Though one should never take such pronouncements at face value, I was in
a meeting with Ian Diamond, the chief exec of the ESRC, yesterday and
took away quite a different message regarding 'impact.' He defined
'impact' as not simply economic impact, but also academic, policy and
societal impact. He also suggested that one of the few ways that impact
can actually be shown is by involving those one if researching in the
research itself, preferably from the beginning. Quoting from my notes:
'researchers should show a coherent strategy on how you will work with
potential beneficiaries". There was also a brief discussion of the
importance of the 'co-production of knowledge.' In addition, he
explicitly said that what he feels is urgently needed is "world-class
action research".
A few case studies of what the ESRC says is meant by 'impact' can be
found at:
http://www.esrcsocietytoday.ac.uk/ESRCInfoCentre/strategicplan/overview/
challenge.aspx
Several of these have to do with financial impact but that should not be
surprising as economics is a key discipline within the ESRC (as is
political science, which is all too often concerned with the cost of
things.)
In any case, buzzwords and meaningless directives abound in academic
life. No one should be silly enough to allow them to prevent good and
useful research from going forward. Just learn and use this season's
buzzwords as necessary.
You can find the 2009-2014 strategic plan for the ESRC on the site above
also. It's not exactly scintillating reading but I felt better after
reading it.
________________End of message________________
This Disability-Research Discussion list is managed by the Centre for Disability Studies at the University of Leeds (www.leeds.ac.uk/disability-studies).
Enquiries about list administration should be sent to [log in to unmask]
Archives and tools are located at:
www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/disability-research.html
You can VIEW, POST, JOIN and LEAVE the list by logging in to this web page.
|