Overview
The four higher education funding bodies will use the assessment outcomes to inform the selective allocation of their grant for research to the institutions which they fund, with effect from 2015-16.
Main elements of the REF Submission:
- Outcomes: details of publications and other assessable output (65%)
- Impact: impact template and case studies documents. (20%)
- Environment: research environment information. (15%)
Impact Case Studies
- Summary of the impact
- A description of the underpinning research
- References to the research
- Details of the impact
- Sources corroborating the impact
Reach is defined as ‘the spread or breadth of influence or effect on the relevant constituencies’
Significance is defined as ‘the intensity or the influence or effect’
Pathways to Impact (2 sides of A4)
1. Project Title [Brief summary of the main aim of the proposal; Continuation of Impact Summary: what will be done to ensure that potential beneficiaries have the opportunity to engage with this research?]
- Impact Objectives [social, economic, scientific]
2. Project-specific impact activities
- Application and Exploitation
- Communications and Engagement
- Collaboration and co-production
- Capacity building [Training & Support for impact activities]
3. Impact activity timelines and milestones
[These should be linked to your research milestones; Gantt chart]
4. Summary of resource
RCUK Pathways to Impact Guidelines
Research Impact Review
'The nature, scale and beneficiaries of research impact: An initial analysis of Research Excellence Framework (REF) 2014 impact case studies' * report by King's College London captures an initial analysis of 6,679 impact case studies that were submitted to the 2014 Research Excellence Framework.
Key findings:
- Underpinning research in over 80% of included studies was multidisciplinary and diverse
- Different types of impact were identified in different disciplines
- There is a diverse range of impact pathways
- The impact case studies provide a rich resource for future analysis but there are limitations
- The quantitative evidence supporting claims for impact was diverse and inconsistent, suggesting that the development of robust impact metrics is unlikely
- The use of standardized lists of information and the definitions in the case studies would aid future analysis
The analysis project has also produced the REF impact case study database, a searchable tool enabling analysis and automated text mining of the case studies.
- Research showing the importance of same-day diagnostic tests for tuberculosis led to improvements in access to care and reductions in costs incurred by patients in Malawi, Nigeria, Yemen, Ethiopia, Nepal and elsewhere.
- The development of a super-repellent surface, created by plasmachemical techniques and invented by UK researchers, is used in millions of products worldwide, including mobile phones and hearing aids.
- Paralympic athletes’ performance was improved by investigating wheelchair propulsion and optimizing configurations for competitive sport.
- Editorial and biographic analysis of the work of Virginia Woolf directly fed into the composition of Vanessa and Virginia (2008), a novel by Susan Sellars about Woolf’s relationship with her sister, Vanessa Bell
