Research Impact and Engagement

What is Research Impact?

Research Impact can be described as “the demonstrable contribution that excellent research makes to society and the economy” (UK Research and Innovation definition) and further as, “the effect on, change or benefit to the economy, society, culture, public policy or services, health, the environment or quality of life, beyond academia” (Research England definition for Research Excellence Framework - REF).

Think of it as: Impact = Change. What has changed as a result of the research? What will change? What can change? Therein lies your impact.

Impact exists in many forms and can include beneficial changes to the following:

1. Health and wellbeing - Research that leads to better outcomes for the health and wellbeing of individuals, groups or communities, including improvements to quality of life, emotional, psychological and physical wellbeing and life satisfaction.
2. Economy - Financial benefits that arise from research such as profit, employment of staff, money saved, costs avoided or increases in turnover.
3. Policy - Research that contributes to new or amended laws, regulations or other policy mechanisms that deliver a benefit to the public.
4. Awareness and understanding - Research that allows individuals, groups or communities to understand an issue better than they did previously.
5. Attitudes and behaviours - Research that causes a change in attitudes and behaviour of individuals, groups or communities, leading them to develop a new attitude that brings benefits to them or others.
6. Society and culture - Research that delivers benefits to specific social groups not covered by other types of impact.
7. Environment - Benefits from research to species or habitat conservation, climate modelling, sustainable energy use or ecosystems.

This is not an exhaustive list, but gives an idea of the sort of things to consider when assessing impact within your own research or when asked to peer review an application for a colleague.

The AMBS Impact Team

Professor Julie Froud is the Associate Director for Research Impact & Knowledge Exchange.

Julie is a member of the People, Management and Organisations division. She has previously undertaken several roles within the School including ethics co-ordinator and PGR Director, and has also been the Associate Head of Research for PMO.

Hannah Clark is the AMBS Impact Facilitator and the first point of contact for all things relating to research impact within the school. Contact: Hannah.Clark@manchester.ac.uk

The Humanities Impact Team is supported by Impact Support Officers: Kiefer Lambert, Noémie Farcy-Michel, and Harriet Lander. Their role is to support the identification, collection and management of evidence linked to potential REF impact case studies. Kiefer supports the core impact team in AMBS and SEED to deliver school level activities.

Recording research impact

As well as recording publications, projects and grant information, researchers should use Pure to capture details of other interactions, including knowledge exchange, engagement and impact. For guidance on creating and recording impact records in Pure, including details on attaching documentation and evidence, see the Pure support website or contact Hannah Clark (Impact Facilitator)

Promoting your research

Read the University's resource page for academics and researchers. Find out about the tools and resources you need to reach new audiences, including policymakers, businesses and the general public.

Impact Training

The University Research Impact Team offers five training modules that are available through the Training Catalogue and run once per term. These modules do book up fast, but they can be attended in any order and are designed to be relevant to all disciplines and researchers at all stages of their careers. Professional Services colleagues are also welcome to attend if relevant to their roles but as capacity is limited, researchers will be prioritised in the first instance.