Seminar by Adrian Ely & Nathan Oxley on framings and practices in the societal 'impact' of research, summarising insights from the STEPS Centre working paper on the subject. http://www.steps-centre.org/impact

1. www.steps-centre.org
Integrating Impact Planning into
Research Projects: Reflections from the
STEPS Centre
Adrian Ely, Deputy Director and Head of Impact and Engagement
Nathan Oxley, Communications Officer
STEPS-CDI Seminar, 20th February 2014

2. The ESRC STEPS Centre ICE Unit
Impact
Communications
Engagement

3. Framing
• The metaphor and idea of impact
• A wide range of official
definitions, underpinned by procedures and
structures
• Freedom of interpretation? Or guessing
game?

4. Drivers of and responses to the
‘impact agenda’
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•
•
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Political justification
Value for money
Cynicism in response to ‘audit culture’
Optimism
Reflexive critique

5. Impact methods
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•
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Experimental methods
Theory of change
Network mapping
Participatory methods

6. PIPA and how we use it
Douthwaite, B. et al. (2007). "Participatory Impact Pathways Analysis: A Practical Application of Program
Theory in Research-for-Development." Canadian Journal of Program Evaluation 22(2): 127-159.

7. At or shortly
After workshop
PIPA workshop
Project logic as laid
Out in concept note
STEPS ‘scaled-down’ version of PIPA
Problem formulation +
identification of change
required to overcome it
Project outputs –
evidence, publications, events
etc
Project goal – vision for impact
‘Now’ network map – helps to
identify
actors, narratives, opportunities
Strategies for comms and
engagement
Impact narrative
-What the project hopes to achieve, when, how and with whom

8. PIPA – lessons and reflections
• Team-building and reflexive learning amongst
project teams and stakeholders
• Using PIPA iteratively to support research,
enhance impact and inform ex-post evaluation
• Aids portfolio-based impact work as in STEPS

9. PIPA – future use and developments
• Other projects have also started using the ‘now
network map’ component of PIPA
• How would we have done it differently?
• Linking participatory theories of change to
systematic, robust, proportionate ex-post work
• Further resources can be found at
http://pipamethodology.pbworks.com