Universities are required to tell stories about the impact of their work on the wider world and these tales have a perfection that often elides the imperfect muddling through inherent to much collaborative work. Tadhg Caffrey argues a new emphasis on ‘…
Category: knowledge exchange
Two frameworks to support individual and institutional community engagement
Drawing on qualitative evidence from community engaged academics, Wade B. Kelly and Lisa M. Given outline how two frameworks for context-informed, community engagement can support researchers and research institutions to foster social change. Effective…
Knowledge brokering organisations – what are they and what do they do?
Knowledge Brokering Organisations (KBOs) play an important role in the interface between research and policy. Drawing on a study of comparable international organisations, Eleanor MacKillop, James Downe and Hannah Durrant outline how they perceive thei…
Does anyone learn anything new at conferences? Measuring serendipity and knowledge diffusion at academic conferences
The rise of digital networking and conference platforms in recent years has led many to question the value of conferences on environmental and accessibility grounds. Yet, one frequently cited example of their value is the opportunity for serendipitous …
What is Responsible Knowledge Exchange, Engagement and Impact?
Drawing on findings from The Responsible Knowledge Exchange, Engagement and Impact (2021-23) project, Alis Oancea, Aileen Marshall-Brown and Juliet Scott-Barrett outline six factors to consider when designing policies and practices to promote responsib…
2022 in review: Communicating Your Research
Research communication is a moveable feast and as varied as the media and communication channels used to reach an intended audience. This annual review pulls out eleven posts focusing on different aspects of research communication that have been featur…
Linking research to localities – The City-Region Economic Development Institute (City-REDI)
For the past seven years, The City-Region Economic Development Institute (City-REDI) has worked to develop evidence- based policy engaged research at city and regional scale. In this post, Simon Collinson, Rebecca Riley, and Anne Green reflect on the e…
Research assessments tell us what and who did research impact, but say little about the why and how.
The introduction of impact into the 2014 Research Excellence Framework (REF) and the results it provided had a transformative effect on perceptions and approaches to research impact. However, REF 2021 and the results of the first KEF have had a more su…
The true costs of knowledge exchange – a checklist
Planning and budgeting knowledge exchange activities can often be a black box exercise, with activity occurring in an ad-hoc and un-costed fashion. Drawing on case studies of successful knowledge exchange projects, Denis Karcher and Chris Cvitanovic pr…
An alternative approach to measuring community engagement in higher education
Universities across the globe are increasingly being called on to contribute to their surrounding communities and regions, especially so as they are mobilised in response to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. Reflecting on these emerging demands with…