The IHBC has welcomed the latest reports analysing university research impacts – from the Research Excellence Framework 2014 submissions – as they capture evidence-based examples of local, national and global impacts of the historic environment (HE).
IHBC Director Sean O’Reilly said: ‘These research-based analyses are very welcome, not least for the diverse evidence they offer on the wide-ranging impacts of the historic environment.’
‘At the same time the IHBC is working hard to ensure that this and future work brings out more clearly the specific benefits the proper care of our heritage, buildings and places – that is to say, their informed and skilled conservation – offer in the context of sustainable development and the welfare of our future generations’.
‘With these over-arching priorities in mind, and the generation of evidence based advocacy of the sort outlined in our forthcoming corporate plan, CP20, the IHBC is shaping, informing and exploring research interests that range from the value of up-skilling volunteers in third-party planning roles to investigating design responses to climate change.’
IHBC members may find the topic analysis by these subject areas of particular note:
- Archaeology and history
- Built environment and design (including architecture, building, engineering and planning)
- Civil Engineering
- Cultural studies
- Geology
- Human geography
- Tourism
The Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) writes:
A new analysis of impact case studies from the 2014 Research Excellence Framework (REF) shows that research carried out by the UK’s universities has wide and varied benefits to the economy, society, culture, policy, health, the environment and quality of life, within the UK and overseas.
The analysis is published to coincide with REFlections, the first national conference on REF 2014, today, Wednesday 25 March 2015 It was carried out by Digital Science and King’s College London, and co-funded by the UK higher education funding bodies, Research Councils UK and the Wellcome Trust. The REF impact case studies were produced as part of the ground-breaking assessment of research impact included in REF 2014. For the first time, universities participating in the UK’s national assessment of research quality were invited to provide examples of the wider impact of their research as part of their submissions.
This latest work has produced the REF impact case study database, a searchable tool enabling analysis and automated text mining of the case studies. The database will encourage and enable further analysis of the case studies by any interested parties in the UK and internationally.
Commenting on the new impact case study research and database, Professor Madeleine Atkins, Chief Executive of HEFCE, said: ‘Following the outstanding success of the Research Excellence Framework, showing that UK research leads the world, this analysis shows that as well as being of the highest quality, the research that UK universities undertake has a very positive impact across all areas of the economy and society. I urge research users to mine this rich source of information, which is now easily accessible, to make the most of the impact case studies. We and the other UK funding bodies will look closely at the findings of the reviews and consider carefully how the impact case study process can be further improved for the next REF’.
An initial synthetic analysis of the REF impact case studies has also been undertaken in a report ‘The nature, scale and beneficiaries of research impact’ (Note 4). Its key findings include that:
- Over 80 per cent of the REF impact case studies included underpinning research from multiple disciplines.
- The impact case studies were diverse and wide-ranging, with over 60 unique ‘impact topics’ identified.
- The reported research impacts stemmed from research in a wide-range of subject areas, with over 3,700 unique pathways from research to impact identified.
- Research undertaken in UK higher education institutions (HEIs) has made a contribution to every country in the world.
This ‘impact’ element of the REF has now been evaluated which will lead to further improvements for future REF exercises. The two-phase evaluation, conducted by RAND Europe, focused first on the preparation of submissions on ‘impact’ by HEIs and then on the process for assessing impact by the REF panels.
The evaluation has highlighted a number of positive features of the impact assessment, including a range of benefits for HEIs in preparing submissions. It underlines the panels’ view that the process has enabled them to assess ‘impact’ in a fair, reliable and robust way. The evaluation also draws out some of the challenges for institutions and panels, including an additional burden in preparing the submissions.
The funding bodies welcome the findings of the ‘impact’ evaluation and look forward to refining the assessment process in consultation with the sector.
IHBC accredited learning opportunities
IHBC’s corporate plan consultation, CP20
