1. Building and Measuring Research Impact
Luke Georghiou
Vice-President for Research & Innovation
University of Manchester

2. Why are researchers asked to demonstrate impact?
Principal motivations for assessing impact
Accountability for public expenditure
Justification against competing demands for resources
Learning and improving
‘The explicit assessment of impact in the REF for the first time demonstrates the importance placed on research outside the research community. It will enable universities to rigorously demonstrate the success of their research and the significant contribution it makes to the economy and society.'
David Sweeney, Director (Research, Innovation, and Skills) HEFCE

3. RCUK Mission for Societal and Economic Impact
To advance knowledge, understanding and technology (including the promotion and support of the exploitation of research outcomes), and provide trained researchers
To build partnerships to enhance take-up and impact, thereby contributing to the:
• economic competitiveness of the United Kingdom
• effectiveness of public services and policy
• enhancement of the quality of life and creative output of the nation.
Mission and Statement of Expectation on Economic and Societal Impact
Research Council UK’s commitment to excellent research that extends the boundaries of human knowledge remains as strong as ever. These documents signal a … recognises that publicly funded research should benefit us culturally, socially and financially.

4. Petition decries 'impact' agenda in research
Negative reactions
Petition decries 'impact' agenda in research
11 June 2009
Scientists stage mock funeral outside parliament in funding protest
Science for the Future claims funding policies risk plunging British science and industry 'back into the Dark Ages'

5. Why resistance?
Principal concern is that application of impact criteria will affect ex ante the direction of research
Funding decisions on grants
REF funding
and that will result in work of lower quality, integrity and even impact
Argument that ‘blue-skies research’ ultimately creates prosperity and well-being and that focus on immediate impact may be at expense of greater long-term impact
Blue-skies is Anglicism translating as ‘investigator-driven, curiosity-driven or basic research’

6. Impact and Social Science and Humanities
Worry in SSH communities that STEM subjects could be seen as more ‘impactful’ and secure larger share of resource
Concerns grounded in the supposed predominance of a particular sequential model of impact
Discovery Development Commercialisation
As opposed to interactive/co-production model more typical of SSH
Also whether impact defined predominantly in economic terms
In fact most social science disciplines founded in the expectation of research driving change in society
Less clear in some parts of humanities but nonetheless strong commitment to culture

7. Response: British Academy Report
“Punching our weight: the humanities and social sciences in public policy making”

8. Two main ways to classify
Taxonomies of Impact
Two main ways to classify
Type of beneficiary
Nature of the impact
Often mixed
Ongoing struggle with recognising public engagement

9. REF Panel C Taxonomy Impacts on creativity, culture and society
Influencing knowledge, behaviours, practices, rights or duties
Economic, commercial, organisational impacts
Businesses or other wealth creators
Impacts on the environment
Natural, historic or built
Health and welfare
Quality of life enhanced or harm mitigated
Impacts on practitioners and professional services
Development and delivery of services and/or ethics
Impacts on public policy, law and services
government, public sector and charity organisations and societies through implementation or non-implementation

10. Impact types by faculty at UoM
Based on Research Performance Exercise Self-reporting

11. Impact in UoM vision and strategy
Our work must have an impact beyond academia and yield economic, social and cultural benefits whenever the opportunity arises
Key relationships
Manchester heritage
Creating and demonstrating impact
Commercialisation
Societal challenges and social responsibility
Quality
Impact
People
Focus
Resources
Integrity
Alignment
STRATEGY

12. Individual incentives at UoM
Parity of esteem with curiosity-driven research for impact-generating, translation and knowledge transfer activities in promotion and PDR
applied research and development includes transfer of intellectual property into the wider economy; translation of research findings into clinical solutions; development of innovation; research and consulting relationships with companies, government departments and other public bodies; and the enrichment of the wider culture ...
Training & development
from doctoral training, through new academics programme and beyond

13. Individual incentives continued
Outside work policy – often seeding institutional links
register of interests to manage potential conflicts of interests likely to arise
Radical IP policy
generous share to originators : 85% to originators up to first £1m plus any re-invested into research, then 50% to originators
Investment
Proof of principle and venture funds (eg UMIP Premier Fund, social enterprise).

14. Rolling Research Profiling Exercise
Data base of all research-active staff
(E Scholar repository) supporting annual reporting and assessment of:
Research outputs (assessed by externally moderated peer review NOT journal rankings or impact factors)
Research expenditure (benchmarked)
Research student supervision
Impact, engagement and esteem
Reported text boxes

15. Ability to deliver impact also rests in organisational competences
Working with business and other non-academic partners requires:
Mutual trust and mutual benefit
Professional interface
Recognition and management of differences
Works best in context of long-term strategic or ‘broadband’ relationship
Reduction of transaction costs
Hidden but vital competence
Ability to configure multiple disciplines in seamless interdisciplinary configurations to solve business and societal challenges
Key rationale for critical mass and economies of scope

16. Infrastructure is important
Enterprise courses, conferences, staff and student business competitions and networking
Developing regional innovation system and Corridor including cultural/creative zone
Vectors
Academic Health Sciences Networks
Cultural institutiions

17. Living with REF Impact Assessment
UoM submitted 186 REF Impact Cases
Some key challenges
Identification
Especially of impacts where key players departed
No systematic organisational memory
Comprehension
Getting academics to understand the detailed criteria
Verification
Assembling credible supporting evidence
Uncertainty
No track record on how criteria will be interpreted or how “reach and significance” translate in to a scale across hugely different cases
Unclear boundaries – eg is it enough to demonstrate impact on a policy or should the policy also be evaluated?
A new stretch for modified peer review
But do the underlying assumptions of peer review hold?

18. Building Impact into your CV
Consider engagement with user and stakeholder communities not as an add-on to research but as a potential source of ideas and insights even if you do not rely upon them for data
Present your work in non-academic fora to interested parties eg at practitioner forums, via social and traditional media
Profess the value of your field as well as your individual work
Ensure that interactions outside academic world are recorded and note references in public documents
When engaging with non-academics consider whether it is possible to collect evaluation evidence such as surveys or letters
Monitor your presence in social media

19. Closing observations
Not all research can be expected to have impact during the time it is being conducted and not all impact is realised by those performing the research
Nonetheless where potential exists we have a duty to society to facilitate and realise impact from research we have already done and in some cases from research as it takes place
The ability to generate and to record impact is a necessary organisational capability and a desirable individual attribute
REF Impact assessment is a test and a hurdle but should not dominate what we do