Impact and Evaluation of Europlanet and its Research Infrastructure
Since 2005, Europlanet has recieved 28 million Euros of funding from the European Union to support the planetary science community and to build a research infrastructure to underpin exploration of our Solar System and those around other stars. Europlanet’s overarching aims are to:
- Strengthen Europe’s position at the forefront of planetary exploration.
- Widen the user base for the Europlanet research infrastructure and draw in new partners from underrepresented groups and industry.
- Train the next generation of RI leaders and users.
Europlanet has an active programme to evaluate the effectiveness of its services for its user community and wider society, led by an independent evaluation expert, Jen DeWitt. The Europlanet Evaluation Unit also offers consultancy for external organisations.
Final Report on Europlanet 2024 Evaluation
View Report
This evaluation report provides a summary of the impact of the Europlanet 2024 Research Infrastructure (RI) project. The purpose of the evaluation is to assess the effectiveness of the RI for its user community. Although the analyses have been broadly structured around the five impact areas identified by the OECD’s Reference Framework for Assessing the Scientific and Socio-Economic Impact of Research Infrastructures (2019), this report places particular emphasis on providing information that speaks to the sustainability of the RI. That is, the success of the RI is clear and this report aims to draw out what contributed to its impact, in order to support considerations of what would be needed to sustain as much of the impact as possible.
Evaluation Framework
Europlanet’s evaluation framework:
- Helps assess the effectiveness of the Europlanet Research Infrastructure (RI) for its user community
- Contains aims, objectives, and how they will be measured (metrics/KPIs, impact indicators)
- Is underpinned by a logic model
- Depicts of how project/infrastructure works
- Links outcomes with project activities and underlying assumptions
- Is developed collaboratively
- Evolves and changes over the course of a project
- Consists of inputs, activities, outputs, outcomes and impacts.
Case Studies
Summary of Europlanet 2024 RI Evaluation (September 2024)
Publications and Articles
DeWitt, J., Heward, A. & Mason, N.J. Insights into evaluating a research project through an impact case study of a pan-European research infrastructure. Nat Astron 9, 1415–1417 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41550-025-02684-7
DeWitt, J., Heward, A. Evaluating the Impact of Europlanet 2024 RI. Europlanet Magazine Special Issue, July 2024.
Meetings and Workshops
“Evaluation Frameworks – What are they and how can they help?” – Splinter Meeting at EPSC2021
“Touching the Planets, Evaluating Excellence” Outreach Evaluation Workshop – Athens 2018
