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Research Councils UK Excellence with Impact

Research Councils UK Excellence with Impact. Alf Game May 2011. Research Councils UK (RCUK). Partnership of the UK’s seven Research Councils. Annually invest around £3 billion in research. Support research that contributes to a productive economy, healthy society and a sustainable world.

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Research Councils UK Excellence with Impact

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  1. Research Councils UK Excellence with Impact Alf Game May 2011

  2. Research Councils UK (RCUK) • Partnership of the UK’s seven Research Councils. • Annually invest around £3 billion in research. • Support research that contributes to a productive economy, healthy society and a sustainable world. • Work with a range of partners to support exchange of knowledge from the research base into the private, public and third sectors.

  3. Presentation summary • What is impact? And why does it matter? • Pathways to Impact • Why? • What do applicants need to write in their application? • Key messages and lessons learned so far.

  4. RCUK is committed to excellence with impact. This means continuing to invest in the best research, people and infrastructure; whilst aiming to enhance the impact of that funding on society.

  5. What is economic and societal impact? • The demonstrable contribution that excellent research makes to society and the economy by: • fostering global economic performance, and specifically the economic competitiveness of the UK, • increasing the effectiveness of public services and policy, • enhancing quality of life, health and creative output.

  6. Why does impact matter? • Accountability • Quality • Maximising benefits • Reputation

  7. A model to think about impact • Broad continuum of impact, ranging from • conceptual impacts (including informing debates, directions in thinking and culture that lead to developments in policy and practice) through to • instrumental impacts (e.g. directly influencing changes in policy or practice), and • capacity building impacts (through the transfer of people and skills across the researcher/user interface).

  8. SR 2011-15 “(The RCUK) allocation as part of the 2010 spending review confirms the value that Government has placed on research investment for the UK. In the context of a very difficult public sector settlement, it is very encouraging that the allocations to the Research Councils have fared so well….excellence with impact will remain at the core of what we do.” Professor Alan Thorpe, Chair of Research Councils UK December 2010

  9. Pathways to Impact

  10. The application process Academic beneficiaries • Should cover potential academic impact and pathways towards realising that. Impact Summary • Should cover potential economic and societal impact and seek to answer two questions: • Who might benefit from this research? • How might they benefit from this research? Pathways to Impact • Should detail the activities which will help develop potential economic and societal impact, answering the question: • What will be done to ensure that potential beneficiaries? have the opportunity to engage with this research?

  11. Why are we asking applicants to explore Pathways to Impact? • Asking applicants to consider activities to enhance economic and societal impact is not new. • We know that the research we fund has a huge impact on the wellbeing and economy of the UK. • The changes to the application process help emphasise the importance we place on this and ensure that potential impacts are demonstrated and supported. • Also, it ensures a common format for capturing and assessing this information across different Research Councils.

  12. Pathways to Impact: Key Messages and Policies - 1 • Think about the potential impacts of your research and the resources required from the outset. • The primary criterion for RCUK funding remains excellent research. • Beyond that there are a number of considerations, of which Pathways to Impact are one. • RCUK reserve the right to withhold the award of grant until Pathways to Impact are of a standard appropriate for the project.

  13. Pathways to Impact: Key Messages and Policies - 2 • Applicants may request resources to cover the costs of eligible, project specific and appropriate activity within their Pathways to Impact, unless applying via STFC. • Costs requested must be reasonable and fully justified, and should avoid duplicating any elements that are covered within indirect costs. • There are a wide range of potential activities that could be considered and explored.

  14. Attitudes and perceptions Benefits: • Encourages researchers to give more consideration to the potential impact of their work.  • Scope for better knowledge exchange. • Helps to identify potential future success stories. Challenges: • Resources required to support researchers. • Confusion and misconceptions regarding purpose.

  15. Beyond the application process… • Pathways to Impact will be monitored in the same way as any other part of the research grant. • appropriate and commensurate • Outputs and outcomes from grants will be captured • this reporting joins up our lifecycle approach to impact • Alignment with the REF • the inclusion of impact within the REF ensures that all parts of the system recognise and reward impact considerations

  16. Content and Quality of Pathways to Impact – Feedback from Panel Chairs • Quality has been varied but indication that this is improving. “In the best they produce more reflective and more clearly planned bids and as such they help to reinforce the quality or expose the weaknesses” “Initially these were highly variable and they remain so, although there has been improvement in their quality / content over the last few grant rounds” “It has been a little bit variable but overall people are giving reasonable and robust cases for potential impact” • Some common areas for improvement indentified by Panel Chairs

  17. Early lessons -1 • Applicants have taken the requirements of Pathways to Impact seriously and attempted to address all three questions • Where applicants haven't answered all three questions most failed to address how they will maximise impact • Many applicants describe previous impact activities – rather than new Pathways. Good to note track record but need to remember project specificity i.e. how they you maximise potential impact in this project

  18. Early lessons - 2 • Focus on traditional methods of dissemination, rather than early engagement of users • Still quite a lot of academic impact being mentioned • Many applicants preferred to use a framework • Only around 1/5th described clear milestones and/or measures of success. Only 1/3rd explicitly requested resources

  19. Further guidance and support • Je-S helptext • RCUK website • FAQs, top 10 tips, expectations and policies and more at… www.rcuk.ac.uk/kei/impacts Feedback welcome…

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