10 principles of high quality engagement from @NCCPE

1. Understand your purpose and your contextpublicengagement.ac.uk/quality-practi… 2. Consider carefully the people you hope to involve in your engagement work, and the role of equality, diversity and inclusion in your approach

My take on what the initial decisions on REF mean for impact. Summary: these are mainly tweaks that address issues for which most institutions already found work-arounds. You can read the full announcement here repository.jisc.ac.uk/9148/1/researc… There are 4 main proposed changes to impact: a reduction in the minimum number of case studies needed for a submission, the reintroduction of an impact narrative at the unit level, removal of the 2* threshold for underpinning research and new criteria around rigour and engagement

We need to re-think research impact if we are to truly benefit those most in need. My new paper with @hannahrudman (4 years in the making) identifies three crucial points we need to consider when designing research for impact link.springer.com/article/10.100… It isn't possible to define impact without asking "for whom" - what will benefit one group or species in one context may compromise the interests of another group, or the same group in a different context (based on this subjective definition of impact sciencedirect.com/science/articl…)

Really enjoying @wadekelly's new volume, The Impactful Academic. Struck by how far ahead Canada is when it comes to drawing on diverse forms of knowledge and paying attention to context, thanks to @LaurenAlbrecht3 and Catherine Scott's chapter Decisions are rarely made on the basis of research evidence alone. They draw on many forms of knowledge, including experience and moral judgement. Our task is get the most relevant knowledge to decision-makers, not just our research.

Holiday reading - haven't been as excited about a new book as much as this for ages... Love this approach to theory building. Theory is useful when it both explains and helps, and if it isn't helpful enough, keep applying and refining your theory in practice until you have something that actually works

New book by @_JustinGest, "Mass Appeal", will enable you to make a step change in your communication with policymakers. Some take home messages...

https://twitter.com/ouppolitics/status/1323278965797089280

In addition to having robust evidence, researchers need to communicate why they are qualified to deliver the message - don't assume your audience will know your work or trust you.

When (and how) to write a highly cited versus a highly targeted paper.

Yesterday I recommended a colleague for promotion who had <30 citations across her 21 papers. She was researching a local but important issue and her targeted research and outreach had massive local impact... Today my citations passed 20K but I still write locally targeted papers - my two most recent publications are targeted clearly to a UK (REF) and English (policy) readership, but their non-academic impact will (I believe) be substantial...

Just finished reading this - love their concluding manifesto for a more compassionate and healthy research impact culture... We need to start focussing more on collective impact culture than individual success, and reward engagement as much as impact, and local impacts as much as more far-reaching ones

It is rare that I read an academic book from cover to cover so fast but James Gow and Henry Redwood's new book on impact has so many useful insights! Here are some of the best bits... Chapter 2 contains the most sophisticated discussion of impact as a concept and definition that I have seen, concluding in the end that we need to retain an ambiguous and open definition if it is to capture and "let bloom" the depth and breadth of what is possible

My worst Zoom challenge yet...

I'm due to deliver a webinar to Australian colleagues at 2.00 in the morning.

1.05: My Internet dies. Plan A: technical support. They're closed. Plan B: Wait. It will come back. It doesn't.

Apologies to everyone I ignored this week - between home schooling and today's grant deadline, little else happened I go into my weekend full of gratitude to Jon Warwick who project managed my bid while I looked after children, to @BellaReichard for inspiring my kids to learn German from a video link at the bottom of our garden...

There was already barely enough room in the three pages we got for pathways and impact summary. I can't see it will be possible to squeeze anywhere near 3 pages for impact out of the case for support without compromising the research

https://twitter.com/fasttrackimpact/status/1225105225926807553

Not clear whether and how impact will be reviewed - at present panels can request a poor pathway to be revised as a condition of funding

On my way to #OFC20 to exhibit the Harrier Tweed Bag, an art commission by @DalzielScullion that tells the story of Hen Harriers and Red Grouse in hunting estates. Delegates can learn about and take part in new research for @NaturalEngland informing the England Peat Strategy More about the bag dalzielscullion.com/works-entry/ha…

Looking forward to a day of learning and debate about knowledge co-production at @RURUStAndrews, co-hodted by @VLWard and Huw Davies The costs of co-producing research - @oliver_kathryn discussing her paper about "the dark side of co-production" …alth-policy-systems.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.11…

This is what edited volumes were made for. Critical analysis of the impact agenda from a unique perspective by @KFenbyHulse, with a level of personal reflection and practical advice you will not find anywhere else in the literature. My review of "Research Impact and the #ECR" 👇

https://twitter.com/KFenbyHulse/status/1146032254927462402

Exercise your academic freedom by choosing the sorts of impacts you want to generate from your research, and how you want to pursue them

Tips I learned as a deputy chair of an interdisciplinary sub-panel for the UKRI Future Leaders Fellowship (FLF) scheme today (1 of 12) 👇 Create a clearly labelled section explaining why FLF will be transformational to your career (especially if you are on the margins of being an early career researcher)

I was on a @GCRF panel last month and this is what I learned about how to write a winning proposal (1 of 8) 👇 Interdisciplinarity social science often underpins impact, but don't include research or impact goals that require social science (like assessing barriers to adoption of your new ideas/tech) if you don't have a (relevant) social scientist on your team (2 of 8)

I'm in London for a policy seminar on post-Brexit agricultural policy - read the policy briefs we are launching here

https://twitter.com/ResilientDairy/status/1072446066291851265

Defra say we should think about their policy trajectory in terms of "public interventions for public value" rather than a strict interpretation of "public money for public goods"

Just finished reading @GemmaDerrick's great new book about how impact was assessed in #REF2014: springer.com/gb/book/978331…

She's blogging soon for @fasttrackimpact but in the meantime here are my takeaways 👇 Lack of time for deliberation over conceptions of impact created a risk of group think in sub-panels that may have biased some #REF2014 outcomes (1/11)