Increase impact from our investments by improving support mechanisms, as well as through evaluation, sharing best practice and communicating the benefits of our continued support of research, training and the provision of facilities.
Maximising impact requires engaging and working with users, researchers and knowledge transfer professionals, to ensure that strategies, incentives and mechanisms generate and support impact, innovation and enterprise. This applies from the cross-research council programme such as Global Uncertainties, to individual projects; and throughout the research funding lifecycle, from application through to post-project evaluation. This means that RCUK needs to embed support for knowledge exchange appropriately in its research funding schemes.
RCUK is a world leader in economic impact methodologies, and will continue to build capacity in impact assessment to ensure we can measure and demonstrate the impact of the research we fund.
Publications highlighting our research impacts are listed
here.
RCUK will:
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embed impact considerations as part of the core process in all activities supported by RCUK, from application to post-project evaluation.
- optimise our dedicated schemes for knowledge exchange, user partnerships and collaborations to achieve increased benefits from past, present and future investments.
- identify and address the barriers and drivers for maximising impact and disseminate best practice.
- develop methodologies to identify and assess impact from our investments to ensure that we are at the cutting edge.
- use our successes to present the strongest possible case for continued investment in the research base.
Research Councils UK (RCUK), the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) and Universities UK (UUK) have issued a joint statement on impact to support and promote the excellent research and individuals in UK universities. The statement recognises the range of benefits that come from excellent research and states a commitment to continue working together to build on that excellence.
A full copy of the joint statement can be found here.