

Self-evaluation
On the basis of the preliminary studies, EVA will prepare self-evaluation guidelines. These will define the framework for the self-evaluation report that DIIS is to write as part of the evaluation. The self-evaluation process serves two independent purposes:  

• to stimulate internal debate, discussion and reflection on the fulfilment of DIIS’ mission, vision and objectives; 
• to provide documentation for the expert panel’s assessments, analyses, conclusions and recommendations.

Supplementary documentation
During the evaluation process, and particularly during the writing of the self-evaluation report, DIIS will be asked to provide the expert panel with supplementary documentation in order to ensure a full and comprehensive understanding of the institute and the activities conducted. This includes publication lists, CV information on the active researchers, outlines of employees, the level of external funding, teaching activities, participation in international conferences, etc. Moreover, DIIS may be asked to provide specific research publications, documents describing its vision and objectives, internal evaluations, etc. The supplementary documentation will serve as continuous support and substantiation of the analyses, conclu-sions and recommendations of the expert panel.

Site visit and interviews
After analysing the self-evaluation report, the expert panel and EVA’s project group will visit DIIS and conduct interviews with relevant parties, e.g. management, researchers and stakeholders. The site visit will last three days, and its purpose is primarily to examine and validate the information provided in the self-evaluation report. The site visit will be planned in co-operation with DIIS, and, together with the self-evaluation report and supplementary documentation, the site visit will serve as the basis for the analyses, conclusions and rec-ommendations of the expert panel.

Report

The evaluation report will contain the analyses, conclusions and recommendations of the expert panel. DIIS will be presented with a draft report for consultation, allowing DIIS to point out factual errors and request EVA to correct these in the final report. Furthermore, DIIS may as part of the consultation process comment on the evaluation process, method and results. Subsequently, EVA will publish the final evaluation report.

Time schedule

November 2007: Preliminary studies and meetings
December 2007 - January 2008: Appointment of expert panel, sketching of criteria and self-evaluation guidelines Panel
January 2008: Criteria in consultation
February - April 2008: Self-evaluation DIIS
May 2008: Analysis of self-evaluation report
May 2008: Preparation of site visit and interviews
June 2008: Site visit and interviews at DIIS
June - September 2008: Report writing
October 2008: Report in consultation
November/December 2008: Publication of report.