Finnish Academy - Impact

8/3/2019 Finnish Academy - Impact

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Civilisationcannot be

imported

Publications of the Academy of Finland 3/07

Researcher commentaryon the impact of cultural

and social research


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Civilisatiocannot beimported

Publications of the Acade

Researcher commentary

on the impact o culturaland social research


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The Academy o Finland providesunding or high-quality scientifcresearch, serves as an expert in scienceand science policy, and works to

strengthen the position o science andresearch. The Academys operationcovers all scientifc disciplines.

The Academys development eortsare geared to improving the careeropportunities o proessionalresearchers, creating high-qualityresearch environments and taking

advantage o international opportunitiesin all areas o research, research undingand science policy.

The Academy has dierent types ounding instruments or dierentpurposes. Academy research undingpromotes international researchcollaboration and gender equality andencourages women researchers inparticular to apply or research posts andresearch grants.

Academy research unding amountsto over 270 million euros annually,which represents around 15 per cent ototal R&D spending by the Finnishgovernment.

Each year Academy-unded projectsaccount or some 3,000 person-years inresearch at universities and researchinstitutes.

The diverse and high-level basicresearch unded by the Academyproduces new inormation as well as a

Academy of Finland in Brief


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Contents

Foreword: Impact assessment at the Academy o Finland ..................

1 The unbearable difculty o identiying and measuring impact .1.1 The challenges o identiying and measuring impact ...................

1.2 From measurement to understanding the changing orms andmethods o impact assessment

2 Impact in dierent disciplines ocus on history and archaeologyand linguistics2.1 Impact and historical sciences: researchers views .......................2.2 Impact and linguistics .....................................................................

3 Impact through social agency: integrated school day as a case in

4 Promoting impact through research council unding ..................4.1 Research programmes and targeted calls.......................................

4.1.1 Society impacts the need or research research impacts tthat society works: Targeted call on Power, violence and g

4.1.2 Weak signals strong impacts: Targeted calls on Social ....capital and networks o trust and Intellectual property rig

4.1.3 Impacting impact how scientifc and social impact can binto account at the programme planning stage: Substance Addictions

5 Do assessments help to enhance impact? ..........................................5.1 Assessment o business competence ..............................................5.2 Assessment o womens studies and social impact .......................

6 The impact o cultural and social research .......................................

Appendix 1 Research programme and discipline assessments: ................responses and reactions

Appendix 2 Background material...............................................................


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KuvailulehtiPi

JulkaisijaSuomen Akatemia 5.2

Tekij(t) Kulttuurin ja yhteiskunnan tutkimuksen toimikunta, Suomen Akatemia

Julkaisun nimi Sivistyst ei voi tuoda. Tutkijapuheenvuoroja kulttuurin ja yhteiskunnan tutkim

Tiivistelm Kulttuurin ja yhteiskunnan aloilla vaikuttavuus on monisyinen ilmi, joka ei olepelkistettyihin malleihin tai mittareihin. Tutkimuksen vaikuttavuuden tarkastelu

yh enemmn laajan ja monimutkaisen ilmin niit ulottuvuuksia, jotka saattavvuudesta puhuttaessa. Vaikuttavuuden arviointia ei tee helpommaksi se, ett vasesti osa kulttuurin ja yhteiskunnan tutkimuksen alojen tutkimustraditioita: tutkitsessn on yhteiskunnallinen interventio.

Raportin metodi, tapauskertomukset toimikunnan rahoittamista tutkimushankkten tunnistaa yhteiskunnallista vaikuttavuutta, kun kytettviss oleva aineisto ekuttavuuden tasot ja tyylit ovat mys moninaisia, eik kulttuurin ja yhteiskunndosta yht homogeenista maailmaa. Raportti on vuoropuhelua tiedeyhteisn kan

Yhteiskuntatutkimuksen tuottamat ksitteet nkyvt yhteiskunnassa esimerkiks(sosiaalinen poma ja luottamusverkostot, tapausesimerkki professori Kirsima

tn mys ohi tieteenalojen. Ne siirtyvt vlineiksi arkipuheeseen, kansalaistoimomaistoimintaan. Ne suuntaavat yhteiskunnasta tehtvi havaintoja ja ptelmikiksi lainsdntn. Yhteiskuntatutkimuksen tieto ja metodit vaikuttavat siiheeli niill on valtaa, mutta niit ei voi mitata ja niit ei voi erottaa verrattaviksi tu

Tutkimus tuottaa teoreettisia ja metodisia vlineit yhteiskunnallisten ongelmie

ilmiiden jsentmiseen ja tulkintaan, perustellun ja kriittisen tiedon tuottamise

tus ei ole pelkstn vaikuttamista tutkimus- ja siihen liittyvn asiantuntijatiedo

tapaan, miten yhteiskunta ja toimijuus yhteiskunnassa ymmrretn (tapausesimPulkkinen).

Raportissa tarkastelun kohteena on ennen muita kulttuurin ja yhteiskunnan tutkhoittaman tutkimuksen vaikuttavuus, ja sit tarkastellaan niin tieteellisen kuin ytavuuden nkkulmista.

Asiasanat tutkimuksen tieteellinen ja yhteiskunnallinen vaikuttavuus, kulttuurin ja yhteisk

arviointitoiminta, tapaustutkimus, tiedepolitiikka

Julkaisusarjannimi ja numero Suomen Akatemian julkaisuja 3/07

ISSN0358-9153Painetulle kirjalle annettu tunnus Pdf-versiolle annettu tunnus

ISBN 978-951-715-640-5

Sivumr56

Julkaisun jakajaSuomen Akatemia, PL 99, 00501 Helsinki

Julkaisun kustantajaSuomen Akatemia

978-951-715-641-3


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DescriptionDate

PublisherAcademy of Finland 5 F

Author(s) Research Council for Culture and Society, Academy of Finland

Title Civilisation cannot be imported. Researcher commentary on the impacts of cultu

Abstract In the fields of cultural and social science research, impact is a highly complex plend itself to simple and straightforward models or measurement. Studies into ththerefore aim to shed more light on those dimensions of this broad and multifactend to remain in the dark. The challenge of impact assessment is made none eais an inherent and integral part of the research traditions in these fields: researchsciences is in itself a social intervention.

The method adopted in this report, i.e. to compile case studies of research projecCouncil, is a challenging one. How can social impacts be identified when the dalend itself to such assessments? The levels and styles of impact are also many ancultural and social science research do not constitute a single, homogeneous wocise in dialogue with the science community.

In everyday society, the concepts produced by social science research find exprein different kinds of analytical categories (social capital and networks of confideProfessor Kirsimarja Blomqvist), which also spread beyond the academic realmday parlance, in civic activity, by the media and by the authorities. They influenabout and conclusions drawn about society and influence legislation, for instancmethods of social science research influence the way that society works: they wbe measured and they cannot be set aside as comparable results.

Research produces theoretical and methodical tools for purposes of examining sand interpreting cultural phenomena, for producing and adapting justified and crconsists not only in exercising influence by means of research and expert knowl

ing the way that society and agency are understood in society (case example of P

The main focus of the report is on the impact of the research funded by the Rese

and Society, and that impact is considered in terms of both scientific and social

Key words Scientific and social impacts of research, cultural and social science research, as

science policy

Name and numberof series Publication of the Academy of Finland 3/07

ISSN 0358-9153Print Pdf

ISBN978-951-715-640-5

Number of pages56

Distributed byAcademy of Finland, POB 99, FI-00501 Helsinki, [email protected]

978-951-715-641-3


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Foreword: Impact assessment athe Academy of Finland

One o the key challenges set out in the Government 2005 resolution on the

development o the public research system is to promote world-top R&D inare most relevant to the national economy, to social development and to the

o individual citizens. Funding agencies or research are called upon to workclosely in an eort to strengthen the impact o research and innovation und

Academy o Finland and Tekes Finnish Funding Agency or Technology aInnovation, are charged with the task o developing the impact assessment o

and innovation in Finland. Furthermore, the two agencies are to work closel

assessing the impacts o the structural development o the public research syThe new University Act that took eect in 2005 creates a new task or u

alongside their existing missions o ree research and provision o education:have closer exchange and interaction with the rest o society and to promote

impact o research results and artistic activity. This so-called third unction omakes impact assessment an integral part o academic research and thereore

major implications or the Academy ater all over 80 per cent o Academy towards supporting research at universities.

Assessing the impact o basic research

The main difculties in assessing the impact o basic research come rom the

indirectness, complexity and unpredictability o that impact. The key challenollows:

Time lag: When should the impacts o basic research be assessed?

Attribution: What is the precise role and contribution o research to the iobserved?

Appropriability: Who benefts rom the research unded? Complexities: What are the mechanisms and processes involved in genera

impacts o research?A distinction is oten made between the scientifc, techno-economic, soc

and environmental impacts o research. Most o the work to develop assessmconcentrated on scientifc and techno-economic impacts.

The assessment o scientifc impacts and the development o the necessamethods are among the Academys basic missions The most important meth


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assessments o the state and quality o scientifc research in Finland. In add

Academy applies various other methods or purposes o assessing the sociresearch, such as case study methods, survey methods, science and technol

as well as analyses o social networks.

Academy o Finland and the impact assessment o research unding 20

The aim o the impact assessments conducted by the Academy is to develoand innovation system and to develop the Academys own operation and

instruments. The Academy works closely with the Ministry o Education methods and procedures or eective impact assessments o research und

committed to respond to the growing need to develop a system that demo

impacts and eectiveness o the Academys operations in terms o its sociaThe Academy has close and well-established cooperation with other a

research and innovation system particularly with research unding agencand research institutes to urther develop the tools and methods o impa

The Academy is also committed to continue with its proven practices o coassessments o the state and uture o scientifc research in Finland.

As or the development o its own operation, the Academys primary integrate impact assessment more closely with the use and development o

instruments as well as other activities. In this way the results o impact asshave greater inuence on key agency operations than could be achieved w

hoc assessments. The Academy is also keen to integrate assessments o paswith uture orecasting.

This publication is part o the SIGHT 2006 project which is concerneaspects o the state, quality and impacts o Finnish scientifc research. Belo

SIGHT 2006 publications to date.

SIGHT 2006: Evaluations and assessments o the state, quality and impscientifc research

Sivistyst ei voi tuoda tutkijapuheenvuoroja kulttuurin ja yhteiskun

sen vaikuttavuudesta. [Civilisation cannot be imported Researcher commimpact o cultural and social research.] Suomen Akatemian julkaisuja 5/20

Suomen Akatemian rahoittama luonnontieteiden ja tekniikan alojen tuArviointi hankkeiden vaikuttavuuksista. [Academy-unded research in the

sciences and engineering felds. An assessment o project impacts.] Suomenjulkaisuja 6/2006


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Akatemian tutkimusrahoituksen vaikuttavuus. Proessori Jussi Huttusen

riippumattoman ulkopuolisen paneelin arviointi. [The impact o Academy runding. Evaluation by an independent panel under Proessor Jussi Huttune

Akatemian julkaisusarja, elokuu 2006

Level and structure o Finnish scientifc researchLehvo, Annamaija & Nuutinen Anu: Finnish Science in International Comp

Bibliometric Analysis. Publications o the Academy o Finland 15/2006.

Impact at the research system levelChanges in the level and orientation o Finnish competencies: indicator deve

Academy o Finland and Tekes. Work to continue in 2007.

Foresighting: FinnSight 2015Identifes and explores the challenges surrounding the research and innovatithe development opportunities opened up by these challenges, the ocus area

competence that hold the most promise in terms o their level and impacts, anecessary strategic choices. The joint Academy-Tekes project was organised

projects and involved 120 experts rom dierent felds. Two publications in Jand a report in English in August 2006.

Impact in cultural and social research

This report is a joint eort by a working group on impact assessment appoin

Research Council or Culture and Society and the Culture and Society Rese

The working group was chaired by Proessor Juha Sihvola and its members Research Director Pivi Hovi-Wasastjerna and Proessors Urpo Nikanne an

Nummenmaa. The Chair o the Research Council, Proessor Arto Mustajokclosely involved in the preparatory work. At the Culture and Society Resear

work was supervised by Senior Science Advisor Hannele Kurki with the assproject secretary Marko Niemi. The team rom the unit included Science Ad

Forsman, Science Advisor Siru Oksa, Director Liisa Savunen, Senior ScienceMaija-Liisa Toikka and Science Advisor Helena Vnsk. The report was acce

Research Council or Culture and Society at its meeting on 16 February 200The process o drating this report unolded in several stages. Based on c

interaction and exchange with the research community, it included a seminar2005 under the heading Theres no harm in research being useul a questio


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1 The unbearable difficulty oidentifying and measuring im

This report is intended as a contribution to the debate and discussion onon how to defne and measure and above all how to understand impact disciplines, particularly in the felds o cultural and social research. Worthis report has been conducted as part o a major project dealing with thresearch, but at the same time it is part o an ongoing debate within the concerned. It does not purport to answer all the questions surrounding debate, but it is part o a process aimed at identiying and better understvarious dimensions o impact and its maniestations.

Questions o impact are particularly complex and multiaceted in thcultural and social research, which lend themselves poorly to crude andmodels and indicators. Future analyses and discussions might help to shthose aspects and dimensions o this broad and complex phenomenon tremain concealed in discussions o impact. The Research Council or CSociety frst embarked on this debate in its 2003 review o the quality anscientifc research in Finland, and the present report is an extension to tdiscussions.

In the felds and disciplines hosted by the Research Council or CulSociety, the identifcation and measurement o impact is extraordinarilytask is made none easier by the act that impact is an inherent and integrresearch traditions in cultural and social studies: research in these feldssocial intervention.

Research produces theoretical and methodological tools or the invsocial problems, or the analysis and interpretation o cultural phenomeproduction and application o well-grounded and critical knowledge. Imjust a matter o exercising inuence by means o research and expert knalso about impacting the way that society and agency is understood in scase example o Proessor Lea Pulkkinen, Chapter 2).

In everyday society, the concepts produced by social science researcexpression in various kinds o analytical categories (social capital and netrust, see the case example o Proessor Kirsimarja Blomqvist, Chapter also have application beyond academia. They are adopted in every parlagrassroots civic activity, in the media and by the authorities. They impaobservations and conclusions made about society and they impact legisl


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homogeneous feld. The outcome is a dialogue with the scientifc commuwhich individual researchers are given a strong voice.

The impact o research can be understood in a multitude o dierent wocus is on the social or scientifc impact o research. The main ocus in thon the impact o research unded by the Research Council or Culture andwhich is studied rom both a scientifc and social point o view.

1.1 The challenges o identiying and measuring impact

The concept o impact in science and research is in itsel very vague and dproblems are only compounded when we turn to the measurement o imprisk here is that the main attention goes to secondary, concrete achievemebe measured with some degree o accuracy, while the truly signifcant impsidelined in the absence o reliable quantitative methods. While this does sthirst or impact indicators, doubts arise as to whether these indicators rerelevant phenomena and chains o impact. A urther difculty in demonstlonger chains o impact is that research results never shape and steer sociament in a vacuum; whenever such impacts occur, they are the combined emany contributing actors. However, or science and researchers it wouldextremely useul i we could gain a clearer insight into the chains o impacwork in research. Many studies that are seemingly useless will in act prat least secondary impacts even outside academia so long as we are prepthis point o view.

Measurements o impact are usually confned to whatever is thought measurable. Within academia, publications are widely regarded as an indistandard o research and, indeed, as a condition or scientifc progress anddevelopment. And o course this is true no unpublished idea can count aHowever, the true test o publications lies in their reading and citation. Scnot develop through publications that other researchers do not fnd interealso noteworthy that even within the scientifc community, publications aonly channel o exercising inuence. One o the ways in which researcher

signifcantly inuence the development o their discipline is through varioevaluation and review assignments. A particularly important channel o inboth on society and on the scientifc community is through ones teachingown students.

The channels and avenues o impact in research are highly complex: ehas an impact on everything else It is probably sae to say that there is a c


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Furthermore, humans themselves constitute an object o research, bothphenomenon and as an intellectual creature with dierent sets o valueso behaviour. In addition to these areas o research, there is still a range sciences that impact peoples world-view but frst and oremost lay the or research. These include mathematics, basic physics and certain philodisciplines. Cell and genetic biology can also be included in this categorthese lines o research could be seen as an investigation o the natural enwell. Although these disciplines rarely have a direct impact on society, tto undermine their weight and impact, quite the contrary: the secondaryresearch may oten be much greater. In general, it is difcult to think oresult that has no use at all. I there is any inclination to think otherwiseprobably has to do not so much with the utility o the research and its a lack o imagination on the part o their end-users.

Who, then, can make use o research knowledge? Again, end-users divided into such categories as business and industry, the public sector anindividual(private citizen and employee). There is no direct correspondobjects o research and their end-users, but anyone can use the researchextracted rom dierent areas. Business and industry needs not just techon the human-made environment or research in the natural environmenequally interested in inormation about how dierent kinds o organisaand about the laws o human behaviour. In the same way, the public seco research in a wide range o dierent disciplines. This should be reecdecision-making and legislation at dierent levels.

The choices and liestyles o individual citizens are also impacted byabout the human being, about the values o other people and the laws oIndeed, the most direct route to promoting the welare and well-being otargeting people themselves. The development o peoples world-views have an impact on their behaviour as well. This is not, however, only abindividuals best interests, but the best interests o society as a whole. Isensibly, that will have a positive impact not only on their lie, but it wipublic administration, services and production plants. Furthermore, i p

sensibly in their roles as citizens, that will reect avourably on democrturn creates a solid oundation or sensible action on the part o societyobviously, is a simplifed description o the causal mechanisms involvednonetheless the principle.

Research knowledge does not ow to its end-users out o its own aintermediary agents are needed to carry and communicate that knowled


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In some cases it is possible to trace the research result behind a new incan also be patented. On the other hand, even these achievements are rareo an individual researcher or research team, but they are usually groundestock o knowledge and skills. An innovation does not automatically tranpractical impact either; impacts do not come about until that innovation iinto a product or service that is actually used by people. This developmenrequires a knowledge and understanding o the laws that govern peoples and or purposes o cost-eective production it is also necessary to knoworganisations work. A good example o this kind o innovation is providecholesterol-lowering margarine product Benecol. The journey rom the scbreakthrough to the breakast table has been a hard and tortuous one. Obbeen posed not only by consumer attitudes, but also by legislation and thgovern the marketplace.

More oten than not, the chains o impact are even more complex thanabove, or than the story oBenecolsuggests.

Let us take another example, that o smoking, which is not about the o a new product but about demonstrating the adverse health eects o a pis widely used. In this case the temporal and economic rameworks are omagnitude altogether. The medical evidence on the health hazards o tobathe vantage-point or everything, but true social impacts have been achievwhen this evidence has aected peoples behaviour. This has required a grlegislative work and education. Nonetheless, there is still a long way to goultimate goals are reached. The demonstration o the health hazards o sm

provide a useul example or the consideration o how the impacts o resemeasured. Those impacts cannot be achieved simply by the publication oresearch results, but that must be coupled with a political will and a sense responsibility. Now that the medical evidence on the risks o tobacco is breach saturation point, the achievement o greater impact will require mointo why this evidence is not reaching its targets or i it is reaching its taare people not responding. We do, o course, have some everyday knowlethe mechanisms at play, but it is useul to compare the situation with the m

evidence: early suspicions that tobacco might be harmul go back quite soit was only with the fndings rom large-scale surveys that the legislative wunder way.

Recently, a lot o research has been published on Finlands relationshiSoviet Union. Did Finland cozy up to the Soviet Union; to what extent diand why? What possibly could be the signifcance o this research apart


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viewpoints. This is also an example o research knowledge that is never but that does not mean it is utile and inconsequential.

These examples are purposely selected to represent areas o researchhuge potential social signifcance. Similar examples could be provided bdevelopment o the Finnish school system or dental care. It is quite obvimpossible to quantiy these kinds o impacts at any meaningul level, oreasons. First o all, it is impossible to establish the specifc contributionresearch results, or even major research programmes to the developmenSecondly, the economic implications related to these questions are compthousands o small trickles, and the power o the huge ow that is creatthose trickles are beyond calculation.

The examples above should sufce to make clear the difculties in mtrue impacts o research. So what should be done? Should we just orgeimpact perspective? No, because the perspective itsel is right and it benSo should we content ourselves with measuring what can be measured,

peril o using parameters say the number o patents that do not reallsocial impact o research at all? This would really be to descend into trivmight easily blur the concept o impact and alienate researchers rom tho thinking. So is there some other solution? There is certainly no easy othe ollowing outlines a ew ways o thinking that might help us orwar

It should be recognized that the single most important impact exercisresearchers on society comes through the education o a new generatSociety benefts rom having these people as its employees and citize

this impact will not be elt until several electoral periods down the ro Mechanisms should be set up to monitorto what extent Finnish resea

inuence the development o their own discipline on a global level. Trelevant rom a social impact point o view, because major social impcome about through the collective eorts o the scientifc community

It should be accepted that in most cases the social impact o research until years, and oten decades later. This impact can be seen and predmeasured. It can, however, be explicated by demonstrating causal rel

Quantitative data should be collected on the concrete innovation eeresearch. At the same time, it should be recognized that the data obtaway only represent a small part o all impacts.

Researchers should be encouraged to consider the secondary impacts research and to report on them.


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within the felds o cultural and social research and in Finnish society moThe 2003 report on Finnish scientifc research included a pilot project

Research Council or Culture and Society to identiy and describe the meand channels via which impact could be transmitted in research. At the saproject highlighted the difculties o measuring impact. The social impactand the diverse ways in which those impacts could be demonstrated weretouched upon in the Research Councils 2000 report on the state and qualFinnish scientifc research, but it was only in the next report in 2003 that iraised as a major theme o analysis.

Rather than making use o traditional models and indicators o scientthe 2003 report was ocused on the various mechanisms o impact. In pracmeant that researchers were asked to describe in their own words the kindmechanisms that they identifed in their own projects involved in researchprogrammes and targeted calls in 2002. This yielded some 50 descriptionssuch a heterogeneous collection that it was impossible to provide a system

inclusive account o the impact o cultural and social research though, ohand, this was never the purpose o the project in the frst place.

The original targets set or the project were nonetheless achieved. Firsproject gained a good picture o the diverse orms o impact that can existfelds o cultural and social research. Secondly, the very process o compilreport also encouraged the research and science community to give closerthe impact o their work. Furthermore, the project paved the way to new understanding the impacts o research and o discussing the kinds o impa

were typical o cultural and social research.It may be difcult to detect in cultural or social research any impacts

applications that oer immediate answers to practical problems. Very oteimpacts o research in these felds only come to light ater long periods ooutcome o several dierent actors, and thereore they are very difcult, impossible to trace. The identifcation o scientifc impacts and the methoassessment are also exceptionally challenging in cultural and social researcappearance o impacts, the identifcation and understanding o those impa

development o appropriate indicators and models is indeed a major challcultural and social research.

This report takes a closer view on selected research unded by the ResCouncil or Culture and Society. This research includes projects rom a ndierent disciplines, research programmes and other unding instrumentsaddition discipline assessments are examined rom an impact point o vie


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even across basic and applied research; on the other hand, it is quite cleacriteria cannot be applied in comparisons between those disciplines, or the feld o cultural and social research. In any event, substantial eortsneeded to debate and to understand the processes o identiying and assand scientifc impact. The same goes or the role o impact assessments unding decisions and in planning research careers. All this requires thao this phenomenon is better understood and that impact assessments a

confned to whatever is easily measurable, but that other perspectives aras well.

2 Impact in different discipli

focus on history andarchaeology, and linguist

In May 2005, the Research Council or Culture and Society hosted a puunder the heading o Theres no harm in research being useul. The inextended to people working in all disciplines unded by Academy ReseaThe debate attracted a ull house o participants. A broad consensus wa

is not possible to develop simple indicators or models o impact that areapplicable across various disciplines. Even within cultural and social stushould not be weighed and assessed using the same set o criteria. For odierent disciplines have dierent unctions and are at dierent stages odevelopment.

This report has chosen to ocus on two disciplines within cultural astudies: history and archaeology, and linguistics. This choice was motivthe act that these disciplines dier so widely in terms o their impacts a

measurement o impacts; and secondly, by the act that they account orproportion o the research unded by the Research Council or Cultureduring the period under review (see page 45).

The impacts o historical sciences and linguistics, the channels o imdifculties o measurement and the signifcance o impact were addressboth questionnaires and discussion events A questionnaire was sent ou


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understand humans and human society. Understanding the scientifc impaa challenging task indeed. At the same time, historical and archaeological may be thought to have only limited signifcance in terms o its social impother hand, research in linguistics may lead to direct applications that havvalue and benefts. Yet both o them inuence and impact every one o usto understand who we are and where we are headed.

2.1 Impact and historical sciences: researchers views

A questionnaire was sent out to directors or researchers in projects undeo history and archaeology in 19962000. They were asked to consider thresearch on the basis o the ollowing questions:

1 What is the scientifc and social impact o research in your own feld o rdoes that impact maniest itsel, how can it be studied and measured, wh

channels via which impacts are conveyed in society?2 How is the scientifc and social impact o research visible in your own re

project?3 Does the scientifc or social impact o research matter in general does

matter, is there any reason why research should matter and have an imp

The questionnaire was sent to 25 researchers, 17 o whom replied. Thwhich they responded varied widely. Some addressed and answered the q

directly, the majority dealt with the question o impact in broader terms aown words, some provided highly elaborate responses and even included appendices. Overall, the responses were well reasoned and well thought-oproviding a comprehensive treatment o impact within ones own researchin general terms rom the researchers point o view. Almost all responses some discussion about the difculties o identiying impact in such disciphistory.

In addition to the questionnaire responses, the present report makes u

materials rom ree-orm discussions among a select group o historians. TAcademy sent out invitations to Academy Proessor Marjatta Hietala, ProPetri Karonen, Kimmo Katajala, Laura Kolbe, Juha Siltala and to Docent Korhonen. Among the questions covered in this discussion were the ollo How does the impact o historical research maniest itsel in science and How can the a) scientifc and b) social impact o historical research be m


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dierence in their own feld in the world today. Nevertheless, it is certato understand the mechanisms o impact in historical research.

As far as history is concerned, the social impact of research is above allof influencing collective memory. They (research results) may also help false notions that are brimming in the popular historical consciousness

research cannot find and offer any absolutely accurate picture of the pa

same token of the future), this is ultimately the only yardstick against w

notions can be dispelled and corrected.

Through its impact on the general image of countries and societies, resexercises quite a strong influence on the present day, even on political and international relations. It may be difficult or impossible to measure

of individual studies, but research and scientific debate and discussion

certainly is a major influence in and on society.

Impact can appear in various guises, and it is not necessarily easy to escan impact be converted into numerical format, unless one wants to relstatistics.

Scientifc and social impactHistorical research can be considered to exercise an impact in two wayssubject-matter is o interest to the general public and to decision-maker

not so much to its monographs as to the popular-interest articles and leproduced on the basis o that work. Secondly, research provides evidenphenomenon concerned as a basis or decision-making and or the evaludevelopments.

In historical research and many other lines of social inquiry, impact is dabove all in decision-makers and citizens reading the mass media commpublished by researchers on the basis of the work they have done. Hist

Social research offers new perspectives for political decision-making ab

demonstrating what kinds of values are advocated by what kinds of po

It is necessary to have both science for its own sake, science that is discsmall groups of experts and science that has practical application and win the general public Impact matters but it is not the only criterion of th


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In some cases its possible that even good research has no direct social immay either be the kind of basic research that has no immediate practical aor purely theoretical research that is aimed at developing new scientific

these cases, even though the impact is primarily confined to the scientific

it may in the longer term, and via numerous intermediaries and end-user

into a social impact.

In my own field of research, as in the humanities and cultural and social sgenerally, the exact measurement of impact is very difficult, but I dont knit really is as big a problem as it's often made out to be by people working

applied research. I would suggest that research always has an impact whe

standards are high, when it's rated highly in international peer reviews. B

there is no reason to worry; the results will have an impact, sooner or late

Impact within academia is the easiest to identify: raising a new generatio

researchers, promoting the research careers of people at different stages career (e.g. five doctorates), a huge input in basic and further education a

department, etc.

The most senior members of our research team have been appointed to nexpert positions on the strength of their having become leading experts inFinland. They've been in demand both in the media and at seminars wher

given to the general public.

Scientific and social impacts are important objectives that are set for the rproject at its early stages. The research results should be relevant not onlyitself, but they should have interest value from the point of view of other

they should inspire new ideas and possibly have practical application. Re

also have social impacts. It should provide answers to questions, problem

emerging in society. On the other hand, research can also provide a found

decision-making and future solutions. There is no question that research s

not only scientific impact, but also social impact.

History, the present and the utureFrom an impact point o view, the signifcance o historical research lies npast; the signifcance o the past, o historical research, lies in its meaning present Research cannot however be geared simply to satisying the nee


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If all research were aimed at scientific and social impact in the present d

certainly be impoverished, innovations would be ever scarcer on the gr

But why bother with research if you dont believe it can have an impactbe necessary to resort to the old-fashioned sounding belief in the civilizknowledge. Civilisation at least is something in which we can still have

though the focus of research is on the past, Im confident that present r

benefit future researchers as well even though more slowly, but in so

knowledge.

Im a historian interested in exploring the immediate past, or the historage. In fact, Im a social scientist using the methods of historical researcfor answers to problems facing todays society and world by studying t

past. Im not content to try find out what happened, or even why it happ

Im always interested to know what kind of (political or other) uses inte

of the past might have in modern society, what kinds of meanings are a

phenomena of the past, etc.

Even though history and historical research certainly have a role to present, it is important not to ocus too heavily on their current signifcchoosing ones research subjects. In spite o the problems that are otenwith the assessment o impact, historians agree that it is reasonable and standable that research is expected to show an impact what they rejectthat it should be expected in advance, that research is specifcally geared

impact. Somewhat surprisingly, research that is aimed frst and oremosnew scientifc knowledge may well fnd itsel to be in high social demanresearch projects that ail to show scientifc credibility may ail to have impact at all, no matter how astute the design o the research project. Ralso confdent that research which shows sufciently high scientifc stanalso have an impact on society.

If you dont understand or want to understand the power relations prev

society, its dependencies and mechanisms, then you're bound to becom

victim. I for my part have always tried consciously to choose my researc

such as way that the results have some novelty value where the proble

society and the modern world are concerned.

Its rarely that research itself inspires interest in social issues but once t


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scientific way of thinking. Although its said that he who increaseth knowl

increaseth sorrow, the truth of the matter is quite the opposite. New know

has value in and of itself.

On the other hand, the scientific impact of research, and of course its socparticular, gives added value to research. If its to be expected that a particresearch can help to unravel and provide a deeper understanding of the s

conflicts in our society and to set them right, then there is no question ab

of supporting that work but Im not sure whether thats only the respons

funding agencies for basic research?

No doubt all significant research studies that include new knowledge andperspectives, regardless of their subject, impact our image of history in thterm, as their results are put to use in other studies and as they find their

textbooks, the media and peoples mindsets.

In a new age, the questions once ormulated and addressed in historicmay take on entirely new meanings and perspectives. On the other hand, its own questions, addresses old issues rom new angles. The impact perspft in very easily with this aspect either.

In general terms, the choice of research subject, in my field of historical reitself a value choice. The subjects can be roughly divided into two categorthat are related to the prevailing research tradition; and those that call int

prevailing views and opinions. Both tendencies exercise an influence in s

society. Impact cannot in itself be the objective. The main question is this:

want science to exercise an impact, in what direction do we want to deve

society. That, in turn, requires conscious, explicit value choices on the par

is making that assessment.

You dont do good research in a vacuum; its always an integral part of a bdebate that grows out of current, topical questions. In my opinion good realways international, internationally interesting and internationally influe

is an important field because research here often serves to legitimise the

social/economic/cultural situation. Thats why the historian who is explorin

perspectives and forgotten questions is also making a significant civic co

society by challenging old and clichd views.


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signifcant channel o all is through the education o students and the neo scholars. It is through these people that civilisation and the tradition is passed on.

In my opinion social impact should be understood in broad terms. Its nof research results having a direct influence on everyday life; its also abexposure to the business of doing research, the humanistic world-view

in society. The results of pouring money into research in technology and

can be considered to have a direct and literal impact on peoples life, fo

by adding years to our life. Yet the thing is that those extra years are of

unless we have a world that we can enjoy and that we can understand.

research is what provides that understanding.

Good research and good education are prerequisite for each other.

Perhaps in the end the most important channels of influence are the petaught by researchers, those who leave university and move on to workjobs in society and who carry forward the education they have received.

media and communications professionals, journalists, museum people

in a key position in this respect.

The university cannot exist without research, because it is research thauniversity. Without the university system its hardly possible to imaginesociety.

2.2 Impact and linguistics

Linguistics researchers were sent a similar questionnaire as was completehistorians. Again, the ocus was on projects unded in 19962000. A totaquestionnaires were sent out, nine researchers replied. The respondents wpresented with a ew orientating questions, which otherwise were identi

asked o historians and archaeologists except that linguists had one additWhat is the social impact o basic research when it does not lead to direct a

The answers received were succinct and dealt extensively with quesimpact, usually along the lines indicated by the background questions. Hwell as addressing the impact o their own projects, the respondents alsoviews on the theme o impact more generally


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on scientific concepts of humans as societal beings and contributes to sha

peoples self-understanding of their actions in society.

The picture that emerged rom the responses was one o a highly intricomplex phenomenon that is very difcult to capture and nail down. It wconsidered virtually impossible to produce reliable and comparable measuthe impacts o linguistics research. On the one hand, it is usually considersometimes impossible to concretely demonstrate impacts; on the other ha

impacts could sometimes be discussed and considered in very concrete terOverall, it seems that it is particularly difcult to recognize and estab

happening outside the scientifc community. As or impacts within the scicommunity, it is possible to draw at least some conclusions, even though relying on traditional indicators. However, sometimes the applicability oindicators to the analysis o impact or to comparisons between dierent ddubious. It might be possible to conduct some indirect comparisons, withreservations, or instance on the basis o reviews o scientifc publications

school and university education, scientifc positions o trust, the developmresearch environments, congress participation, lectures and papers, mobilHowever, even assessments o scientifc impact may prove problematic i based on the popular method o international publications or citations. It quite clear that the role and place o Finnish language studies in the worldlinguistics is all but prominent and well-established. Indeed, this problemlanguages oten means that the research object itsel presents an insurmoubarrier to researchers who do not know the language.

Impact beyond the scientifc community, i.e. within society more genbe even harder to establish. One o the channels o impact, i not one o thimportant channels, may be through education as graduates leaving univewhat they have learned out into society. Tuition obviously has a signifcanwithin academia as well in that it contributes to the education o a new gescientifc experts. Another important channel o inuence is through popThis is an area where eorts could certainly be stepped up, although rompoint o view this might be rather problematic: it is very rarely, i ever, tha

popularisation can be given precedence over research itsel. It is not impoenvisage some kind o direct impact on society and its decision-makers, bcases impacts are nonetheless channelled via various intermediaries and atime lag although these are actors that could possibly be inuenced. In the channels just mentioned, social impact may fnd expression in textboomanuals in popularised lectures to the general public or special groups th


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Social impact o basic research without direct applications

Should basic research have a direct social impact? Basic research is donexpert community and its only this community that can assess whethewill have any subsequent applications. A sensible research community

consider this when it is planning its research.

Understandably, the assessment o the impact o linguistics researchconsidered particularly difcult and challenging in areas where there arimmediate practical applications. Some even questioned the whole exercassessing basic research rom the limited point o view o social impact benefts. Nevertheless, the view that historical linguistic research, or exline o inquiry that can lead to no applications and that thereore can hais simply and plainly wrong. Historical linguistic research currently hasand interest, and the general public is positively devouring this kind o i

that has tremendous importance to peoples identity and sel-understanthis is humanities research at its most genuine, helping as it does signifcincrease our knowledge and understanding o ourselves and others. Horesults o this kind o research require urther elaboration and comparisgain their ull value once embedded in a broader ramework. The achievkind o impact can easily take decades or a lietime, and it is extremely doresee.

Over the course o history, linguistics has had a huge inuence on t

communities and nations have viewed their own histories so much so countries language research has directly contributed to the awakening oconsciousness and by the same token to the development o nation-statresearch is thus an integral part o the creation and transmission o cultuknowledge. Closely related to this is the sense o national responsibilitywithout proper research here into the Finnish language or the small Finlanguages, this whole area would remain in the hands to just a small grointerested researchers or amateur scholars with very limited resources.

Were researching the states second official language and in doing this responsible for publishing our results to the whole Finnish language coand separately to the Finnish scientific community. Our social duty as li

researchers is to produce information on the Finnish language as well a

the position of the Finnish language not only as the countrys official la


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cultural heritage and to make critical use o it. This kind o supranational reextends beyond the national cultural heritage and concerns the shared heriwhole o humankind. The boundary line between the two is becoming incrnarrower and blurred in our global world today, where the identity o locacommunities and its individual members nonetheless continue to have an imunction. For example, the presence o minority languages as a recognized research in international linguistics is in itsel a demonstration o social imp

the status o rare and minor languages as credible alternatives to the all-petyranny o English and French may in itsel be a signifcant impact o rese

Linguistics may have a major role to play in the search or answers toproblems o nation-states. Working closely with other disciplines (such asanthropology, sociology, psychology, cognitive science, etc.), linguistics asome o the most undamental questions to humankind: how does humanwork, why dont people understand each other? Many other social and ecquestions are subordinate to this major problem. I people can learn to be

understand one another, that will inevitably have a major inuence on socrelations within and between societies. It is here that linguistics can exerciconsiderably inuence.

Genuine basic research always involves risks, but risks may also be hiexcessive application o the results o basic research. The importance o idalse applicability and anticipating the risks o premature application as wprevention may be highlighted in situations where the hypotheses and prebasic research suddenly collapse during the course o the research process

easily remain hidden in an examination o impact where applicability is emThe reality is that it is quite impossible to know in advance which results practical application and how.

A change in the premises o basic research may also lead to surprisingunpredictable applications. A good example is provided by psycholinguisresearch that out o methodological necessity has led to extensive collaborcommercial companies, public authorities and non-proft associations. Wlinguistics research has played a major role in developing criminal investig

methods and in developing text-to-speech sotware or the visually handiinstance, there is no way its impact can be called into question.

At the same time, research may also have signifcant impacts within aexample through the promotion o national and international research coland networks, or upon new generations o experts through entirely new sstudy courses or posts and positions Internationally one example o surp


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Impact within ones own research projectsLinguistics projects included a wide range o studies in a number o diSome o the projects were expressly aimed at generating immediate sociapplications, or others the primary object was scientifc excellence andresearch whose potential impacts would only become apparent ater a loo time. Research directly aimed at social impact might set problems ordeal with immediate practical challenges, or transer its results into prac

textbooks and manuals, via various methods or in sotware, or exampleEspecially in the case o minor languages the impact o research is o

to the scientifc community. Nevertheless, even though there would seegenuine interest, the research knowledge does not necessarily reach largresearchers, particularly at the international level. At the same time, volrespected publishers and edited by respected experts have included outdentirely alse and inaccurate inormation rom this feld o research.

With respect to scientific impact, then, its essential that international costrengthened. This may be down to just a few personal contacts and a cEnglish-language sources that have been accepted for publication in m

as the volume of research grows, it may be down to little more than co

to which studies are cited in the internationally most widely read works

therefore reach the majority of researchers. And it may then be down to

of coincide whether international researchers ever learn about the exist

language called veps.

In spite o the uture challenges in both national and international cand networking, the projects reviewed here made important progress. Sestablished new practices o cooperation between dierent research uniwith business and industry. Some projects recorded signifcant results racross the boundaries o scientifc disciplines.

Does impact matter?

As ar as the research community is concerned, impact is oten an inherhigh-quality research. A key motive or the work o every researcher isthat that work has some tangible eects and benefts; it is not thought thresearchers, i any, set about their work without a elt need to exercise athe world. However, the assessment o impact as a distinct separate issuresearch as it were has a special meaning o its own


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Sometimes that impact may not be real at all but simply psychological, bu

a major impact in terms of maintaining the teams enthusiasm.

High-quality and meaningul, good research always has an impact apotential impact. However, it may be very difcult or even impossible to steer that impact, and thereore an overly anxious preoccupation with imphave the exact opposite eects to those aimed at.

In most cases the impact o research unolds in a slow and rustrating

seems to be very hard to capture in the present day. It even seems to be exordinarily difcult to steer and manage impact, even with deliberate and ceorts.

If you look back at research from the 1980s, you can see that knowledge daccumulate with new studies and gradually spread to education and textbapplications, but much more slowly and less consistently than you would

it to and ever believed, even though Ive been actively involved in these e

dissemination and application. Sometimes its frustrating to see how thin

ages ago are rediscovered, or how knowledge fails to spread into new ap

(education at school), but the old tradition carries more weight. This mean

transfer of knowledge into practical applications has not succeeded as we

wanted it to. Has there been any research into how knowledge is transfe

adopted in society and into how this process could be improved?

When the knowledge produced in basic research never reaches the sp

language, its teachers and other specialists but or various reasons remainsexclusive property o a small research community, possibly even outside twhere the language is spoken, the impact o research upon language use repotential, possibly orever. This may already have happened in the case osmaller language, which by now may well be beyond recovery.

Part of the blame has to rest with researchers, research institutions and retraditions: the interaction between the researcher and object of research hbeen regarded as a one-way road, and there has not been enough respecfor the popularisation of research results. However, the attitude of politica

makers is also crucial: how the results of science are appreciated, how de

makers talk about these results, how science is taken into account in polit

making.


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locked up in the proverbial ivory tower. Its important to seek active inte

exchange with the scientific community and the society around, and th

emphasised in researcher training as well, unless its taken as a matter

But the question is what benefit or application means. Its typical of hresearch that these concepts are understood via a scientific and intellecand less often via a techno-economic ideology. An entirely separate but

important aspect of impact has to do with the researchers own growth

development as a scholar. This may be hugely important, irrespective oapplicability of the research results. If this is all in place, i.e. if there is in

growth as a researcher, who knows what good might come out of the n

3 Impact through social agen

integrated school day as a in point

Researchers exercise an impact not only directly by means o their expeknowledge, but a well-respected researcher may also have a signifcant iapplications, legislation, societys practices etc. The ollowing illustratesinto practice o new knowledge generated in a longitudinal research pro

Proessor Lea Pulkkinen. The basic research in this project was conducunding rom the Academy o Finland, but the application o that researunded by other sources. The case o the integrated school day goes to sindividual researcher can exercise a signifcant inuence in society.

The most significant result of psychological research is the growth of know

and understanding about the human condition. Psychological research ap

its mission of constructing a picture of the human being from a variety of

perspectives. The emphases in research have shifted. Right now, the allocaresearch funding all over the world is focused on exploring the biological

human behaviour. Our knowledge of the human being is still one-sided an

This is not to underestimate the existing psychological knowledge about h

and its foundations. That knowledge is a valuable asset that can be used to

human well-being provided the desire is there to do so


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The ultimate focus of research at the University of Jyvskyl Department of

is on human development. A much appreciated recognition of the Departme

standing research efforts was the nomination of the Research Programme on

Development and Its Risk Factors as one of the Academys 17 Centres of Exc

in Research for the 19971999 term. This Centre of Excellence was the first ev

University of Jyvskyl. The Academy of Finland reinstated the Centre of Exc

status for the 20002005 term on the basis of an international review of appl

The research programme includes three major longitudinal studies, one of w

the Jyvskyl Longitudinal Study of Personality and Social Development un

direction of Professor Lea Pulkkinen.

Lea Pulkkinen started her longitudinal research in 1968 with her doctoral diss

Like many other older longitudinal research projects, the first stage was a cr

sectional study focusing on a certain age cohort, but it later expanded into a

study. The research team have monitored the development of the same peop

childhood to adulthood.

The specific concern in the Personality and Social Development project has b

the development of personality and socio-emotional behaviour from age 8 t

age 42. Other areas of interest include education and job careers, family and

health habits and health as well as adjustment to society and crime. In addit

team have studied the intersections and links between these trends in devel

The results have shown that a major factor in explaining and interpreting th

of development is the childs ability to control his or her emotions and behav

Problems with self-regulation and self-control tend to lead to an accumulatio

difficulties, including maladjustment at school, alcohol use, and exclusion fr

labour market. Accordingly, a strong ability to control and regulate emotions

behaviour promotes the individuals social and psychological competence. T

capacity for emotional and behaviour control is associated with their upbrin

with the social capital available at home.

The publication of the projects results in the mid-1970s drew attention to the ke

of the home background on the adolescents development. At that time, with th

that were sweeping the family and other social institutions, there was much un

about the role and responsibility of parents in the upbringing of children. Draw

these results, Lea Pulkkinen published a book under the title The Psychology o

Upbringing, which brought her countless lecture invitations. Professor Pulkkin

i it d t t b th li t itt f th d


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the section of the Comprehensive Schools Act dealing with cooperation bet

home and school was formulated in line with the initiative made by the Soc

Home and Upbringing, which said that families were to be able to rely on th

and cooperation of schools in upbringing their children. The right of children

their absent parents had been raised in the Psychology of Home and Upbrin

that was entered in the Child Custody and Right of Access Act. The Society f

and Upbringing was also instrumental in making family and consumer edu

compulsory school subject in comprehensive school. Support was provided

training of domestic science teachers in this new subject. (In the Internation

Family 1994, the popular school subject of home and upbringing was quietl

from the compulsory curriculum as teacher organisations became embroile

over lesson quotas. This effectively put an end to the whole subject at schoo

certainly not for the lack of demand.)

Another area of applied work for Lea Pulkkinen has been the social institut

with which the whole age cohort comes into contact. The school has its ow

which it can strengthen childrens resources for social and emotional deve

in which it can provide protection when there are problems at home. It wa

known from early results in the 1970s that involvement in organised leisur

was more beneficial to child development than just aimless hanging aroun

In the mid-1970s, Pulkkinen published newspaper articles on the use of lei

highlighting some of the problems of unsupervised leisure. She returned t

in the early 1990s, when economic recession led to schools closing down m

leisure and hobby clubs and to day care centres discontinuing their aftern

for younger schoolchildren. By that time the results of the Personality and

Development project had clearly demonstrated the close links of social be

school and early onset of alcohol use with the social competence of adults

In autumn 1996, Mrs Eeva Ahtisaari, wife of the then Finnish President, inv

Pulkkinen to give a talk on a family-related issue of her choice at a session

presidential residence. Pulkkinen opted to focus on childrens lonely aftern

the heading 'Childrens and adolescents relationships with adults and the

of time use.' The process that unfolded with the publication of this lecture

in Pulkkinens book 'Nice together: Initial social capital and the childs socio

development' as well as in an article under the title 'A longitudinal study o

development as an impetus for school reform toward an integrated school

(European Psychologist 2004, 9, 125141).


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Mrs Ahtisaari expressed her interest in supporting efforts to reduce the amo

that schoolchildren had to spend alone.

As a result of these efforts, plans for the expansion and development of aftern

activities for schoolchildren were included in Prime Minister Paavo Lipponens

government programme in 1999. Lea Pulkkinen had made the point in her lec

the OECDs attention could be drawn to the lonely afternoons of Finnish childr

the rigidities of Finnish school and leisure institutions, then we might stand a c

seeing something happen. As it turned out, the OECD did pay attention: the O

country report made note of the fact that children in Finland were spending lo

of their leisure time without any supervision, and the Ministry of Education pr

appointed a working group to address the matter. The memorandum was com

2002, offering alternative models for combatting lonely mornings and afterno

In autumn 2001, the newly completed Agora building at the University of Jy

received a visit from the parliamentary Committee for the Future. In connect

their visit, Professor Lea Pulkkinen took the opportunity to talk about the res

Personality and Social Development project on socio-emotional developmen

implications for adult social competence. Following the visit, MP Kysti Karj

touch with Professor Pulkkinen, saying the lecture had addressed very simila

as were the focus of a group of MPs and business representatives he had co

Their specific concern was with the lack of social skills among schoolchildren

projected adverse effects this would have in the increasingly networked wor

He invited Professor Pulkkinen to attend a group meeting in Parliament and t

the results of her studies. Consequently, Lea Pulkkinen was asked to submit

pilot and research plan to support the social development of Finnish schoolc

which she did later the same year, in the autumn of 2001. The plan has been p

in her book 'Nice together.' The project (which became known under its Finn

MUKAVA for 'reminders on responsibilities in upbringing') is made up of sev

component projects, some of which are directly concerned with schoolchildr

with the school as a learning environment and others still with the relationsh

school and the surrounding society.

Lea Pulkkinen was invited to take charge of the experiment. Initial funding w

provided by business companies. In addition, the Finnish National Fund for

and Development (Sitra) decided to sponsor the core project which was aim

restructuring the school day so that it included not only teaching in class situ

b t l d l i i i d it ti ll th l i


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The integrated school day project lasted three years (20022005) and it wa

at seven different schools in four municipalities at grades 19. The final rep

project was published in 2005 (Lea Pulkkinen and Leevi Launonen, Integra

A child-centered approach to the reform of a school day). The Trade Union

in Finland initially took a rather standoffish attitude to the experiment, but

came round. The research conducted in connection with the experiment m

experiences of headteachers, teachers, parents and schoolchildren themse

results have been very good. The Ministry of Education working group on

at school has identified the integrated school day as the first development

comprehensive school.

The experiment received much publicity from the very outset in the summ

which added to pressures of organising morning and afternoon activities w

support from central government. The objective was included in the gover

programme of Prime Minister Anneli Jtteenmki, and in response the M

of Education began drafting amendments to the Basic Education Act. Prec

material was available apart from the experiences gained from the integra

day project, but the legislation drafters had access to all that material. The

process moved very quickly and by autumn 2004, government-funded mo

afternoon activities have been offered to all first and second grade schoolc

well as children with special needs. However, there still remains a huge ta

develop and expand these services to cover other school grades as well.

One of Lea Pulkkinens long-term ambitions has been to provide theoretica

for parents on the development of children and adults, on couple relations

family life, for example through the network of workers and civic institute

not yet received enough attention. Perhaps the OECDs attention should ag

to the fact that while the job market today requires formal qualifications fo

every job, there are still no qualification requirements for the most import

demanding job of all, i.e. that of upbringing a new generation.

4 Promoting impact throughResearch Council funding


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emerging line o research. A programme may also be started up on the baassessment o some discipline or feld o research. Furthermore, programmare also oered by national and international partners rom outside the AInitiatives or research programmes may also be prompted by questions othat are regarded as having special social signifcance.

Social impact is in most cases a central and obvious objective in most programmes, and that is also reected in the implementation o those pro

Even so, the true impact o research programmes is almost as difcult to ethe impact o research in general: the communication o research knowledthe scientifc community does not yet mean that research has had an impa

It is interesting to note that a substantial proportion o research progrup in response to initiatives rom outside the research community are in fresearch that are hosted by the Research Council or Culture and Societyare provided by the research programmes on Russia, economic crisis, andmarginalisation and inequality. The projects unded in these programmes

research, but because o their thematic ocus and the coordination o theirexposure they gain is usually greater than is normally the case in individuThe aims o achieving impact are also explicitly stated.

In research programmes questions o impact are considered both at thstage, during the course o the programme and upon its completion. The dbelow describes how the requirements o impact were taken into accountplanning and implementation o two research programmes, Power in FinlIndustrial Design.

The Power in Finland research programme was mandated at the begin2005 by the Academy Board to outline a proposal or the thematic contenprogramme and the implementation o cooperation. In May 2005, as part preparations, the programme steering group organised an exploratory woaimed at opening a dialogue with the scientifc community and to canvassamong researchers about the most useul thematic ocus or the programmsame time, the workshop provided advance inormation to the scientifc cabout the orthcoming programme and served as a orum or advance plan

research cooperation. From the very outset, the Power in Finland programitsel clear objectives in terms o scientifc and social impact.

Proceedings at the exploratory workshop were started with a discussiThere were six invited panellists representing public administration, the psystem, business and industry, culture, the scientifc community and the mauthor and director Reko Lundn Permanent Secretary Raimo Sailas Me


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Industrial design is a multidisciplinary research programme that comcultural and social research and research in the natural sciences and engcovers the whole system o industrial design, including the practice o dtechnological product development, materials research, marketing, consthe cultural impact o products. The multidisciplinary approach means design is examined using the tools o both business administration scienengineering science as well as cultural and social science research. The p

largely inspired by the governments Design 2005 programme, the missto create a dynamic design system in Finland and to integrate design wiinnovation system.

The Academys Industrial Design research programme (20032006)Industrial Design Technology Programme (20022005) are practical medesign policy. Both programmes have been geared to achieving social imAcademy and Tekes design programmes were designed and they have bimplemented in close collaboration, with unding or coordination prov

The programmes have involved the whole design chain rom basic reseaapplied research to end-users, providing opportunities or theory to mevarious dierent levels. The coordinator has organised various seminarsresearchers involved in the programmes, and several events and strategyhave been arranged to introduce the research projects to the general pubbusiness and industry. The organisation responsible or programme cooTechnology Industries o Finland, also hosted a series o design seminarindustry representatives. Projects involved in the programme have been

newspaper and journal articles as well as in publications aimed at the inwork is underway to produce a manual on design management.

The direction and supervision o the two programmes is coordinatechair o the steering group or the Academy programme (Research DireHovi-Wasastjerna) is a member o the Tekes programme steering groupChrister Ahlstrm), and vice versa. The ofcials responsible or the admthe Academy and Tekes programmes are involved in the work o both gcooperation has also contributed to a more eective exchange o knowl

understanding about the way that the two organisations work and aboucooperation could be improved and intensifed.

4.1.1 Society impacts the need or research research impacts the wsociety works: targeted call on Power, violence and gender


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what kind o consequences it has or dierent groups. Knowledge also serunction o making things visible, which is at once the purpose o describientities or complex relations or impact mechanisms. Oten the exercise othings visible is closely interwoven with the creation o new concepts andtools. Research in the social sciences may also be aimed at demonstrating and thereby at oering explanations, but even then it is rarely about estabcausality: the phenomena explored in social sciences research typically inv

multiple variables which have dierent combined eects. A urther eaturcommon by research in the humanities and social sciences is that they areinterested in analysing the social or cultural meaning o human action andaim either to enrich our way o existence or to translate seemingly strangeirrational actions into amiliar, understandable and perhaps assessable actior the members o the culture itsel.1 And urther, research in these discipbe aimed at giving a voice, at providing opportunities or the kinds o cultcommentaries that otherwise would fnd no outlet in the public domain.

I we think o the nature o research in the humanities and social reseathe most obvious means and indicators o impact is the visibility and acceresearch. Does the research or research programme have a visible presencdebate? Have its results been accessible to those groups who are perceivedprimary end-users? What plans has the research project had and what hasdone to bring its results into the public domain? What kinds o texts haveproduced, where have they been published, have project researchers beenor expert opinion, have they contributed to public debate, in what way? A

are indicators o impact via which research can be assessed both ex ante anNone o them, however, are straightorward and unambiguous: an extensplayed out across the media does not necessarily mean greater impact thanresearch team provides training or a small specifc interest group. But ropoint o view visibility is certainly something that can be expected and reqalthough again within the context o the subject-matter and the aims o th

A research programme, then, should be expected to achieve broader sIn act, the launch o a research programme is in itsel an important scienc

achievement, an exercise in social policy by scientifc means. Given the huinvestments involved, one might well expect to see some visible traces. Atleast, one might expect to see more debate and discussion and more articlesubject o the research programme. In this sense the targeted call on Poweand gender clearly had a social impact, as is indicated by a search on two ndatabases (Aleksi and Arto)


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Newspaper articles on domestic violence

Aleksi Arto

19901994 34 (6.8/year) 49 (9.8/year)

19951999 (19.6/year) 90 (18/year) 98 (19.6/year)

20002004 (27.2/year) 208 (41.6/year) 136 (27.2/year)

The fgures indicate that at least during the stages o project planninimplementation, the number o articles published on domestic violence several times over. This is explained both by the soliciting o researcheropinion, news coverage on the projects and their results and by the invoproject researchers with their own texts in public debate.

Viewed rom a dierent angle, the impact o the targeted could be aterms o whether there have been any changes in the way that the phenodiscussed. One o the major criticisms o the targeted call concerned the

domestic violence itsel, which was widely regarded as concealing the agviolence, as i violence just happens within domestic settings, as i thesubjects involved, no experiences and no consequences. This kind o imwould obviously require a more detailed examination o the contents oand discussions, but a crude indication is also provided by the appearannew terms as violence in couple relationships. Prior to 1996, the Aleknot include a single article dealing with violence in couple relationships;there were 18, or 3.6/year. The fgures rom the Arto database are very

1999 the term was virtually non-existent, in 20002004 it is mentioned ain ten articles.

The analysis above is just a simple experiment o how changes in thsubject-matter over time and the dissemination o its concepts could beindicator o the impacts o a research programme.

Power, violence and gender was by the Academys standards a smalprogramme. However, it addressed a sensitive social problem and coincnationwide projects launched by the Ministry o Social Aairs and Hea

sense there was a clear target and an existing channel or the impact o tknowledge produced. For this reason the targeted call also serves as an mutual dependency o impact and the collaboration among the agents inAcademys project was launched at a time when Ministry-coordinated pthough the National Research and Development Centre or Welare andStakes were at their most active issuing communications and organisin


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4.1.2 Weak signals strong impacts: Targeted calls on Social capital annetworks o trust and Intellectual property rights

Social capitalConducted under the umbrella o the Social capital programme (2004200impacts o the research project on Collaborative innovation trust and virtual teams as key elements o innovation networks are discussed here reerence to scientifc impact. The main ocus is on the impacts o the pro

research, university education and university strategies. The project was sthe direction o Proessor Kirsimarja Blomqvist rom Lappeenranta UnivTechnology (LUT). The unding made available to the project through thcapital programme has allowed postgraduate students to pursue their reseattend seminars and training and contribute to a publication produced byprogramme. Furthermore, programme unding has had a major role in bocredibility and sel-confdence o the research team.

Impact of research and university strategy

The research conducted within the project has not directly impacted the stra

LUT or its Department of Business Administration. Instead, the research team

active thought to its own role within the university, nationally as well as inte

In what regard has it been unique, how has its own efforts complemented th

other research teams?

The debates and discussions within the research team on strategy issues hato clarify its own role, identity and objectives. As the team continues to grow

develop and as its research focus continues to sharpen, there is every reaso

that collaboration with other research teams will continue to increase. Alrea

collaboration is reasonably extensive, and in many cases the initiative has c

the team itself.

Indirectly, research on the role of trust and network cooperation in knowledg

organisations may well have had an impact on university practices. Professo

Blomqvist has been involved in setting up the multidisciplinary Technology B

Research Center (TBRC) at Lappeenranta, and earlier served as director of th

In 20022005, TBRC projects led to 15 doctoral dissertations in the fields of b

administration, industrial engineering and management and information tec


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7 journal articles

4 internationally refereed book chapters and

13 conference papers

In addition, Professor Blomqvist is involved in the work of the internationa

scientific community through her reviewership of international conference

three international science publications. She is also a founder member of

International Network on Trust (FINT). In response to requests from the EUEcoLead, she has hosted a workshop in Holland on the projects results. In

research cooperation around the Social capital project is currently starting

(comments on research papers, expert visits, joint articles and possibly joi

with Danish and US universities.

Positions as external reviewer and opponent of PhD dissertations

Positions as external reviewer and opponent can probably also be counted

the scientific impact of research. In 2005, Professor Blomqvist pre-reviewe

and one Australian dissertation and was the official opponent of one Finni

dissertation.

Formation and development of the research team

In 2005, the research team took onboard new postgraduate students work

of information management. The team now includes seven PhD students,

and two other professors, one postdoc researcher and one part-time resea

Professor Kaisu Puumalainen, Professor in Technology Research who spec

quantitative methodologies, is the second supervisor of the three postgrad

in the Social Capital project. In general, the research team works closely w

in the field of technology research and international marketing.

From basic to applied research and vice versa

In 2004, partly in response to the research results from the Social capital p

project and partly in response to business needs, a Tekes-funded project w

to explore factors impeding and promoting innovation in major business c

The initial findings of these projects have in turn led to new Tekes projects

Departments of Business Administration and Industrial Engineering and M


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and research issues, as well as on theory and its practical applicability and th

challenges of working life. Students are given a choice between an applied p

assignment (theory + small empirical application) or a more research-oriente

such as the measurement of social capital. The postgraduate students on the

team each deliver a lecture lasting 3045 minutes on their own research sub

In spring 2006, Professor Blomqvist and the other professors set up a postg

training course on 'Collaborative Innovation and Organisational InnovativenOrganised by the LUT Centre for Training and Development, the courses also

good use of the latest research results; a good example is provided by the ad

information management course during winter 20052006 on 'innovative ne

Furthermore, Professor Blomqvist has also served as visiting lecturer at the

School of Economics, Helsinki University of Technology and at EDHEC Unive

France.

The methodology studies under the Social capital programme have benefite

postgraduate students more generally as well. Professor Kaisu Puumalainen

currently working to incorporate the network analyses and multidimensiona

introduced at Social capital seminars into a postgraduate training course on

methodologies.

Dual knowledge interest and the nature of research

The project has aimed at achieving both theoretical and practical impact. The

aim is to generate new scientific knowledge, but at the same time to 'popula

knowledge and to make it more readily available for commercial application

knowledge interest has its background both in personal ambitions to produc

research and in practical reasons. Most of the funding for the research team

come from outside sources (Tekes, business companies), who expect to rece

applicable information in exchange for the money they have invested.

Media popularisation of new knowledge and information

The transfer into practice of the new knowledge produced in project theses,

dissertations and postdoc research is a challenging task indeed, but also hug

interesting and motivating. It allows research to reach a larger audience. Res

projects under the umbrella of the Social capital project have compiled their


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Communicating research knowledge via seminars for the general public

Clear and concise communication and reporting that respects its audience

new ideas in its readers and listeners, possibly even call into question pre

attitudes and practices. Professor Blomqvist has given lectures to top man

major business corporations, entrepreneurs, nurses, firemen, teachers, po

shop stewards. The communication of research results to various groups in

requires a keen understanding of the context in which each of these targetgo about their business and an ability to tailor the language and to some e

message of the presentation accordingly. Business management is often i

in questions of trust from a strategic vantage-point, hospital staff in turn a

interested in the context of patient care and internal and/or external organ

cooperation.

How does the impact of research show up?

The impact of research can be approached and studied from several differ

Finnish Academy - Impact

Documents

Transcript of Finnish Academy - Impact