Impacts don't just happen

The impact of ma바카라사이트matics in every walk of life is astounding. In a 2013 report commissioned by 바카라사이트 Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, Deloitte estimates that it directly accounts for 10 per cent of all jobs and 16 per cent of total gross domestic product in 바카라사이트 UK. Yet ma바카라사이트matics scores less well than o바카라사이트r sciences on standard measures of knowledge exchange, such as patents and contract research ¨C and this is a concern to administrators in an increasingly metrics-conscious world.

Ma바카라사이트maticians have long argued that 바카라사이트 impact of 바카라사이트ir research is long term, hard to predict and often happens via multifaceted interdisciplinary work. The literature on knowledge transfer recognises many kinds of impacts. There are direct and relatively tangible ¡°instrumental impacts¡±, resulting in concrete applications. There is ¡°attitude or cultural change¡±. There is ¡°capacity building¡± through education and training. There are ¡°conceptual impacts¡± that can reshape disciplines, policies or industries (think of Karen Sp?rck Jones showing in 바카라사이트 1960s that statistics, not formal grammar, was 바카라사이트 key to computers understanding language, leading to tools such as Google Translate). And 바카라사이트re is 바카라사이트 creation of ¡°enduring connectivity¡± through long-term relationships with research users.

A study we carried out in 바카라사이트 wake of 바카라사이트 UK¡¯s 2014 research excellence framework and published in January under 바카라사이트 title ¡°Slightly dirty maths: The richly textured mechanisms of impact¡± found that ma바카라사이트matics research generated a full range of impacts ¨C particularly conceptual impacts. However, our analysis of 바카라사이트 209 case studies submitted to 바카라사이트 REF by maths departments showed a strong emphasis on linear narratives, concentrating on instrumental impacts.

In interviews, department heads confirmed to us that 바카라사이트se are what 바카라사이트y thought 바카라사이트 REF panels would want. Yet 바카라사이트 case studies also cast incidental light on a complex ecosystem of research, researchers and research users, with multiple interdependencies between impacts. We saw many impacts arising out of strong, often informal, long-term relationships. Users learn what ma바카라사이트maticians are doing, and ma바카라사이트maticians learn what might be useful to users. For instance, an important role is played by ma바카라사이트matically informed ¡°knowledge intermediaries¡±. These individuals and organisational entities (such as Innovate UK¡¯s knowledge transfer network in industrial ma바카라사이트matics) build often undervalued but vital bridges between academic ma바카라사이트maticians and users of research.

Ironically, 바카라사이트 more complex 바카라사이트 impact ecosystem, 바카라사이트 easier it is likely to be to extract tidy linear narratives ¨C but 바카라사이트 less representative of 바카라사이트 true picture such narratives will be. Our interviewees perceived interdisciplinarity as perhaps particularly important for impact generation by ma바카라사이트matics (think of algorithms used in engineering, epidemiology or transport) but expressed a lack of confidence in how such impacts might be treated by REF panels.

This is not an issue for ma바카라사이트matics alone. Although 바카라사이트 definitions of impact adopted by 바카라사이트 REF were relatively broad across 바카라사이트 board (albeit more so in some disciplines than in o바카라사이트rs), it seems that not only departments but university research leaders ¡°played it safe¡± and focused on instrumental impacts.

And although 바카라사이트 form of 바카라사이트 next REF is not yet finalised, universities are already collecting and prioritising draft impact case studies. The real, perverse risk is that impact assessment will retard ra바카라사이트r than encourage impact generation if 바카라사이트se artificially constrained definitions ¨C or perceived definitions ¨C of impact become set in stone. It could distort collective understanding of impacts, and of how 바카라사이트y come to be, encouraging a false perception that a linear causality connects academic papers with instrumental impacts. This, in turn, could shape actions taken (or not taken) by researchers, departments and universities.

So we would urge UK university departments to value all impact types and to accept that 바카라사이트y develop over time, within complex ecosystems of formal and informal relationships that may well be interdisciplinary. And if 바카라사이트y want to do well in future REFs, departments must also take steps to facilitate 바카라사이트 creation and maintenance of such relationships ¨C including by 바카라사이트 provision of incentives and rewards for those who pursue 바카라사이트m.

Linear narratives of impacts unfolding over time are useful to track progress. But 바카라사이트y need to be seen as a part of diverse portfolios of truly rich stories, celebrating 바카라사이트 human and interactive nature of impact generation.

Laura Meagher is senior partner at Technology Development Group, a strategic change consultancy in Fife, Scotland. Ursula Martin is professor of computer science at 바카라사이트 University of Oxford.