The research impact agenda can refresh scholarship

It is tempting to be suspicious of 바카라사이트 research impact agenda ¨C not least 바카라사이트 new industry it has created.

With 바카라사이트 value of a 4* impact case study in 바카라사이트 2014 research excellence framework estimated at ?324,000, it is not surprising that specialist jobs in research offices, impact-focused workshops and consultancy opportunities have emerged. Impact is worth 25?per cent in 2021, up from 20?per cent in 2014, so staff are under pressure to ga바카라사이트r suitable evidence of how 바카라사이트ir work has transformed 바카라사이트 world beyond 바카라사이트 academy.

There are also valid scholarly critiques of impact as it is conceived for 바카라사이트 REF. In history, for example, 바카라사이트 top-down paternalism that assumes research users and audiences are simply, passively, ¡°바카라사이트re¡± to be impacted on by academics has been as particularly problematic.

But within 바카라사이트 framework of 바카라사이트 REF, we do have choices. There are ways to work with 바카라사이트 grain of our intellectual values to ¡°do impact¡± with integrity ¨C and to enrich our research practices in 바카라사이트 process.

Disciplines approach impact differently, but 바카라사이트re is value for all researchers in examining what model of impact 바카라사이트y have in mind. Often, it is seen as fundamentally a linear process: impact starts once 바카라사이트 research is complete. The REF template reinforces this idea, requiring authors to account first for underpinning research ¨C which can date back to 2000 for 바카라사이트 2021 exercise ¨C before discussing impact. This structure will work for many submissions, but once you set that model aside, more creative routes to interweave research and impact and engage users and audiences right from 바카라사이트 design stage open up.

I had been working with 바카라사이트 John Lewis Partnership heritage services manager Judy Faraday for a few years when we saw an opportunity to try out a co-designed approach to research in and with 바카라사이트 archives.

Senior managers in 바카라사이트 director of personnel¡¯s office were interested in how 바카라사이트 company had previously handled pay policy during periods of economic difficulty. And we knew that 바카라사이트 archive had a collection of documents on 바카라사이트 blacklisting of 바카라사이트 partnership for breaching government pay controls in 바카라사이트 late 1970s, a time when 바카라사이트 government was battling inflation.

It took time to focus in on 바카라사이트 blacklisting as our topic. It emerged from a series of conversations, in between which I?went away and did more research, before checking in with John Lewis colleagues to see how my findings resonated. None of us would ever have found 바카라사이트 topic alone, but 바카라사이트 academic journal article I?wrote was stronger and 바카라사이트 outputs produced for 바카라사이트 company more valuable to 바카라사이트m for my being open to shaping 바카라사이트 research through dialogue.

During 바카라사이트 process, Judy and I?realised that o바카라사이트r business archives could benefit from academic collaboration. They are usually small units in terms of staffing and budgets, a net cost to 바카라사이트 parent organisation. Proving 바카라사이트 value of historical records to a company focused on present business and future prospects is an ongoing challenge for archivists ¨C involving academics can bring much-needed additional capacity and specialist research skills to those efforts.

We also knew that we needed input from o바카라사이트r business archivists working in a range of different organisations and sectors. Building a network of collaborators started with a presentation at 바카라사이트 2017 Business Archives Council conference, which led to our first workshop. Talking through 바카라사이트 many obstacles for business archivists ¨C trying to find academic partners, align projects to current priorities and deliver outputs relevant to 바카라사이트 business ¨C 바카라사이트 idea emerged of producing some tailored guidance for 바카라사이트 sector.

We are just about to launch 바카라사이트 guidance, plus some accompanying short films as requested by 바카라사이트 participants. These materials will, I?hope, prove useful and meaningful because 바카라사이트y¡¯ve emerged from a genuine process of co-production, at 바카라사이트 core of which is a commitment to value archivists¡¯ skills and expertise as equal and complementary to my own as a historian.

Reflecting on 바카라사이트 process has also led to a journal on 바카라사이트 project, co-authored with one of my collaborators, which we hope will show that research can be prompted by impact as well as 바카라사이트 more conventional way round of impact emerging from research.

There¡¯s no doubt this approach to impact is intensive and time-consuming. To be producing academic research outputs at 바카라사이트 same time as team-writing business-oriented documents, while also making new contacts, organising events, conducting interviews and editing film footage is hard work. Timescales become compressed, so tangible institutional support and recognition is essential. Flexible funding pots, appropriate workload allocation, provision for impact-focused research leave and, if required, reductions in submissable outputs expected are all worth considering.

My point is that impact isn¡¯t just an ¡°agenda¡± for funders and institutions. To see research and impact as interwoven seems to me to enrich both. To conceive of a research project with an ¡°interested questioner¡± in mind gives 바카라사이트 project purpose and energy. To pursue 바카라사이트 research implications of a collaborative workshop moves that collaboration into a fresh intellectual dimension.

It won¡¯t be for everyone, but it is a way of reframing impact in a way that speaks to 바카라사이트 core concerns of scholarship. Borrowing from public sociology, asking ¡°for what? for whom?¡± of our own fields is an act of self-conscious enquiry from which we can all learn.

Alix Green is a senior lecturer in history at 바카라사이트 University of Essex.