His Majesty the King`s Gold Medal is awarded annually by the university of Oslo to a few outstanding young researchers. According to the regulations, the work must be recognized as a significant contribution to the research literature of the field.
This year, CEMO Researcher Diego G. Campos is one of eight young researchers at the University of Oslo who receives this prestigious award.
– I am incredibly happy and honoured to receive His Majesty the King`s Gold Medal in recognition of my work. I would like to thank all my collaborators for their invaluable support throughout my Ph.D.. It is truly rewarding to see our efforts acknowledged, says Diego.
Recognition of his Doctoral thesis
Diego’s doctoral thesis, “Approaches to Integrating Large Data into Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses in Education,” proposed and evaluated innovative methods to streamline systematic reviews and meta-analyses, with the goal of improving their efficiency, accuracy, and practical relevance. His work contributes to strengthening the evidence base that informs educational policies and practices by ensuring that decisions are grounded in robust and up-to-date research.
Diego explains:
– My research evaluates the effectiveness of machine learning algorithms in accelerating the initial screening of studies for systematic reviews in education. By using machine learning, researchers can reduce the time and resources needed for the screening phase, enabling a stronger focus on in-depth analysis later in the review process. In addition, I have illustrated and applied a two-stage individual participant data (IPD) meta-analysis approach that allows researchers to synthesize findings from large-scale datasets. This approach addresses key challenges in meta-analysis, including variation in research designs, complex sampling structures, and measurement invariance.
Bridging the gap between research and society
Ultimately, Diego’s work aims to bridge the gap between research and society. He believes that systematic reviews and meta-analyses are powerful tools for translating research into practice. However, traditional approaches often struggle with the overwhelming volume of publications and the limited information available in published articles. By developing and applying new approaches to screen and synthesize evidence, Diego’s research helps overcome limitations of systematic reviews and meta-analyses, making them more comprehensive and reliable.
The threat of information overflow
– I am proud and honoured by the recognition of Diegos work, says CEMO Director Rolf V. Olsen.
He continues:
– The research done by Diego and his supervisors is an excellent example of what CEMO seeks to accomplish: Substantive research is dependent on targeted methodological development and innovation! This work is part of a wider umbrella of ongoing work dealing with the overflow of information to help ensure that research in education (and beyond) can continue to be a cumulative praxis.
According to the nomination, this doctoral dissertation introduces entirely new approaches to effectively synthesize what was previously largely regarded as unmanageable amounts of data and evidence. Overall, the findings of the dissertation demonstrate that machine learning algorithms in literature screening and two-stage meta-analysis of individual participant data yield significantly improved efficiency and accuracy in this type of systematic knowledge synthesis. These studies therefore represent significant steps in the ongoing development of better tools for researchers navigating the complexity of synthesizing large and diverse educational data. It is worth adding that the outcomes of this research is transferable to other fields characterized by similar fragmentation in the research literature.
A committed and enganging researcher
Diego G. Campos received earlier this year an international award for the article comparing different machine learning algorithms to streamline the screening of abstracts in knowledge syntheses (Publication Prize to Diego G. Campos - Centre for Educational Measurement).
Furthermore, the empirical findings of the dissertation regarding digital inequalities have contributed to the establishment of a research network with the University of Oslo as the focal point, the Digital Divide in Education Research Hub (DiDiRes) at the Faculty of Educational Sciences. This network aims to bring together researchers who wish to provide more solid empirical support to better understand how digital divides in education can be reduced.