Webinar 3 | Research Assessment and Impact
- Gemma Derrick, University of Bristol
- Dr Julie Bayley, University of Lincoln
Event Materials
This event is now archived and we are pleased to provide the following event media and assets, along with the original event overview.
Research impact forms a significant part of research assessment (eg. REF), and we now have many excellent examples of the significant impact research has on society. Julie Bayley will present how case studies of stellar impact can mask the scale of effort needed to drive impact, the contributions of those outside the core research team, and the opportunities not pursued in an assessment-led system. Julie Bayley will argue that as we continue to embed impact into the research landscape, we need to embed healthy institutional and sector practices to ensure impact is not only meaningful, but doesn’t hurt. The global push to legitimise excellence in research that extends beyond academia, has been met with equal concerns about how to evaluate ex-ante claims using communised evaluation heuristics of risk, feasibility and excellence. To add to this complexity is that while applicants are grappling with how to frame and present competitive ex-ante impact statements, evaluators too are unsure of how to evaluate these statements fairly and within the desirable norms of transparency and accountability. Evaluation works best when the values and expectations of the applicants are mirrored by the evaluators. Gemma Derrick will present a thematic, linguistic analysis of ex-ante Impact statements, contained within research proposals to the Research Council of Norway, Forskningsråde (RCN) and the scores awarded by the evaluation panel. Using a conceptualisation of the proposal components, research presents a model of how applicants construct ex-ante impact statements in research proposals, and theorises how panels use these components in evaluation. The research also creates a language around the construction of impact narratives by applicants and offers insights for evaluators seeking to evaluate the concept.
Event Notes
This webinar is part of the CGHE webinar series on ‘Research on Research’, based on the CGHE Research on Research project. Find out more about other webinars from this series here.
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Gemma Derrick is Associate Professor (Research Policy & Culture) at The University of Bristol. She is currently working on the interplay of research culture with principles of equity and social justice, with a focus on peer review, and how this influences research productivity and societal outcomes and the creep of external and internal research ‘change’ agendas. Gemma is currently the co-Chair of the Hidden REF, and works collaboratively with funding agencies, such as The Wellcome Trust, Research Council of Norway (Forskningsradet), as well as government research agencies (Research England, Australian Research Council) on aspects of research governance and evaluation.
Dr Julie Bayley is Director of Research Impact Development at the University of Lincoln (UK) and Director of the Lincoln Impact Literacy Institute (LILI). She is a HCPC Registered Chartered Health Psychologist, Policy Lead for the British Psychology Society Division of Health Psychology and Honorary Clinical Associate Professor at Nottingham University Hospitals. Julie consults widely on research impact and won the 2022 Advancing Research Impact in Society (ARIS) ‘Impact Innovations’ award for driving impact literacy across the sector. Outside of work, Julie is vascular patient advocate and was a dementia carer for many years. Her book ‘Creating Meaningful Impact: The Essential Guide to Developing an Impact-Literate Mindset’ was published in April 2023
