Step 3: Impact of research

Understanding Wider Research Impact

The precise definition of ‘wider research impact’ varies between funders, but, at its most basic level, it is the beneficial change which research creates in society beyond academia. This could be through the enhanced effectiveness of public services and policy, improving quality of life and health, or economic benefits. Public engagement, knowledge exchange, and policy relevance can all be part of the processes leading to research impact, but impact has not occurred unless these activities have prompted a demonstrable change. It is also important to distinguish between wider research impact which benefits society and its counterpart, ‘academic impact’, which is the contribution of research to advancing a field of study within academia.

Researchers planning for wider impact in their projects should consider the following:

  • What beneficial change(s) do you aim to generate with your research (multiple, long-term/short-term, causal)?
  • Who are your stakeholders (partners and beneficiaries)? Identify the non-academic groups and organisations you need to work with in the project and/ or who will benefit from your research.
  • How will you involve these stakeholders in the project? It’s important to engage possible partners and beneficiaries from an early stage, to receive their active input. That way impact is made more likely through the creation of an output which meets their needs.
  • How will you measure the beneficial change(s)? What are the indicators? What factors can be monitored and measured? Be precise.
  • How will you prove to funders that change has happened because of your research? Having identified the areas in which change could occur, you need to create mechanisms for collecting evidence. It’s vital to embed processes for capturing evidence as the project progresses. It will be more difficult to do so retrospectively.
     

The following links provide further information on working with wider research impact: