Assessment Framework Report vol. 1, 2011/12 - Wellcome Trust

DATA SOURCES & METHODOLOGY
5. The information included in this report is drawn from a wide range of internal and external
sources. The information gathering and production of the report is led by the Evaluation Team in
the Strategic Planning and Policy Unit (SPPU), though it is reliant on the contributions of many
staff from across the Trust.
6. To complement the more quantitative and metric-based information contained in Volume 1 of the
Assessment Framework Report, Volume 2 contains a series of Research Profiles which describe
the story (to date) of a particular outcome or impact associated with Wellcome Trust funding;
these Research Profiles are again reported according to the relevant Trust Outcome goal. The
use of case studies or stories have gained increasing currency as tools to support impact
evaluation, and will be a core component of institution submissions within the forthcoming UK
Research Excellence Framework.
7. The Wellcome Trust Research Profiles - taking the form of Highlights and Histories - have been
agreed with the researchers involved and validated by senior Trust staff. A ‘Profile Bank’
containing all Research Profiles produced to date (since 2005), has been created by the
Evaluation Team; over time Profiles are updated and revised as research progresses
8. Unless otherwise stated, all information and data refer to outputs and achievements arising
and reported during the Trust’s financial year: 1 October 2011 to 30 September 2012.
9. End of grant forms contain outputs (e.g. publications, books and other outputs) associated with a
grant throughout the entirety of its life and not just those delivered in the year the End of Grant
report is submitted (for this Assessment Framework Report, 1 October 2011 to 30 September
2012).
10. Publications (and other outputs) are also commonly the result of collaborations; where more than
one individual is cited as an author on a paper (or contributor to an output) AND has a grant from
the Wellcome Trust, the same paper (or output) may be associated with more than one individual
and more than one grant. The use of median number of papers linked to a specific grant, for
example, helps to provide a good indicator of the volume of outputs associated with a specific
grant (though the papers may not be unique).
11. In future years, as the Trust further integrates its online grant progress reporting system
throughout its funding activity (Wellcome Trust e-Val) it will be easier to provide access to, and
updates on grant-associated outputs throughout their lifecycle.
REPORT STRUCTURE
12. The report is structured according to the specific Outcome area and associated Indicators of
Progress - and colour coded.
13. Due to the nature of much of the research supported by the Wellcome Trust, many of the outputs
and achievements presented in this report could have been reported against more than one
Outcome area. For presentation purposes, they have been reported against the Outcome area to
which, currently, they are most closely aligned.
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