University of Warwick - Science and Security: Research Impact and Co-Production of Knowledge
Enhanced knowledge transfer and exchange (KTE) between academia, governments and industry is
now key to successful research impact and in providing partnerships that support intellectual insight
and technological innovation.
In this research integrator role we will function as a facilitator - a critical friend - of the successful
research teams and DSTL in order to allow them, through their own impact plans and co-ordination
with other research teams, to produce high quality and user-friendly research outputs and
knowledge. The research integrator team will work with successful applicants throughout all the
stages of their research to:
1. Ensure that the research projects maximise impact and uptake well beyond their funding period
by building durable networks between the project researchers, policy communities and other
project relevant stakeholders.
2. Help foster and develop research impact communities between social (including arts and
humanities) and natural/physical scientists within academia, business and industry, and policy;
laying the foundations for future collaborations and continued synergies beyond the funded life of
the projects.
3. Ensure that the research projects are exposed to the policy community at the earliest stages to
ensure that they have sufficient input to produce significant impact whilst developing world class
research findings and insights.
4. Identify opportunities through horizon-scanning to ensure that the projects keep stock of
developments and opportunities within the defence and security sectors.
5. Facilitate the cross-fertilisation and integration of research findings, to provide added intellectual
value, through a range of innovative strategies and techniques.
6. Ensure that our communication and engagement activities highlight the world class nature and
importance of these projects and the role of ESRC, AHRC and DSTL.
Using a 'critical friendship' approach we will use 'Case Study Integrity Fora' (CSIF) to facilitate
connections between academic research and the users of research, supplemented with the use of
specialist online software and series of supplementary stakeholder engagement meetings to form a
new approach - the Research Impact Co-Production of Knowledge (RICK) Strategy. To ensure the coproduction of outstanding research our integrator activities will include: regular communications
with, and site visits to, the research teams; programme meetings to understand and exploit
synergies across the project teams; a bi-monthly programme newsletter and project webpage (with
embedded new media technologies); direct engagements with user communities - to include
workshops and meetings with government departments; and, the production of policy briefs and
reports.
Our work will be undertaken in three project phases, which will follow our RICK methodology. Stage
One (months 1-7) will identify emergent research challenges and the development of 'exploitation
plans' to give greater visibility to the GU programme and DSTL. Stage Two (months 8-12) will
develop, greater opportunities for impact, engagement and integration and explore opportunities
for uptake and allow research results to inform policy-making and professional practice. Stage Three
(months 13-24) will be focussed on promoting the research project's findings, producing insights and
policy recommendation and establishing a lasting legacy for the projects.
We expect a range of outputs to be generated during these three stages ranging from the
establishment of new contacts and networks facilitated by communication and engagement
activities, to user-friendly outputs that can be published widely and utilised in horizon scanning
activities. We also plan to produce one academic paper/commentary, which highlights the projects
and engages with the on-going debate in that journal regarding the importance of integrating the
arts, social science and the natural sciences.