Creating and connecting research environments for societal value creation

Ghent University is developing an academic environment that is conducive to societal value creation on different levels. This includes two independent initiatives. At the central, university-wide level ten thematic interdisciplinary consortia with focus on societal impact (IDC) have been installed for different thematic areas. The consortia foster knowledge translation and exchange, strengthen societal value creation leading to societal impact and stimulate synergies and cooperation with external academic, policy and practice partners from different disciplines. In this presentation, we focus on one of the IDCs to be established (IDC Crime, Criminology and Criminal Policy) to illustrate the functioning of such IDC and where docking points are with the traditional faculty structures. At the faculty level, more, in particular, the faculty of law and criminology, initiatives have been taken to strengthen societal value creation. In this presentation, we focus on the functioning, interaction, and synergies between these two structures and the outstanding challenges in the efforts to enhance (societal) impact of research