Department of International Politics Aberystwyth University

1. Department of International PoliticsAberystwyth University Away Day 2 Tuesday 3 July 2012

2. What is Impact? • Impact is defined broadly for the REF: an effect on, change or benefit to the economy, society, culture, public policy or services, health, the environment or quality of life, beyond academia • Agenda emerged out of government determination to ensure ‘value for money’ from its £4.5 billion expenditure • In an age of austerity, emphasis on demonstrating impact/’proving worth’ of publicly-funded research only going to intensify • New mantra from RCs: impact is not going away so important academics take ownership of it

3. Impact and the REF 65% 15% 20%

4. Impact and the REF • Impact Template (REF3a) • Sets out the submitted unit’s general approach to supporting impact from its research • Approach to supporting impact during the period 2008 to 2013 • Forward strategy, plans and ongoing activity • 20% of the impact sub-profile • Impact Case Studies (REF3b) • Specific examples of impacts already achieved, underpinned by the unit’s research • 1 case study per 10 FTE staff submitted (+ 1 extra) • Impacts during 2008 – 2013, underpinned by research since 1993 • 80% of the impact sub-profile

5. Impact Case Studies • Short documents, requiring very careful drafting • Clearly describe the underpinning research, who undertook it and when • Provide references to the research and evidence of quality • Explain how the research led/contributed to the impact • Clearly identify the beneficiaries and define the impact • Provide evidence/indicators of the impact • Provide independent sources of corroboration • Submitted case studies need not be representative of activity across the unit: pick the strongest examples

6. Underpinning Research • Each case study must be underpinned by research that: • was produced by staff while working in the submitting HEI • is evidenced by outputs published between 1 Jan 1993 to 31 Dec 2013 • meets the quality threshold of at least equivalent to 2* • made a material and distinct contribution to the impact (there are many possible ‘routes’ to impact, but in each case a distinct and material contribution must be shown) • Once the panel is satisfied that these criteria have been met, it will assess and grade the case study in terms of the ‘reach and significance’ of the impact

7. Evidence • Case studies should provide a clear and coherent narrative linking the research to the impact … • … including evidence most appropriate to the case being made • Evidence may take many different forms, quantitative and qualitative. Panels provide examples, which are not exhaustive or prescriptive • Key claims should be capable of verification. Independent sources of corroboration should be listed and may be used for audit purposes

8. Assessment Criteria • The criteria for assessing impact are reach and significance • In assessing a case study, the panel will form an overall view about the impact’s reach and significance taken as a whole, rather than assess each criterion separately • ‘Reach’ is not a geographic scale. Sub-panels will consider a number of dimensions to the ‘reach’ as appropriate to the nature of the impact. • In assessing the impact template, the panel will consider the extent to which the unit’s approach is conducive to achieving impacts of ‘reach and significance’

9. What Counts as Impact? • “Impact includes … an effect on, change, or benefit to … • the activity, attitude, awareness, behaviour, capacity, opportunity, performance, policy, practice, process or understanding • of a [non-academic] audience, beneficiary, community, constituency, organisation or individuals • in any geographic location whether locally, regionally, nationally or internationally” • Academic community achieved a success in ensuring adoption of relatively broad and inclusive definition of impact

10. What Counts as Impact? • Main Panel C criteria provide examples of: • Impacts on creativity, culture and society • Economic, commercial, organisational impacts • Impacts on the environment • Health and welfare impacts • Impacts on practitioners and professional services • Impacts on public policy, law and services • Inclusive rhetoric, though some suspicion that not all impacts are equal …

11. What Counts as Impact? • Engagement and dissemination are NOT impact – though they can obviously provide routes to impact • ‘Users’ on panels will be heavily involved in assessing impact • Evidencing impact and identifying the causal chain through which it occurred absolutely crucial

12. Why We Have to Respond • Number of viable impact case studies constrains number of researchers we enter to the REF – this ‘force multiplies’ impact’s 20% weighting • If we only have two viable case studies, we can only enter 14.99 people for the REF; with three, it is 24.99; we need four to enter between 25 and 34.99 people • All these options are under consideration – probable some colleagues with necessary GPA of 2.75 will be left off the form, and we will receive no QR income from their outputs • Current situation with case studies: 2 in bank [IWP; CHAIR]; 3rd and 4th gestating but might not come off

13. Why We Have to Respond • Impact only likely to be more important in any future REF • This is a real area of weakness for us cf. RAE 2008 – need to act not only for REF 2014 but to position ourselves more favourably for the next REF • Impact is also, of course, increasingly a fixture in grant capture, which will itself become more important for our overall income – GC an AU/Welsh Govt strategic priority • Grant capture is also a factor in the ‘environment’ sub-profile of the REF too – and also now in determining distribution of funded UG places in Wales ….

14. How to Respond? • Impact is ‘not an Aber thing’…? • Need to find ways of adapting to the demands of this agenda whilst preserving our traditional cultures and strengths • People doing ‘impacty’ work can bear the burden …? • Individuals are likely to make differential contributions, but we need to keep equity considerations in mind – this is now a core activity

15. How to Respond? • As individuals …. • Explore possibilities for enhancing impact dimension of our own research • Opportunities as well as threats: why not make your research more ‘meaningful’? • Broadening of impact definition means impactful research ≠ policy wonkery: projects with compelling intellectual rationales that also have impact potential? • Requires an active strategy: conception; research; dissemination and engagement; active networking and logging interactions; tracking impacts and generating evidence

16. How to Respond? • … and collectively • Need to elaborate a strategy for the writing of the REF Impact Template, but also to embed as a reality • Initiatives to date • Departmental Engagement and Impact Fund • Training sessions and CPD • Diverse outreach and external engagement initiatives • Deputy D of R (Impact) • Ideas for the future • Staffing strategy? • Collaborative working? • Time off/funding for impact activities? • How else can we support you in achieving and tracking impact?

17. How to Respond? • References • LSE Impact of Social Sciences Project http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/impactofsocialsciences/about-the-project/ • ESRC Impact Toolkit http://www.esrc.ac.uk/funding-and-guidance/tools-and-resources/impact-toolkit/ • REF 2014 Main Panel C Criteria http://www.ref.ac.uk/media/ref/content/pub/panelcriteriaandworkingmethods/01_12_2C.pdf • European Commission, Communicating Research for Evidence-Based Policy-Making http://ec.europa.eu/research/social-sciences/pdf/guide-communicating-research_en.pdf

18. How to Respond? • Comments and questions • Handouts • Session 2: group discussions on ‘building an impact strategy’