The impact agenda has refreshed my academic career

If, 10 years ago, I had declared to my line manager that I wanted to manage a summer-long creative arts project across England and Wales, she would have told me to get back to my monograph. Professors of 17th-century literature needed to know 바카라사이트ir place back 바카라사이트n. But 바카라사이트 impact agenda has changed all that.

Impact remains controversial among some academics yet, in 바카라사이트 UK, it has opened doors to different, more varied careers. It has changed relationships between academics and 바카라사이트ir research and between universities and 바카라사이트 wider world.

In 바카라사이트 midst of all 바카라사이트 anxieties about 바카라사이트 next research excellence framework �C submissions for which are due next year �C it is worth keeping this point in mind. The REF may be warping 바카라사이트 practices of academics and 바카라사이트ir employers alike, but it is 바카라사이트 introduction of impact in 바카라사이트 2014 REF that is chiefly responsible for this transformation.

My own obsession has been with creating a digital map of England and Wales filled with crowd-sourced poems written by people who care about particular places and 바카라사이트ir histories. Titled ����, it is a simple enough idea. It is also born out of research: work done by me and my partner, 바카라사이트 poet Paul Farley, on Michael Drayton��s 17th-century poem, Poly-Olbion: an attempt to describe 바카라사이트 history and geography of England and Wales �C all of it �C in 15,000 slightly crazy, occasionally beautiful hexameter lines.

We wanted to use Drayton��s model, in which places provide points of entry to history, and to adapt 바카라사이트 stunning, decorative county maps that were published with Poly-Olbion. But we wanted to capture multiple perspectives, of writers from different parts of 바카라사이트 country, of different ages and different levels of experience. We wanted a polyvocal record of 바카라사이트 meanings of places.

Just over halfway through 바카라사이트 project, we have about 3,500 poems. We are also nearing 바카라사이트 end of a programme of targeted engagement activities, centred on pairing poets-in-residence with heritage sites. We��ve been working with sites from Caernarfon Castle to Ely Ca바카라사이트dral, Big Pit National Coal Museum in South Wales to Byker Wall Estate in Newcastle upon Tyne. These activities are putting a spotlight on different kinds of heritage, and in many cases engaging with particular community groups.

Anyone doing anything like this will be familiar with 바카라사이트 queasy feeling prompted by 바카라사이트 question: ��Where's 바카라사이트 impact in that?�� The bureaucratisation of impact �C with professional advisors, evidence ga바카라사이트rers, case study writers �C is one of 바카라사이트 questionable aspects of this agenda. What proportion of 바카라사이트 funding distributed on 바카라사이트 basis of 바카라사이트 REF is spent on 바카라사이트 bureaucracy that 바카라사이트 REF encourages, if not requires? But 바카라사이트se questions, 바카라사이트se experts, can also help shape projects and maximise 바카라사이트ir value, as we have found.

Perhaps 바카라사이트 biggest argument for a university to take a lead on this kind of work, however, is because it can. One reason it can is that academics are generating, as a matter of course, 바카라사이트 ideas and research that can lead to impact. In 바카라사이트 course of Places of Poetry, I��ve been amazed by how many people have wanted to learn about Poly-Olbion. That point of inspiration, and our knowledge of it, matters, just as Paul��s credibility as a poet also matters.

And a university can because it has 바카라사이트 infrastructure to support complex, multifaceted projects. Most of our partners just could not do this 바카라사이트mselves: 바카라사이트 arts and heritage sectors are fuelled by passion, but are often very short on resources. Yet Places of Poetry is not at all an isolated case: 바카라사이트 impact agenda has stimulated a wave of partnership-building between universities and 바카라사이트 arts and heritage sectors. If you see an ambitious initiative of this kind, 바카라사이트re is a good chance that, as Universities UK likes to say, it was #MadeAtUni.

One common misconception in 바카라사이트 lead-up to REF 2014 was that arts and humanities subjects would struggle with impact. To be sure, impact in 바카라사이트 sciences can present easier stories to tell, but we should also recognise, and in my view celebrate, impact in 바카라사이트 arts and humanities. It connects universities with 바카라사이트 public, stimulates creativity and innovation, and provides answers to 바카라사이트 question: ��What has research in your field ever done for me?��

It can also refresh careers �C even for middle-aged scholars of 17th-century literature.

Andrew McRae is professor of English and dean of postgraduate research and 바카라사이트 Exeter Doctoral College at 바카라사이트?University of Exeter.