#PoliticalSpeak: impact or lack of impact

Why has academia become so bureaucratic? #PoliticalSpeak #MSBlog

Life as an academic is becoming increasingly complicated and frustrating; I spend an extraordinary amount of time doing administration. We have been asked to start preparing for the next REF, which is likely to be in 2020, and need your help. 



In the UK academic institutions are assessed every 6-7 years as part of the Research Excellence Framework exercise or REF. As part of this assessment we have to provide 'impact case studies' demonstrating the impact of our research on wider society. Impact is defined as ‘an effect on, change or benefit to the economy, society, culture, public policy or services, health, the environment or quality of life, beyond academia’.

We had an informal discussion yesterday about what academic activities we are engaged in have impact and how can we show impact. If we have to submit an impact statement next REF we will need to be able to demonstrate how we are having impact with the relevant metrics, etc. As you are quite close to our activities you could help us prioritise our efforts so that we can focus on the academic activities that are most likely to succeed. This exercise will also help focus our minds as a group. Thank you. 



CoI: multiple

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