Positioning indicators for cross-disciplinary challenges: The Dutch coastal defense research case

In this paper, we develop indicators for the responsiveness of the research system to the changing knowledge needs that follow from changes in social and policy priorities. In this paper we use coastal defense research as a case. Using four different approaches — an analysis of coastal defense policy documents to identify the demand knowledge; a document analysis to identify the Netherlands' coastal research field; a bibliometric analysis; and a focus group with involved practitioners, researchers and intermediary actors — we identified the main demand for coastal defense research, the way the research system responds to it, as well as the bottlenecks that hinder optimal responsiveness of the research system.