This is the third of four interactive workshops at Lancaster University on the role of metrics in academic life, run by Masud Khokhar, Sharon McCulloch, and Tanya Williamson. It is entitled: What can and can't metrics tell us?

Higher education institutions in the UK have to justify how they spend their research funding and demonstrate that this spending resulted in high quality research outcomes. This is achieved mainly through the REF (research excellence framework) and bibliometric measures associated with it. The research activity of individual academics, departments and institutions is measured in various ways and the resulting data used for a range of purposes. But are we asking the right questions? And are we using the data in an appropriate way?

This interactive workshop explores the ways in which quantitative indicators of research output are used, by both institutions and individuals. We begin by exploring what exactly are we trying to measure, and consider how well are the metrics we generate can do this. The presenters will talk about case studies of how metrics are currently being used in different UK institutions, and will consider the potential positive and negative effects of these on academics.

By the end of the four Designing the academic self workshops, attendees will have a deeper understanding of the underlying mechanisms of metrics and how such tools can extend the audience for one's work; of evolving academic writing practices in the face of new modes of dissemination and measurement; and of the critical questions such changes are provoking.

• Workshop 1: Friday 29th Jan 2016, 1.00 - 3.00 pm, Lancaster University, Bowland North, Seminar Room 10. Who does the Internet think you are?

• Workshop 2: Tuesday 16 Feb 2016, 1.00 - 3.00 pm, Lancaster University Charles Carter A15. How are metrics affecting academics' writing practices at UK universities?

• Workshop 3: Tuesday 26 April 2016, 1.00 - 3.00 pm, Lancaster University Charles Carter A15. What can and can't metrics tell us?

• Workshop 4: Tuesday 24 May 2016, 1.00 - 3.00 pm, Lancaster University Charles Carter A15. Metrics through a critical lens.

This series of workshops is run in conjunction with the ESRC-funded Academics Writing project and the Northwest Doctoral Training Center. The first workshop will be on Friday 29th January 2016 from 1.00 pm to 3.00 pm in Bowland North, Seminar Room 10. You are welcome to attend any of the sessions, and don't need to come to all four. The workshops are free and open to doctoral students, staff and researchers from Lancaster, Liverpool, and Manchester Universities, but you are required to register your attendance.

See Academics Writing or contact Sharon McCulloch s.mcculloch@lancaster.ac.uk for more information.