The role of the UK HEI Impact “officer” pre- and post REF….

Dr Sarah Gilmore, Principle Lecturer, Portsmouth Business School Rebecca Steliaros, PhD, MBA, Director, Research in Focus Ltd.

45 responses

Did the role that you have now exist before December 2013? Yes = 24

Have you changed institutions since November 2013? Yes = 5 No = 40 Reasons for moving (very small sample size): Temporary contacts Lack of vision about impact Devaluing of role

Time spent on Impact People moved into the area. Stability for those who were already working almost exclusively on impact still are + new people added, far more people for whom impact is combined with other duties

Where are you based?

Who do you work with?

More hands-on relationships with researchers If you were involved with impact in November 2013 and still are, what are the main changes between the role you had in November 2013 and now? Shift from narrow, retrospective focus on REF submission to a wider, prospective one concerned with embedding impact. More formalised roles for some; greater focus on how impact needs to be resourced staffing-wise More hands-on relationships with researchers Focus on acceleration activities (where grants achieved) Emphasis on showcasing impact through electronic media. The prospective focus: developing researcher support, training and development, relationship building, developing impact strategies, initiatives to embed impact, focus on pathways to impact and the demands of funders, making connections across the institution/within faculties or departments where respondents are located (and beyond). Focus on knowledge-sharing, short-term impact generation whilst also focusing on the longer-term/REF 2020

Impact in strategic plan before the REF?

NEW post REF HEI impact related initiatives Yes - 37 No - 5

Types of activities Capacity building initiatives Additional funding secured – either from the institution or via IAA Installing annual reviews of impact in order to inform investment decisions, research monitoring activities & departmental plans Revising promotion criteria Training, development and workshops (department/faculty/across institution) - tailoring provision to take account of different researcher needs Activities launched by those awarded IAAs  Web-based dissemination of ICS and other impact related activity: exploiting ICS to best effect Public engagement initiatives Rolling out related software (tracker and evidence recording systems) & investigations into evidence capture systems Capacity building initiatives: New posts (impact officers/leads and champions) and structures (steering groups, departmental impact cttees), funding impact through small grants, developing impact networks, developing best practice sharing forum. Focus on future REF through added resourcing and continuous assessment activities for 2020

New impact activities

Prospecting vs farming ….. ?

If you work in an impact support role, what are the greatest challenges you face? Embedding & co-ordinating impact across the institution (including securing buy in from senior management & academics)  Variety of possible impacts to support/catering to diversity of needs whilst maintaining uniform engagement across academic departments  Academic & impact staff not having time/money/staff to do impact or to pursue new lines of impact inquiry Capturing, measuring, recording & storing impact & impact evidence - co-ordinating this across the institution Communications – at faculty/department/institutional level  Lack of clarity regarding future REF and impact demands  also ensuring academics know the difference between PTI and REF requirements

Balance between REF and other forms of impact What are the major challenges for research impact support within your university? Strategic challenges Resource provision Culture change Communications Balance between REF and other forms of impact

What can the Research Impact Network do to support you in your role? Networking (internal and external focus as well as formation of regional networks/events) Sharing and identifying good practice Provide an environment to share ideas Provide events and conferences Provide intelligence – what’s going on? Co-ordinate university-wide impact approach and collaboration amongst HEIs Co-ordinate training and development with reference to impact Lobby HEFCE for speedy decision for rules for next REF Recommendations for impact capture Provide toolkits for how to have impact within the institution 

Key messages Sector full of highly competent professionals who know what they are doing, but: still on road to normality In-house, not yet everyday activity Yet to develop a systematic way of how we do things across the sector

The network as a systematiser? Part of an existing org e.g. ARMA/Praxis-UniCo or is this a wider issue?

Focus Groups/Posters Movement from narrow REF focus to wider one; structural changes/developments, focus on IT capture & wider public dissemination. Happening or not? If not, why not? Are there differences here between old/new universities, different faculties (e.g. science, arts & humanities etc.). What challenges occur for YOU as an impact officer on the back of this shift (i.e. we found issues for officers focused on embedding, buy-in, supporting impact, communicating/capturing – anything else we didn’t get from the survey?). What help and support do you need at the local level? Is this support being given by your institution? If not, why not? If so, why – i.e. what reasons have been given for this support? Training and development needs – could the network facilitate… Where’s impact going in your institution? Next steps? Impact issues that you think the survey has missed?