Austra Jenner-Parson

Impact and Evaluation Lead

Since the Wellcome Sanger Institute's contribution to the Human Genome Project, genomics has become central to understanding biology, health and disease. As the scale and reach of the Institute's scientific activities have grown, so too has the need to understand how research, innovation, training, engagement and partnerships contribute to scientific progress and wider societal benefit.

About me

My role focuses on helping the Institute understand, evidence and learn from its impact. I lead the development of organisation-wide approaches to monitoring, evaluation, learning and strategic reporting, working across scientific, operational and engagement activities to support evidence-informed decision making and organisational learning.

I lead the development of the Institute’s impact framework and approaches to evaluating progress across a diverse range of activities. By bringing together qualitative and quantitative evidence, I help provide insight into the influence and contribution of the Institute’s research, supporting strategic planning, organisational reviews, annual reporting and external engagement.

I focus on strengthening the organisational capabilities that support evidence use and institutional learning. This has included establishing the Institute’s bibliometric analysis capability to better understand the influence and use of scientific outputs, and creating the Institute’s archive to preserve organisational memory, support governance and help communicate the Institute’s scientific heritage.

I am particularly interested in how evidence can support learning, inform decision making and help research organisations maximise their contribution to science and society.