The document discusses the concept of 'impact' in research, emphasizing its significance in shaping professional identities and the relationship between knowledge production and societal benefit. It critiques the push for instrumentalism in academia, highlighting ethical considerations and the complexities of communicating research findings. The text also raises questions about the realities of research processes versus their simplified presentations, and the need for building trust and meaningful relationships within the academic and policy-making communities.

1. noun | ˈɪmpakt | 1 the action of one object coming
forcibly into contact with another: there was the sound of
a third impact | [mass noun] : bullets which expand and
cause devastating injury on impact.
2 a marked effect or influence: our regional measures
have had a significant impact on unemployment.
’…
Dealing with the impact
agenda
Graham Jeffery

2. Claiming
‘impact’ – can
you plan for
impact?
• Justifying the public value of our
research
• Exploring how to translate and share
across different knowledge
communities
• Thinking about who might find it useful
• Engaging with professional
communities and communities of
practice

3. The
unintended
(or intended)
consequences
of high stakes
research
cultures…
• Who gets to produce knowledge? Who is an
‘expert’?
• What forms of knowledge are recognised, valued…
….and funded (Lyotard: mercantilization)
• In universities, push towards instrumentalism and
performativity – justification in terms of ‘impact’ and
economic/social applicability
• At same time, multiplying fields of
study/methods/approaches/radical interdisciplinarity
• This has impact on professional identities
• The entrepreneurial subject – professional identities
in education/business/commerce/the arts:
policy/practice discourses construct academic
subjectivities

4. Messy realities versus neat summaries

5. Doing research
is messy but we
are expected to
write it up
neatly…making
sense of mess
• www.compound13.org
• Some big knowledge claims here but there are
numerous practical challenges to make this
work – are we victims of ambition, or naïve? Or
worse, just extracting knowledge rather than
co-producing it as claimed?

6. ‘Impact’ is
fundamentally
about
relationships
• Who trusts your research findings? Getting
your work on other people’s agendas/in front
of people
• Policy agendas – ‘evidence based’ policy is all
very well but politicians and governments like
to select the best evidence to suit their case
• Arts, humanities and social science research is
not the same as ‘scientific discovery’ despite
how much some people wish it was
• Boiling your findings down to simple messages
may not do your work sufficient justice
• But the ‘executive summary’ is certainly a
useful communication/advocacy tool
• Ethical issues? Relationship building - ‘making
your work useful’

7. Academia as
an ‘impact
industry’
• `Stephen J. Ball (2012): Performativity,
Commodification and Commitment: an I-Spy
Guide to the neoliberal university
[https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.10
80/00071005.2011.650940]
Grimpact – time to acknowledge the ‘dark
side’ of the impact agenda
https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/impactofsocialsciences
/2019/05/28/grimpact-time-to-acknowledge-
the-dark-side-of-the-impact-agenda/

8. Think about
relationships as
well as impact
• Building a programme of work over
time
• Trust, confidence, sharing
• The value of academic work as a
connecting and interpreting tool –
making sense of the world and helping
people see things differently
• It’s not just about self-promotion,
although there’s no doubt that your
reputation matters
• Sometimes it might be better to stay
‘under the radar’ – these are strategic
choices

9. Some other
things to
consider
• What happens if your work has
negative impacts…on participants, on
public understanding, on you?
• Is there the room for failure?
• Is research only really about
‘outcomes’? In some projects, might
process actually be more important?
Change is not just driven by impact but
also by adjustment, adaptation,
translation, learning, etc.
• Who is your work for?

10. Graham.Jeffery@uws.ac.uk
www.twitter.com/grahamjeffery
www.generalpraxis.org.uk
www.compound13.org