Does ‘open’ research equate to ‘impactful’ research?
When considering openness in relation to my professional role, my thoughts have often turned to the link between open research and its wider societal benefits. Is making research ‘open’ enough to make a meaningful impact on society? To what extent should researchers plan to engage and proactively disseminate activities and outputs to key beneficiaries and the wider public?
I think most academics would agree that undertaking research which is beneficial to society is a key motivation behind their work. However, these benefits have only recently been defined in policy-terms as ‘impact’. A focus on the impact of publicly-funded research is now a central aspect of Higher Education policy, accounted for both within the criteria for UKRI grant proposals and the assessment of the quality of research in UK Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) through the Research Excellence Framework (REF). Alongside other reasons, the newly formed UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) argues that impact matters in order to ‘demonstrate the benefits of investment in research to society’, and believe this can be improved by ‘engaging with a broad range of potential beneficiaries’.
So, what is research impact? UKRI, the overarching body encompassing the research councils (including the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) and Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC)) defines impact as ‘the demonstrable contribution that excellent research makes to society and the economy’. They give examples of research impact such as enhancing quality of life, sharing new innovation and improving existing public services. Within the REF2021 guidance, impact is similarly defined as ‘an effect on, change or benefit to the economy, society, culture, public policy or services, health, the environment or quality of life, beyond academia’. Both definitions are broad, describing a range of potential impacts across a spectrum of disciplines, though all require ‘openness’ in making research both available and, presumably in many cases, accessible in the form of tailored outputs developed specifically to achieve change.
This focus on the benefits of research to society is also reflected in the RCUK policy on open access (currently undergoing a review since the development of UKRI):
“Open Access aims to make the findings of publicly-funded research freely available online as soon as possible, in ways that will maximise re-use. This is central to UKRI’s ambitions for research and innovation in the UK, as sharing new knowledge has benefits for researchers, the wider higher education sector, businesses and others.”
Although open access policies tend to focus on making academic outputs freely available, there is room in this statement to consider the different ways in which we may construct and share research findings with those beyond academia. How far can we expect wider benefits of research to be realised simply by making academic research outputs freely available? Do we also need to consider how proactive we are in the kinds of outputs we produce and the ways in which we engage with the potential beneficiaries of research?
As a Knowledge Exchange and Impact Officer working in the Social Sciences, I support academic colleagues to realise the societal benefits of their research, or ‘research impact’. This often involves assisting researchers with the development of their grant proposals, advising and commenting on the content and structure of ‘impact summaries’, ‘pathways to impact’ and other criteria such as the inclusion of elements such as public engagement.
Within the ESRC guidance for applicants, it states:
‘It is important that researchers put in place a robust strategy for maximising the likelihood of impact opportunities arising and their own capacity for taking advantage of these….Early collaboration and engagement with key beneficiaries and research partners is encouraged, alongside the identification of relevant outputs and methods of communication to ensure the framework is in place to maximise the potential impact of the research’.
The guidance goes on to detail that ‘through collaboration, partners learn about each other’s expertise, share knowledge and gain an appreciation of different professional cultures’. It describes how collaborative working can, as a result, lead to better understanding of how academic research can offer insights to policy and practice, and reaffirms that this knowledge exchange should take place over the course of a project, rather than purely encompassing the dissemination of findings at the end.
All of this requires an element of forward-thinking, in relation to proactive research dissemination effectively constructed for different audiences and specific purposes. If a goal of the research is to influence policy-makers, for example, pathways to impact may include some stakeholder mapping, collaboration in the production of policy briefs and targeted dissemination to key groups or individuals with interest or responsibility in a particular issue.
Where such impact goals are not as clear or straightforward, in what way can researchers demonstrate that a framework is in place to maximise the potential impact of their research? More often than not, researchers will reference the communication anddissemination of their research beyond the academic community, to key identified beneficiary groups or to the wider public. This tends to raise questions like ‘which publics?’, ‘what forms will this dissemination take?’ and ‘in what ways will you ensure they are reached in a meaningful way?’
Incorporating forms of public engagement within research proposals is clearly important in relation to making research processes and findings more open, though I would argue it requires more than effective dissemination, placing defined ‘publics’ more centrally in shaping the research agenda from the outset. Making research ‘open’ in a way that recognises two-way engagement in the research process itself, seems to me a more effective way to ensure research is open and accessible, and that it reaches society in meaningful and influential ways.
