Cathy Gormley-Heenan
University of Ulster
 The obvious questions to any ‘outsider’…
 Who were you?
 Who are you?
 What’s the rational for the changing environment?
 What opportunities will this present?
 What are the potential problems?
 Why bother?
 The establishment of multi disciplinary research
groups that reflect the diversity of the institute
 Issues of collaboration within and across research
groups
 Benefits of collaboration
 Impact that such groups have beyond academia
 Back to the obvious questions about a ‘changing





environment’
Director of a multi-disciplinary research institute
established in 2004-05
Includes social policy, social work, public policy,
politics, education, communications and linguistics.
One of 16 research institutes in University of Ulster
Collaboration across and within institutes
Public policy dimension to almost everything (if we
let there be)
 The transition period
 Who is in and who is out?
 What happens when they come in?
 Hierarchy of membership?
 What do you do to support those not included?
 What do you do to encourage those not engaging?
 Teacher Education and Classroom
Practice
 Children, Young People and
Inclusion
 Education and Conflict

Interpersonal, health, &
organizational communications
 Language acquisition & historical
linguistics
 Political identities
 Political conflict
 Political transitions
 Impact is the new ‘buzz word’ in UK HE
•
Impacts to be assessed for ‘Reach and Significance’;
•
IMPACT has been driven by the Treasury and is likely to feature even
more highly in both research assessment and grant submissions in the
coming decade;
•
For a top ten institution of around 60 FTEs in UoA3 impact could
represent about £1m/year in QR funding
•
One 4* piece of impact is the equivalent of thirteen 4* publications
(Frankel, Research Fortnight, 29th June 2011 p11)
 Relevance- research as activity within a relationship to
the outside world
 Accessibility- medium and message
 Speed-modern timeframes
 Dissemination- multiple method
 Evaluation-as part of learning process
There is a link between
collaboration and impact…
Research by an HEI
• Conducted by staff while at the
submitting HEI
• In the relevant UOA
• Evidenced by output(s)
between 1 Jan 93 – 31 Dec 13
• Whether or not submitted to
the RAE or REF
One or more individuals, teams
or groups
Quality that is equivalent to at
least two star
Distinct and material
contribution
No particular ‘model’ of impact generation
is assumed:
• May be direct, indirect, linear, non-linear,
diffuse, planned, unplanned, etc.
• May be the sole research contribution,
or one of many
• The HEI need not have been involved in
‘exploiting’ the research
Research by HEI/unit 1
Research by HEI/unit 2
Impact
Research by HEI/unit 3
Research by
HEI/unit 1
Research by
HEI/unit 2
Impact
Research by
Dr. Z at HEI 1
Research by
Dr. Z at HEI 2
Impact
General expertise
Communication skills
Research
Dr. X engages
with the
public
Impact
Professional expertise
Reputation/standing
Research
The View from LSE
.
Publishing some form of an
academics research on the
open web or storing it in a
university’s online depository
is essential to ensure that
readers beyond academia can
gain easy access to research.
Prof. Z acts
as policy
adviser
Impact
 Universities’ events
programmes should be
re-oriented toward
promoting their own
research strengths as
well as external
speakers.
 Improving professional
communication, such
as through starting
multi- author blogs,
will help academics
‘cut out the
middleman’ and
disseminate their
research more broadly
3 specific things
that we are
doing this year…
Blogging
Twitter
You Tube