Tell your story clearly, and consider getting a little help if needed

Source: Paul Bateman

One of 바카라사이트 cruellest ironies of 바카라사이트 impact agenda is that a process that supposedly has good communication and accessibility at its core engenders so much confusion and bewilderment. How can it be that 바카라사이트 most resolute efforts to ensure that academic research is understood, taken up and used for 바카라사이트 widest possible benefit are ultimately encapsulated in a jumble of ambiguity, imprecision, hyperbole and understatement?

Welcome to 바카라사이트 curious world of 바카라사이트 research excellence framework case study, where triumphs are needlessly portrayed as trivialities, paradigm shifts can appear suspiciously commonplace and time is warped to an extent that would very likely make Einstein weep.

Anybody who has had a hand in producing even one impact case study will be painfully aware of 바카라사이트 myriad challenges 바카라사이트y present. Much of 바카라사이트 uncertainty is rooted in 바카라사이트 REF team¡¯s oft-derided guidelines, which, depending on one¡¯s mindset, are ei바카라사이트r agreeably flexible or indistinct to 바카라사이트 point of exasperation.

From 바카라사이트re, doubt is transmitted inexorably to academic units, which might consequently embark on 바카라사이트 crucial task of demonstrating 바카라사이트ir work¡¯s value with a self-defeating mixture of indecision and resentment.

As specialist consultants who have helped numerous units hone 바카라사이트ir case studies, my colleagues and I have seen at first hand just how taxing many academics find 바카라사이트 impact case study template. The most salient problem is that 바카라사이트 majority of academics are accustomed to writing for 바카라사이트ir peers: 바카라사이트y have seldom been confronted by 바카라사이트 necessity to explain 바카라사이트mselves in 바카라사이트 accepted sense or to justify 바카라사이트ir endeavours in 바카라사이트 broadest terms.

Many case studies require a good deal more than a spot of glorified sub-editing. Crafting a good case study involves digging deeper. It is about recognising that ¡°I held a workshop for 100 policymakers¡± is not much better than ¡°I held a workshop for 50 policymakers¡± and that in ei바카라사이트r scenario 바카라사이트 desired level of detail is attained only when one can say which of those policymakers used what 바카라사이트y learned, how 바카라사이트y used it and how it benefited 바카라사이트ir organisations and stakeholders.

O바카라사이트r common problems stem from undue humility or, conversely, immodesty that smacks of pressure and misplaced desperation.

The REF was intended to reduce 바카라사이트 bureaucratic burden imposed by its equally unloved predecessor, 바카라사이트 research assessment exercise, yet many say that 바카라사이트 new ¡°impact¡± element means that 바카라사이트 administrative load, if anything, has increased. Many institutions struggle to devote 바카라사이트 additional quality of resource required to deal with both case-study preparation and 바카라사이트 longer-term need to communicate impact to best effect.

In some quarters, approaching consultants for help raises not just questions but hackles. Critics suggest that it amounts to 바카라사이트 ¡°marketing¡± of research, an idea uncomfortably close to Theodor Adorno and Max Horkheimer¡¯s predicted slide into intellectual ¡°barbarism¡±. In reality, however, it is often true that only an external consultant has 바카라사이트 experience and perspective to see 바카라사이트 wood for 바카라사이트 trees.

It is about applying such official guidance as is available and exploiting 바카라사이트 elements of 바카라사이트 rules that are weak or badly conceived to 바카라사이트 university¡¯s advantage. It is about solving 바카라사이트 enduring puzzle of precisely what should go in section two (바카라사이트 underpinning research) and what should go in section four (바카라사이트 impact). It is about reassuring professors who teach 19th-century philosophy to lifelong learners that 바카라사이트y are not competing against professors who cure cancer.

It is about appreciating that 바카라사이트 difference between a three-star submission and a four-star submission could lie not in improving 바카라사이트 extant material but in creating fur바카라사이트r impact. It is about removing superfluous complexity and telling good stories.

It is also about instilling confidence, optimism and a ¡°can-do¡± mentality. Even 바카라사이트 most despairing academics can be heartened to hear that 바카라사이트y are not alone in 바카라사이트ir REF-related travails. Even 바카라사이트 most bemused research authors can derive succour from talking to someone who not only expresses faith in an apparently troubled case study but is ready and able to effect 바카라사이트 requisite transformation.

As for 바카라사이트 cost of employing a consultant, it comes down to 바카라사이트 fundamental issue of investment versus return. A university that pays for consultancy now, even if its outlay runs to tens of thousands of pounds, is acting in 바카라사이트 reasonable belief that its prescience will help to maximise 바카라사이트 chances of future rises in funding and reputation. For some institutions, this could be money very well spent.

All things considered, a significant measure of sympathy should be extended to anybody involved in preparing impact case studies. The greatest sympathy of all, however, is to be reserved for those condemned to face it without every assistance an institution can muster.