What is impact?
What is the difference between impact and
public engagement?
Impact Officers, R&IS
Summary
Introduction to Impact Officer team and
roles
Definition of impact
Examples of impact
Public engagement (and impact)
Why impact is important to your research
Why impact is important to REF
Introductions
Who are we?
Arts: Catriona Firth
Sciences: Larry Atwood, Katie Irgin
Social Sciences: Claire Battye, Stephanie Seavers
What do we do?
Help academics to bring their research to a wider
non-academic audience and maximise the
positive impact of their research on society and
the economy
What is Impact?
Any ideas?
Any examples from your research?
What is Impact?
REF Definition:
‘an effect on, change or benefit to the economy,
society, culture, public policy or services, health,
the environment or quality of life, beyond
academia.’
What is Impact?
Research Councils UK definition: ‘the demonstrable
contribution that excellent research makes to society
and the economy’. For example:
Fostering global economic performance, and
specifically the economic competitiveness of the
United Kingdom
Increasing the effectiveness of public services and
policy
Enhancing quality of life, health and creative output
Examples of impact
Public debate has been
stimulated or informed
by research
Industry has invested
in research and
development
Professional standards
or guidelines have
been influenced by
research
A new product or
service is in production
or have been
commercialised
Policy decisions have
been influenced by
research
Three steps to impact
Underpinning research
+
Engagement with non-academics
+
Demonstrable effect on audience/partners
=
IMPACT!
Difference between impact & public
engagement
If any of the steps is missing, it is not impact
Public engagement:
Does not have to be based on a specific piece of
research
Does not have to be formally monitored or evaluated
Does not have to demonstrate a measurable change
in behaviours/beliefs/understanding
Does not have to occur within a certain timeframe
Does Impact Matter?
Scholarly impact: maintains the vitality of
the discipline
Impact beyond academe: can support
improvements in the quality of economic,
cultural, social, policy and service aspects
of the population
So impact DOES matter
Why does it matter?
New skills: communications, collaborations,
business
Research profile raising: showcase research
Career progression and research funding
Early feedback – to help shape your research
agenda and improve methodologies
Vitae Researcher Development Framework
Vitae Researcher Development Framework
Why does the University care?
Reputation
Value to the region & country
Money – QR funding (£34M per year) and
grant applications
Pathways to Impact
 Required for RCUK proposals
 Good discipline to get into
 What outcomes could be valuable beyond academe?
 To whom could they be useful?
 Crucially, what needs to be done to connect the two?
 more research
 develop collaborations, build relationships with end users
 dissemination and follow-up
 monitoring and gathering evidence
 Plan impact activities into the research: workshops, visits,
secondments, stakeholder events, etc
Coming up…….
Impact and…..
your research
The Research Excellence Framework (REF)
What is the REF?
The ‘Research Excellence Framework’
assesses the quality of academic research
Determines ‘quality related’ funding for 6
years (pot of £2 billion for UK)
Affects funding directly and indirectly
through reputation/league table position
Impact and the REF
Impact added as a requirement in REF2014
Weighted at 20% of a department’s
submission (65% for outputs and 15% for
environment) & likely to be worth even
more next time round
Assessed by case studies (80%) and an
impact template (20%)
Impact Case Studies
Not everyone needs to submit one
Units of Assessment needed to submit a
minimum of 2, then an extra 1 per 10 FTE
researchers
Case studies can be based around 1
researchers or a cluster of researchers
http://impact.ref.ac.uk/CaseStudies/
Scoring case studies
Rated 1*- 4*
Judged on their ‘reach’ and ‘significance’:
Reach: the extent and/or diversity of the organisations,
communities and/or individuals who have benefitted
from the impact
Significance: the degree to which the impact enriched,
influenced, informed or changed the policies, practices,
understanding and awareness of organisations,
communities and/or individuals
Definition of ‘REFable’ impact
Limited in time and location (research must
have taken place between 1993 & 2013 at the
submitting institution; impacts between 2008 &
2013)
Underpinning research must be of minimum 2*
quality
Must be a strong link from the underpinning
research to the demonstrable effects
Strong evidence of real change is crucial
What makes a good case study?
Let’s look at the examples…