1. University of Liverpool Management School
Research engagement with users and Impact in International Business and International Management
Frank McDonald
University of Liverpool Management School
BAM/IBNW Manchester 19 Sept 2016

2. Stern Report
The Stern Report on REF 2014 made three recommendations with regard to Impact
Institutions should be given more flexibility to showcase their interdisciplinary and collaborative impacts by submitting ‘institutional’ level impact case studies, part of a new institutional level assessment.
Impact should be based on research of demonstrable quality. However, case studies could be linked to a research activity and a body of work as well as to a broad range of research outputs.
Guidance on the REF should make it clear that impact case studies should not be narrowly interpreted, need not solely focus on socioeconomic impacts but should also include impact on government policy, on public engagement and understanding, on cultural life, on academic impacts outside the field, and impacts on teaching.
BAM/IBNW Manchester 19 Sept 2016

3. Some Implications of Stern’s Recommendations
How can B&M (and IB & IM in particular) contribute to institutional Impact cases
What does ‘research activity and a body of work as well as to a broad range of research outputs’ mean in terms of the research underpinning for Impact
What does ‘academic impacts outside the field, and impacts on teaching’ mean in terms of how we decide on what constitutes Impact from our research
BAM/IBNW Manchester 19 Sept 2016

4. Some tentative questions
What are the main characteristics of high quality Impact?
How do we more effectively engage with users to produce high quality Impact?
Who are good users to target?
How do we record Impact to justify high quality Impact?
The slides from the three speakers provide insights into how we might answer these sorts of questions
BAM/IBNW Manchester 19 Sept 2016