Aimed at providing a general overview on research impact and how to plan for it.

1. Research Strategy &
Innovation
Engaging with the ‘impact agenda’
Rose-Marie Barbeau
Research Impact Manager
University of Glasgow
Rose-marie.barbeau@glasgow.ac.uk
@rmbarbeau
Planning for
Impact

2. Research Strategy &
Innovation
 Key things to know about impact
 Explanations and expectations
 How to develop your impact strategy
 Shout about it
 Opportunities and resources
 Q&A
What will we cover?

3. Research Strategy &
Innovation
Impact is defined as ‘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 the ‘impact agenda’?
E = mc2
IMPACT
Key points about impact
 Message from ‘on high’ may be that impact can be
left to the few, while the many get on with the ‘real’
business – research.
 Impact accounted for 20% of funding allocation in
REF 2014; expected to increase in future.
 We don’t ‘do’ impact, and we can’t guarantee that
impact will happen.

4. Research Strategy &
Innovation
 Knowledge exchange (KE): the transfer of
knowledge, expertise and skilled people
between the research environment and user
communities, including the general public.
 You may be doing this already.
 KE encompasses a multitude of activities
but should always be a two-way process.
 Engaging in KE activity doesn’t cancel out
the importance of traditional dissemination
routes…
How do we get there?
Public
engagement
Key points about impact

5. Research Strategy &
Innovation
What is impact?

6. Research Strategy &
Innovation
Impacts described in UoG case studies in REF2014
What is impact?

7. Research Strategy &
Innovation
“We do not expect you to be able to predict the
impact of your research.” (ESRC)
“Thinking about the [potential] impact of research
is integral to an application, and not an
afterthought.” (BBSRC)
“Opportunities for making an impact may arise, and should be taken, at any
stage during or after the lifecourse of your research. It is important that you
have in place a robust plan for maximising the likelihood of such opportunities
arising and your capacity for taking advantage of these.”
Planning for impact

8. Research Strategy &
Innovation
Research
focus
Who might
benefit
from or
deliver the
change?
How can
you
engage
effectively
with
them?
What will
they
potentially
gain?
How
might you
document
any
change?
Audiences, beneficiaries,
stakeholders, etc…..whoever
externally you can identify who will
be interested in, profit from or
deliver the change your research
will contribute to…
KE mechanisms of
collaboration, communication,
consultation…
Potential social, economic,
commercial, policy, cultural
impacts
Evidence: the breadcrumb
trail from research findings &
expertise to the ultimate
influence, change, benefit to
the wider world…
Arriving at an impact plan
Planning for impact

9. Research Strategy &
Innovation
Research impact is the demonstrable contribution that excellent research makes
to society and the economy – communities beyond academia.
Research impact must represent an evidenced, measurable effect, change or
benefit to:
• activities, attitudes, awareness, behaviour, capacity, opportunity, performance,
policy, practice, process or understanding;
• an audience, beneficiary, community, constituency, organisation or individuals
outwith the institution
• in any geographic location whether locally, regionally, nationally or
internationally.
Impact grows out of your research, by your engagement with communities of
research users, from specialist groups to companies or the general public.
Planning for impact

10. Research Strategy &
Innovation
Briefly summarise your
core research focus
DON'T try articulate 'the big problem' your
research is addressing (e.g. curing cancer,
ending poverty).
Identify what is
happening (or not
happening) ‘out there’
that you think your
research findings may
change.
Is there a gap:
 in knowledge and understanding (among
the public, specific user groups,
practitioners)
 in knowledge and understanding (about an
action, reaction, process, technology)
 in diagnosis, response to, treatment of
problem
 or a demand in the market that your
findings could help address?
Is policy non-existent or not fit for purpose to
deal with the issue you are examining?
Planning for impact

11. Research Strategy &
Innovation
List anyone you
think will be
interested in,
affected by, or
involved in
delivering or
experiencing the
change that may
happen as a result
of your findings.
Revisit identification of what is
happening/not happening (above).
• What groups of people will be most
directly affected by a change?
• Are there parents or carers for these
groups?
• What professional sector deals with these
groups (teachers, GPs, police)?
• Is there third sector involvement
supporting or advocating for any of these
groups?
Planning for impact

12. Research Strategy &
Innovation
List what these
user communities
will get – why
might they be
interested?
Will they be getting new or improved policies,
understanding, practice, or new/improved
product, process or system?
Might there be additional, follow-on impacts?
E.g. if findings influence policy, is there
potential for support/guidance to practitioners
delivering new policy?
If findings change practice, is this a model
which might be of interest to other
populations/jurisdictions?
Planning for impact

13. Research Strategy &
Innovation
How will you
engage /
communicate with
these user
communities?
Think about the most effective ways to reach
each user group.
Whichever channel you choose, always build
in mechanisms for people to engage at a
deeper level, whether to provide views, ask
questions or supply additional information.
Making sure that communication always has
the potential to be an exchange can be
beneficial to your research as well as
bolstering evidence of engagement/impact.
Planning for impact

14. Research Strategy &
Innovation
How might you be
able to
demonstrate /
evidence any
changes and the
link back to your
research?
Return to the first question, and think about
what change you are delivering. Clear
identification of change will shape how you
measure the nature, scale and success of
that change.
Evidence will vary depending on type of
impact (e.g. changing public perceptions on a
topic might be evidenced by widespread
media coverage, visitor feedback from public
engagement events, etc. Policy impacts
could be evidenced by invitations to give
expert testimony to government bodies or to
serve on advisory committees, etc.)
Planning for impact

15. Research Strategy &
Innovation
Impact case study
example from UoA 16
Main impact themes
 Influencing public understanding and practices related to health and well-being
 Influencing policy/legislative debate, content and decisions
 Supporting third sector organisations
Summary of research
focus
The use of multiple social research methods to analyse why housing and social regeneration programmes have struggled to have a
lasting impact on health and wellbeing in deprived communities.
Gap addressed by the
research?
The health and wellbeing of deprived communities was affected by the quality of the residential areas, the social position of the
neighbourhood, the social environment of the community and the nature of the local consumer environment. In particular, a link
was found between the overprovision of alcohol outlets and high crime rates.
Who would be
interested or would
benefit?
 Glasgow City Council (interests and benefits) Police Scotland (Interest and benefit)
 Scottish Government (interests and benefits) Alcohol Focus Scotland (interest and benefit)
 NHS Scotland (interests and benefits) Licensing Boards (interest and benefit)
 Scottish Urban Regeneration Forum (interests and benefits)
How did researchers
engage/communicate
with these user
groups?
 GoWell website and online network
 Newsletters, reports, briefing papers and peer-reviewed articles
 Membership of the Scottish Government’s Regeneration High Level Working Group; Regeneration External Stakeholder
Group; Ministerial Task force on Health Inequalities and ‘Equally Well’ Glasgow Advisory Group
 Oral and written evidence to an Inquiry held by the Scottish Parliament’s Local Government and Regeneration committee
What was/is nature
and scale of impact?
 New government policy instruments such as the Scottish Neighbourhood Quality Standard
 GoWell main provider of evidence for the Scottish Government on the effectiveness of regeneration on health outcomes
 Influenced Local Alcohol Licensing Boards to develop policies on the overprovision of alcohol
What credible
evidence sources
would you need to
substantiate?
 Policy documents containing references to research group and findings
 Submissions to Parliament Inquiries
 Copies of relevant alcohol licensing guidelines for third sector organisations
 Media and industry coverage
Planning for impact

16. Research Strategy &
Innovation
What do you want? What do they want?
Find the middle ground
Planning for impact: bridge the gap

17. Research Strategy &
Innovation
Planning for impact: be creative

18. Research Strategy &
Innovation
Don’t underestimate what you are doing because it
doesn’t generate immediate impact. A potential impact
‘narrative’ can emerge over time and could take minor
action to drive it to something more substantial.
Be aware of opportunities:
Co-authorship with industry partner?
Potential for secondment (inward or outward)?
Funding!!! Impact acceleration funds (University,
BBSRC, ESRC, EPSRC, etc.)
Public engagement: Explorathon, European
Researchers’ Night, Glasgow Science Festival and more
Planning for impact

19. Research Strategy &
Innovation
Shout about it

20. Research Strategy &
Innovation
Profile-raising can lead to more opportunities:
• Can you speak to a specific subject, if required by the media?
If so, have you asked to be included in the press office’s media
experts directory?
• Do you include your KE activities on your staff profile page?
• If you are collaborating with a company, NGO or any external
agency (and are able to publicise that fact), have you included
that in your LinkedIn profile? (More relevant to non-academic
agencies/organisations.)
• Have you joined any interest groups relevant to your field on
LinkedIn (or similar professional social media sites)?
Shout about it

21. Research Strategy &
Innovation
Questions? Resources?
• Impact champions in your School/Institute/College
• Public engagement advice (www.gla.ac.uk/services/publicengagement) Jamie Gallagher
• Business development managers in your College
• Researcher Development impact-related modules (e.g. Knowledge Exchange and Public
Engagement; Impact Statements in Grant Applications) (see ‘Domain D’)
• KE & Impact conferences and themed workshops for University staff
(www.gla.ac.uk/services/rsio/knowledgeexchange/knowledgeexchangeevents)
• KE funding schemes
• BBSRC, EPSRC, ESRC Impact Acceleration Accounts
• Proximity to Discovery fund (MVLS)
• Glasgow KE Fund (rolling application mode)
• Research Impact Manager: rose-marie.barbeau@glasgow.ac.uk
• Enlighten repository for recording and evidencing KE activity, impact generation will be launched
soooooooon…..