Impact for Social Sciences and the Handbook for Social Scientists

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1 Impact for Social Sciences and the Handbook for Social Scientists Jane Tinkler LSE Public Policy Group 21 June 2011

2 Structure of this talk Defining research impacts o PPG s view of impact o HEFCE s view of impact External impacts o How do they happen? o How can you measure them? o How do you contextualise them? o What constrains them? Top tips for increasing impact

3 Defining research impacts A research impactis a recorded or otherwise auditable occasion of influence from academic research on another actor or organization. a. Academic impacts from research are influences upon actors in academia or universities, e.g. as measured by citations in other academic authors work. b. External impacts are influences on actors outside higher education, that is, in business, government or civil society, e.g. as measured by references in the trade press or in government documents, or by coverage in mass media.

4 PPG view of impact Primary impacts observable occasions of influence A c a d e m i c w o r k Academic impacts e.g. citations External impacts e.g. influence counts Dynamic knowledge inventory Academic/ university outputs Economic/ public policy/ civil society outputs Academic work and external impacts: allowing for time lags and cumulation/ delay effects

5 HEFCE view of impact needs firstly evidence of changed outputs Primary impacts observable occasions of influence Changes in organizational activities or outputs A c a d e m i c w o r k Academic impacts e.g. citations External impacts e.g. influence counts Dynamic knowledge inventory Economic/ public policy/ civil society outputs Multiple other factors Demonstrated, controlling for other influences

6 HEFCE view of impact needs secondly evidence of changed outcomes Primary impacts observable occasions of influence Changes in organizational activities or outputs Changes in societal outcomes A c a d e m i c w o r k Academic impacts e.g. citations External impacts e.g. influence counts Dynamic knowledge inventory Economic/ public policy/ civil society outputs Multiple other factors Economic/ public policy/ civil society outputs Controlling for other influences

7 HEFCE view of impact needs thirdly proof of positive social benefits Primary impacts observable occasions of influence Changes in organizational activities or outputs Changes in societal outcomes Evaluations of outcome changes against societal values A c a d e m i c w o r k Academic impacts e.g. citations External impacts e.g. influence counts Dynamic knowledge inventory Economic/ public policy/ civil society outputs Multiple other factors Economic/ public policy/ civil society outputs +? -

8 External impacts: how do they happen? 6a. Insider, elite reputation 6b. Public, media reputation 6. External reputation 7. Experience 8. Track record 5. Interaction expertise 1. Academic credibility 4. Personal communication capacity 2. Dispositional and sub-field constraints 3. Networking skills Key: Low Medium High

9 How the impacts interface shapes external impacts Single discipline processes Joined-up scholarship Impacts interface Wider society Renewal Discovery Integration Bridging University - local integration Media Specialist Media Professions Corporations Entrepreneurs Consultants Media, cultural and civil society systems Economic and business systems Application Academic Service Think tanks Policy communities NGOs Public policy systems

10 External impacts: How do you measure them? Six metrics of academic/university involvements with external impact o External funding linkages, especially businessto-sciences/ technology departments o Media and specialist media presence o Government website presence o Academic service in government o Reported knowledge transfer activities o Academics perceptions of impacts

11 Universities key interactions with business in the UK Change % Change Collaborative research ( 000s) 697, ,734 34,704 5 Contract research Total number of contracts 27,051 28,111 1,060 4 Total value of contracts ( 000s) 834, , , Consultancy Total number of contracts 64,292 64, Total income ( 000s) 334, ,541-3,227-1 of which, number with SMEs 22,802 20,596-2, number with large business 10,499 10, Patents Number of new patent applications 1,898 2, Number of patents granted in year Intellectual property income Total revenues ( 000s) 66, ,368 58, Total costs ( 000s) 21,003 27,794 6, Spin-off companies Number created 2,223 2, Estimated external investment received ( 000s) 89, ,451 64,954 42

12 Proportion of research found in UK national press from different disciplines (2008) Health and Medicine Science and Technology Politics Economics Business and Finance Psychology Law History Sociology Philosophy English Communication and Media Architecture Education Arts Humanities* Computer science Anthropology Languages Geography Number of items

13 Proportion of research found on UK government websites from different disciplines Social policy and anthropology Medicine HSS Medical sciences Law and legal Health policy and public health Mixed Criminology and criminal policy Employment and work Psychology and psychiatry Development Education Public policy and policy studies Transport policy Politics and democracy Management and media studies Technology Science and engineering Economics Geography Design Creative and arts Archeology Percentage of all research projects found

14 Academic Service: University staff involved in UK central government quasi-government agencies University funding bodies Wider government bodies All bodies Top academics (managing universities) Heads of department Professors Lecturers Total 101% 100% 100% Number of academics Source: Griffiths, 2010

15 Academics reporting of knowledge transfer activities - top 11 activities Knowledge transfer practice % academics involved 2009 % academics involved 2008 type of academic activity Attending conferences general Informal advice to business application External lectures application Networks integration Joint publication application Advisory boards service Student projects/placements renewal External visits 19 application Formed/run consultancy application Contract research application Undertaken consultancy application

16 Social science and humanities academics perceptions of external impacts (2008) Area of external impacts Level of impact Social scientists only Academics spanning social sciences and humanities All respondents (including academics across all social science and humanities) Public policy Actual Potential Civil society Actual Potential Public debates and Actual culture Potential Economy and Actual business Science and technology Potential Actual Potential

17 External impacts: How do you contextualise them? Positions: early-years researcher, senior lecturer, professor Academic roles: research, teaching, academic citizenship, academic management, dissemination Disciplines: subject areas are more linked in to particular external groups

18 External impacts: Differences by discipline Mentions to Economists Think Tank 35 Mentions to Political Scientists Think Tank 30 Society Group or Indiv Government Press Group or Indiv Society Government Press Business Library Business Library Other/NA Other/NA Mentions to Geographers Think Tank 30 Group or Indiv Government 10 Society 5 0 Press Business Library Other/NA

19 External impacts: What constrains them? Higher Education Institution Lack of time Bureaucracy and inflexibility of HEI administration Difficulties in identifying partners Insufficient rewards and lack of awareness of the benefits from the interactions Lack of understanding by academics of the process Capacity and capability of the KE system still developing / evolving Private / public / third sector organisation Lack of resources within external organisations to fund the KE engagement Insufficient benefits from the interaction Lack of interest by external organisations and lack of demand for KE Intellectual property agreements as a barrier to some, albeit minority of, KE engagement Source: PACEC/CBR Survey of Academics (2008); PACEC/CBR Survey of Enterprise Offices (2010); CBR Survey of Enterprises (2008)

20 Top tips for increasing academic impacts Pick as distinctive a version of your author name as possible and stick with it Write informative article titles, abstracts and book blurbs Work with colleagues to produce multi-authored outputs Consider cross-disciplinary research projects Build communication and dissemination plans into research projects early on Always put a version of any output on the open web

21 Top tips for increasing external impacts for academics Most importantly, create an impact file to collect information on all your external interactions Consider alternative methods of disseminating research outputs that are tailored to particular audience groups Research mediators such as think tanks or community groups are a good way to link into networks of interest Use all available dissemination resources e.g. online depositories, seminar series, multi-author blogs, knowledge transfer schemes

22 Top tips for increasing external impacts for universities and departments Provide an overall steer on the value of dissemination and impact for all academic staff Incentivise this through promotion and advancement processes Factor dissemination and impact into calculations of academic workload and time burdens Re-evaluate event /conference programmes Host online depositories or other dissemination opportunities such as blogs Facilitate collaboration and linking to dedicated expert teams/consultancies

23 For more details see: Maximising the Impacts of your Work handbook Impact of Social Science blog: Facebook: Impact of Social Sciences

Publishing for Impact

Publishing for Impact Jane Tinkler @janetinkler 29 September 2010 STM Publishing Impact 19 November 2015 How does impact happen? Dynamic Knowledge Inventory: a model of impact for the humanities and the