Measuring the impact of research: the story so far, and where to next?
Dr Michael Wykes, Policy, Impact and Performance Manager, 3rd April 2013
Outcomes
• “Assessment, evaluations, and definitions of research impact: A review” Research Evaluation 23 (2014) pp. 21-32, available under Open Access.
• Executive summary and recommendations
• Final report
• Seven essays on Impact
• http://www.exeter.ac.uk/research/inspiring/projects/impact/
Conference Evaluation • Excellent, but....
• “Thought it would be more focussed on REF 2014”.
• “Nice to see an all-female panel! Although complex ideas presented too quickly at times”.
• “Too strategic/systems”.
• ‘Unless academics’ “intellect, imagination and values” were engaged by impact, there was a danger that the agenda would be “a rather limp, bureaucratic and ineffective intervention”’
The Impact Industry?
National and International Context
• A 20% cut in real terms to the BIS budget between 2010
and 2018
• From 20% in REF 2014 to 25% in REF 2020?
• Impact Acceleration Accounts
• Systems
• Public Engagement
• Horizon 2020
• Collaborations: The fourth age of research
• HEIF #6
Where to next?
• How is the Impact important to HEIs and their staff? • Embedding Impact as a cultural norm • Resourcing Impact • Writing and communicating • Causal inference and the counterfactual • Leadership, job descriptions, promotion and reward • Planning the evidence • Institutional memory • ROS & Researchfish • Learning from other sectors • 7,000 • 155 wheels?
Challenge and Opportunity
• The attractiveness and limitations of metrics
• Assess rather than measure?
• Striking the right balance between narrative and numbers
• What would be the alternative to a Case Study approach?
• Risk of oversimplification and translating impacts into numerical expressions.
• Impact. Inspire. Involve. Improve. Influence.
“Everything that can be counted does not necessarily count, and everything that counts cannot necessarily be counted”
Thanks for listening
Contact:
Dr Michael Wykes
Policy, Impact and Performance Manager, [email protected] 01392 722351
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