On Impact (original) (raw)
Related papers
The Impact Imperative: Here Come the Women ;-)
Political Studies Review
The opposition between Flinders and John is largely a false one, and consequently the argument between them is rather ritualistic. On the major issue -that political science must engage in political and public debate -Flinders and John agree.Whether there was once a golden age of academic engagement or whether we are now at the high point, at one level does not really matter; what matters more is that political scientists should be engaging with, and responsive to, public debate. We set out an 'impact imperative' and its sister, the 'feminist imperative', arguing that feminist scholarship has always sought to engage with the real world of politics. We set out a series of recommendations to institutionalise and normalise impact, engagement and dissemination into work models and working practices, which if well managed should not detract from serious scholarship or require an aggressive campaign strategy for dissemination. Instead our approach is based on cooperation between academics, across disciplinary silos and the methodological divide.
The rise of impact in academia: repackaging a long- standing idea
British Politics
Since the Research Excellence Framework of 2014 (REF2014) 'impact' has created a conceptual conundrum gradually being pieced together by academics across the Higher Education sector. Emerging narratives and counter-narratives focus upon its role in dictating institutional reputation and funding to universities. However, not only does literature exploring impact, rather than 'REF2014 impact' per se, seldom see it as part of a changing sector, but it often also treats it as a new phenomenon within the political and social sciences. Here, we draw upon academic perceptions of impact set in motion in the UK during the 1970s, we critique the underlying assumption that impact is new. We argue three key points to this end. Firstly, contrary to much of the literature examining academic perceptions of impact, it is a long-standing idea. Secondly, within such accounts, the effect of academic research on policy and society (which is long-standing) and the instru-mentalisation of impact as a funding requirement (which is relatively new) are conflated. Thirdly, this conflation creates a novelty effect. In the context of a wider sea change to Higher Education, we examine different forms of consent, acceptance, endorsement and resistance surrounding the 'new' impact agenda to argue that this 'novelty effect' masks an important transitory process of acclimatisation among academics.
This piece interrogates and problematises the notion of impact, with particular reference to ethnomusicology. Following a brief overview of ethnomusicology’s historical engagement with matters of impact, I ask how we might account for not only the consequences of our own research but also the work of those we study and collaborate with in the terms required by UK government and funding council agendas.
Achieving and evidencing research 'impact'? Tensions and dilemmas from an ethic of care perspective
While many academics are sceptical about the 'impact agenda', it may offer the potential to re-value feminist and participatory approaches to the co-production of knowledge. Drawing on my experiences of developing a UK Research Excellence Framework (REF) impact case study based on research on young caregiving in the UK, Tanzania and Uganda, I explore the dilemmas and tensions of balancing an ethic of care and participatory praxis with research management demands to evidence 'impact' in the neoliberal academy. The participatory dissemination process enabled young people to identify their support needs, which translated into policy and practice recommendations and in turn, produced 'impact'. It also revealed a paradox of action-oriented research: this approach may bring greater emotional investment of the participants in the project in potentially negative as well as positive ways, resulting in disenchantment that the research did not lead to tangible outcomes at local level. Participatory praxis may also pose ethical dilemmas for researchers who have responsibilities to care for both 'proximate' and 'distant' others. The 'more than research' relationship I developed with practitioners was motivated by my ethic of care rather than by the demands of the audit culture. Furthermore, my research and the impacts cited emerged slowly and incrementally from a series of small grants in an unplanned, serendipitous way at different scales, which may be difficult to fit within institutional audits of 'impact'. Given the growing pressures on academics, it seems ever more important to embody an ethic of care in university settings, as well as in the 'field'. We need to join the call for 'slow scholarship' and advocate a re-valuing of feminist and participatory action research approaches, which may have most impact at local level, in order to achieve meaningful shifts in the impact agenda and more broadly, the academy.
2018
As the impact agenda increases in importance, appropriate consideration should be given to its effects on female academics. The REF has obviously gendered implications, with a number of different factors combining to exacerbate existing inequalities in the academy. Emily Yarrow and Julie Davies have examined impact case study submissions to the REF2014 business and management studies unit of assessment and and found women to be significantly underrepresented. There is clearly scope to foster further inclusion of women in the impact agenda through doctoral education, while institutions might also consider the creation of a new career path of “REF impact case fellows” who are rewarded for their focus on impact as a clear career track.
2019
Conceptualization of impact Research has various outputs, some of which can be considered as impact or any effect on, change or benefit to the economy, society, culture, public policy or services, health, the environment or quality of life, beyond academia (REF, 2014:6). Impact is not easy to create and to communicate to the larger public, it needs a sequence of activities in order to achieve it. The processes/activities that lead towards impact are commonly referred to as 'pathways' (Research Councils UK, 2014) although generating impact has also been linked to concepts such as knowledge transfer (Finne et al., 2011), knowledge utilization (effects) and knowledge exploitation (revenues) (Leiden protocol for research assessments, 2015), valorization or valuation, and productive interactions (Morton, 2015; Spaapen & Van Drooge, 2011;Wilson, Lavis, Travers, & Rourke, 2010). Impact has to be inevitably linked to the notion of accountability, as society is expecting from those who are engaged in scientific practice are indeed "doing science" in terms of an accepted model (Room, 2001:18). In addition, all accounts of the world reflect the social, ethnic, gendered, etc. position of the people who produced them (Hammersley & Gomm, 1997). Gender differences are continuously emerging in research, differentiating male and female researchers in different ways: through the segregation in scientific fields (Pető, 2018), fewer female PhD holders (Fassa, 2015), differences in academic hierarchical positions (Benschop & Brouns, 2003) etc. In the Advisory Group for Gender's report states that there is a need for research which will have genuine impact in reducing discrimination, both explicit and implicit; improving societal cohesion; and creating opportunities for all European citizens (European Commission Advisory Group for Gender, 2016). Considering the above-mentioned, impact should not be gender blind and has to justify the usage of societies resources.
Doing impact work while female: Hate tweets, ‘hot potatoes’ and having ‘enough of experts’
European Journal of Women's Studies
Drawing upon lived experiences, this article explores challenges facing feminist academics sharing work in the media, and the gendered, raced intersections of ‘being visible’ in digital cultures which enable direct, public response. We examine online backlash following publication of an article about representations of Meghan Markle’s feminism being co-opted by the patriarchal monarchy. While in it we argued against vilification of Markle, we encountered what we term distortions of research remediation as news outlets reported our work under headlines such as ‘academics accuse Meghan of dropping feminism like a hot potato’. Negative responses were polarised: anti-Meghan (drawing upon racist, anti-feminist, pro-empire, pro-Brexit/Trump rhetoric), and pro-Meghan (both general royal enthusiasts, and a smaller subsection viewing Markle in terms of politicised black uplift). In response, we received accusations of sexist, racist bullying, debate over definitions of feminism, claims femin...
The Role of Methods in Re-defining the Impact Agenda
This working paper makes a contribution to the evolving debate on ‘academic impact’ by focussing on cultural animation, a recent innovation in qualitative methodology and a means by which the division between academic and common-sense knowledge can be transcended. We explain and discuss this process with a first-hand account of the establishment of a new research centre (CASIC-Community Animation and Social Innovation Centre) which is pioneering this and other new and impactful forms of social research. We make two arguments: first, that cultural animation presents a novel platform for engagements between scholars, practitioners and community members and helps re-conceptualise what is meant by academic method, expertise and knowledge. Second, that it offers researchers a practical way of managing the co-production of knowledge, disassembling some of the inherent/inevitable power imbalances between ‘researchers’ and ‘subjects’. Drawing on Pettigrew’s (2011) definition of impact, we argue that spaces such as CASIC enable academics to harness creativity to potentially powerful effects within communities which makes a significant contribution to the ways in which impact is considered. Keywords: Methods, Network, Co-creation, Democracy, Impact, Legacy