What Research On Research Institute (RoRI) does

Research on Research Institute (RoRI) is a non-profit metascience research institute registered as a Community Interest Company in the United Kingdom, founded in September 2019 by the Wellcome Trust, Digital Science, the University of Sheffield, and Leiden University. It is headquartered in London (Shropshire House, UCL-STEaPP) with a research node at CWTS Leiden, and operates a 28-person team spread across 8 universities in 6 countries. RoRI's mission is to study how research is funded, organized, and evaluated, and to make that analysis available to the research system. Its core beneficiaries are the more than 20 research funders across 12 countries that participate in its consortium and collectively invest over US$25 billion per year in research.

RoRI's core products and platforms include the RoRI Atlas of Assessment (a comparative resource on national research assessment systems), MetaROR (an open peer-review matchmaking platform launched November 2024), the Research Funding Landscape Tool, the Health Research Funding Landscape Tool, and the Funder Data Platform. These are built on aggregated funder-level data and external datasets (including Figshare integration) and are offered to consortium members and the wider public free of charge. The institute runs a portfolio of programs (AFIRE, AGORRA, GRAIL, Matthew, Narratives, PATHWAYS, Criteria, Portfolios, UNDISCIPLINED, META-MOMENT) addressing questions such as portfolio analysis, responsible AI use in funding, peer review reform, and interdisciplinary research evaluation.

RoRI operates a consortium-based non-profit model: it is funded by core partner contributions from research funders (e.g., Wellcome Trust, UKRI, Health Research Board of Ireland, Vinnova, the Moore Foundation, NRF South Africa) rather than commercial revenue. Outputs - including working papers, datasets, and analytic tools - are publicly released, reflecting the institute's CIC mandate to deliver public benefit. There is no product pricing, licensing revenue, or ARR; revenue is undisclosed and depends on annual partner contributions and project grants.

Name

Research On Research Institute (RoRI)

Legal name

Research on Research Institute CIC

Website

https://researchonresearch.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

2019

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

RoRI is a UK non-profit research institute that studies how research is funded, organized, and evaluated, serving a consortium of 20+ research funders across 12 countries that collectively invest over US$25 billion per year.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Metascience Research Services

NAICS

Research and Development in the Social Sciences and Humanities (541720), Scientific Research and Development Services (5417), Other Scientific and Technical Consulting Services (541690)

SIC

Services-Engineering, Accounting, Research, Management (8700)

akta.pro primary industry

Research Administration & Grants Management Support (Pre/Post-Award, Compliance) (EDAEALAO)

akta.pro secondary industry

Research Administration & Compliance (Sponsored Programs, IRB/REB) (EDADAKAH)

Keywords

• Metascience research
• Research policy analysis
• Research funding data
• Research assessment tools
• Science of science

Headquarters

HQ city

London

HQ country

United Kingdom

HQ region

Europe

Offices3 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Operations, Marketing or Sales

Revenue model

1. Foundation and Institutional Funding: RoRI is funded by its consortium of partners including Wellcome Trust, Digital Science, universities (Sheffield, Leiden), and over 20 research funders who collectively invest over US$25 billion per year. The institute operates as a non-profit research organization.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

RoRI is a non-profit research institute (Community Interest Company) that conducts metascience research to inform research policy and practice. The institute develops and maintains data platforms and analytical tools that map global research funding landscapes and document research evaluation practices for research funders, policymakers, and academic institutions.

Product overview

RoRI is a research institute focused on metascience and research policy, operating a portfolio of platforms and projects rather than a single commercial product. Core platforms include the RoRI Atlas of Assessment (global map of national research assessment systems), MetaROR (open peer review platform), the Research Funding Landscape Tool, and the Health Research Funding Landscape Tool. RoRI's work is organized through major programmes like AFIRE (experiments with funding processes) and projects including GRAIL (AI/ML in funding), AGORRA (observatory of research assessment), Matthew (funding inequalities), Narratives (narrative CVs), PATHWAYS (research impact), Criteria (gender in funding), Portfolios (funding analysis), Undisciplined (transdisciplinary research), META-MOMENT (metrics), and the Funder Data Platform (collaboration hub). Resources include working papers, reports, journal articles, and tools published via Figshare.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• MetaROR: A platform for transparent peer engagement and open review of metaresearch, developed with AIMOS.
• RoRI Atlas of Assessment
• AFIRE
• AGORRA
• GRAIL

Products and services

• RoRI Atlas of Assessment A database and registry that catalogues research assessment frameworks used by research funders and institutions worldwide. Designed for research policy analysts, funders, and academic administrators comparing evaluation practices.
• MetaROR A registry of identifiers for research-performing organizations, providing standardized metadata for research entities. Built for research information managers, funders, and bibliometric researchers.
• Research Funding Landscape Tool An interactive visualization and analysis tool for mapping and comparing research funding flows across countries, funders, and research domains. Used by research funders, ministries, and policy analysts.
• Health Research Funding Landscape Tool A specialized variant of the Research Funding Landscape Tool focused on health and biomedical research funding flows across the public, charitable, and private sectors. Designed for health research funders and policy bodies.
• Funder Data Platform A data platform that allows research funders to deposit, share, and analyze grant metadata to support evidence-based research policy. Built for public and charitable research funders.

Quantifiable outcome

• RoRI has 20+ core partners investing over US$25bn annually in research funding
• +3 more outcomes

Named customers12 records

Segments4 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

AI capability5 records

Feature5 records

Partnerships

18 partnerships are on record, tiered core.

• Volkswagen FoundationcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerThe largest German private non-profit organisation involved in the promotion and support of academic research. Partner in distributed peer review experiments and AFIRE programme. Board representatives: Johanna Brumberg, Antje Tepperwien.
• UK Research and Innovation (UKRI)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerNon-departmental public body of the UK Government that directs research and innovation funding. Co-chair of AFIRE Experimental Funders Group. Led by Stian Westlake.
• Gordon and Betty Moore FoundationcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerUS-based foundation established by Gordon E. Moore, co-founder of Intel. Advances scientific discovery, environmental conservation. Board representative: Ted Hodapp, Co-Chair of AFIRE.
• WellcomecoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerGlobal charitable foundation supporting science to solve urgent health issues. One of RoRI's founding partners. Board representatives: Alyson Fox, Kirsten Bound.
• Luxembourg National Research Fund (FNR)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerMain funder of research activities in Luxembourg. Invests public funds and private donations into research projects with emphasis on core strategic areas.
• Innovation Growth Lab (IGL)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerGlobal policy lab that drives policy impact through experimentation, evidence and data. Co-partner in AFIRE programme. Team includes Albert Bravo-Biosca and James Phipps.
• Australian Research Council (ARC)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerIndependent body reporting to Australian Government Minister for Education. Administers Australia's investment in research and development. Board representatives: Claire Forsyth, Ke Zhang.
• Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCanada's federal funding agency for health research. Composed of 13 Institutes. Partner in CRITERIA and AGORRA projects. Board representatives: Alison Bourgon, Sarah Passmore.
• Dutch Research Council (NWO)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerNational research council of the Netherlands ensuring quality and innovation in science. Partner in CRITERIA and UNDISCIPLINED projects. Board representatives: Jurgen Ganzevles, Puck Wildschut.
• Michael Smith Health Research BCcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerIntegrated health research organisation supporting BC's health research system and life sciences sector. Board representatives: Ellie Griffith, Kevin Sauve.
• Novo Nordisk FoundationcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerIndependent Danish foundation with corporate interests. Supports scientific, humanitarian and social causes. Board representative: Gert Vilhelm Balling.
• Research Council Norway (RCN)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerNational funding agency for research and experimental development in Norway. Fosters new ideas, promotes ground-breaking research and radical innovation.
• National Research Foundation of South Africa (NRF-SA)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerMain public sector agency providing funding across the research system in South Africa with USD 400m annual budget. Largest funder of human capital development in the country. 18th Core Partner joining in 2024.
• Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCanadian federal research funding agency. Partner in joint initiative with CIHR and Michael Smith Health Research BC to support metaresearch in Canada. Grants up to $200,000 over three years.
• Association for Interdisciplinary Meta-Research and Open Science (AIMOS)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartner in developing MetaROR platform for transparent peer engagement and open review of metaresearch.
• University of SheffieldcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerFounding partner of RoRI launched in September 2019. Hosts research team including Professor Tom Stafford.
• Leiden University (CWTS)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerFounding partner of RoRI. Hosts 8 team members at Centre for Science and Technology Studies (CWTS). Key researchers include Vincent Traag and Ludo Waltman.
• Digital SciencecoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerFounding partner of RoRI launched in September 2019. Technology company focused on research infrastructure.

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves7 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• SPRU (Science Policy Research Unit, University of Sussex): SPRU is one of the world's longest-running science and innovation policy research units. Directly comparable as an academic research group conducting empirical work on research funding, innovation policy, and research-system reform, with overlapping alumni such as Josie Coburn.
• Digital Science: Digital Science is a founding partner of RoRI and a research-infrastructure technology company providing tools like Dimensions, Altmetric, and Figshare. Directly comparable as a technology-enabled provider of research-analytics infrastructure serving the same research-funder and institutional customer base.
• Stanford METRICS (Meta-Research Innovation Center at Stanford): Stanford METRICS is a metascience research centre that studies research practices, reproducibility, and bias. Amanda Kvarven joined RoRI from METRICS, indicating close methodological alignment. Directly comparable as a university-based metascience institute producing evidence on how research is funded and evaluated.
• CWTS Leiden (Centre for Science and Technology Studies): CWTS at Leiden University hosts 8 RoRI researchers and co-develops the Research Funding Landscape Tool. Directly comparable as a scientometrics and research-evaluation centre producing bibliometric analyses, assessment frameworks, and field-mapping outputs for funders and policy bodies.
• Innovation Growth Lab (IGL): IGL is a global policy lab co-running the AFIRE programme with RoRI, focused on running experiments with research and innovation funding. Directly comparable as a partner/peer running randomized and quasi-experimental trials on funder processes.

Broad incumbents

• OECD Directorate for Science, Technology and Innovation: OECD STI produces cross-national comparative analyses of research systems, R&D investment, and innovation policy. Comparable as a larger incumbent producing country-level assessment and benchmarking work that overlaps with RoRI's Atlas of Assessment.
• European Science Foundation (ESF): ESF is a Europe-wide research-policy organization supporting cross-border collaboration and forward-looking science policy. Comparable as a broader, established incumbent in the same research-policy and assessment space, with overlapping funder network.
• NESTA: NESTA is a UK innovation foundation producing applied research and experimentation on innovation policy, including funding mechanisms. Comparable as a broader innovation-funder/think tank with overlapping interests in research-funder experimentation and evidence-based policy.
• RAND Europe: RAND Europe is a not-for-profit policy research organization delivering research and analysis for European governments and funders. Comparable as a broader consultancy/research incumbent producing evaluations of research systems and policy for the same funder clients.

Emerging players

• AIMOS (Association for Interdisciplinary Meta-Research and Open Science): AIMOS is a community organization co-developing the MetaROR platform with RoRI. Comparable as an emerging player in the open peer review and metascience space, with overlapping mission and a direct product partnership.

Market position

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/research-on-research

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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M&A

Investments

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Frequently asked questions about Research On Research Institute (RoRI)