European Science Foundation Types of impact (x9)
Science Foundation Ireland Types of impact (x8)
Independent Research Fund Denmark Impact on (x5)
Scientific Economic
Economic & Commercial
Social
Societal
Political
Impacts on public policy
Business Public sector Legislation & regulation
Health
Health & wellbeing
Environmental
Environmental
Training
Impacts on human capacity
Cultural
Educational system Cultural development
Technological International engagement Impact on professional services
Importantly, all three organisations in this sample highlight the educational, skills-related, or training impacts of research. Impacts in this category include the benefit to society through its graduates, who have benefited from cutting-edge, research-informed teaching. In Ireland, this is clearly in keeping with the planned outcomes of the National Framework for Doctoral Education. CHALLENGES OF IMPACT ASSESSMENT As noted by the ESF (2012), there is increasing pressure to demonstrate impact, particularly in relation to basic research. This poses a challenge to research-performing organisations and research funders. Clearly, impact matters and is broadly defined. So how do we measure it?
There is increasing pressure to demonstrate impact, particularly in relation to basic research.
When interpreting and communicating research activity, it is important to consider the associated terminology of outputs, outcomes, impacts, and their interrelationships (Jones and Cleere, 2014). Outputs are the products of research, for example peer-reviewed publications and patents. Outputs can become outcomes, which are ‘the results or consequences of the research activities and outputs on academia, society or the economy: examples are trained postgraduate staff, licence income from patents, follow-on grant income’ (ibid., p.24). Time is a significant factor in understanding impact, as it is the longterm contribution of research to the economy, society, and other areas highlighted by the foregoing classifications. As the ESF observes (2012, p.6), the dividing line between outputs, outcomes, and impacts is not always clear-cut. As a step along the path to impact, output and outcome measures are regularly assessed by research-performing organisations or funding agencies, with bibliometric tools offering particularly popular measures. Output and outcome metrics are included in the 2017 annual reports of Ireland’s funding agencies (SFI, IRC, and the Health Research Board), with
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IRELAND’S YEARBOOK OF EDUCATION 2018-2019 RESEARCH