Abstract
Insights from studies on how research contributes to wider benefits for society (i.e. ‘impacts’) can and should inform the operations of research funding organisations. Yet there would appear to be a gap in funding managers’ knowledge of these real-world processes, and confusion over appropriate roles when it comes to supporting activities that can help research along a pathway to impact.
The UK's National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) has set out a broad programme of work to understand, learn and improve its operations with respect to impact, as part of a 5-year ‘Impact Vision’. One of these activities focusses on how NIHR can best incorporate knowledge from studies of research impact into the guidance it provides to researchers who are applying for NIHR funding, when they are in the process of designing their research plans.
Over the past 2 years, NIHR has trialled a new initiative - impact 'strengthening workshops’ - that distils down key concepts and information derived from studies of research impact, into simple exercises to support researchers’ planning. This study evaluates applicants’ views on how useful they find these exercises and NIHR’s guidance on impact, more broadly. Findings will directly inform NIHR’s development of impact ‘practice guides’ for applicants and members of the funding committees who review NIHR funding applications. The study will also provide insights on how funders can incorporate evidence from studies of science into application processes, in a way that is amenable to researchers.
Aim
The evaluation will generate formative learning to shape future iterations of the NIHR ‘offer’ to research applicants for developing impact literacy in the context of NIHR funding. It will also generate summative evidence to indicate the value, if any, of the workshops as an intervention to improve applicants’ impact literacy, and the extent to which it adds value to other NIHR guidance and information on impact provided as part of the application process.
Along with other NIHR-led and external research on research, data and insights from this study will directly inform wider efforts to design applicant- and peer reviewer-/funding committee-focussed impact practice guide materials for further testing among the research community, and across the breadth of NIHR funding programmes.
Successful completion of the study will generate recommendations on which of a number of practical exercises to support NIHR research applicant impact planning and delivery are both feasible and acceptable to applicants, and how these can be incorporated into NIHR’s guidance alongside emerging principles and definitions being developed for other NIHR constituents (e.g. NIHR staff and funding committee members, noted above).
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Expected completion date: March 31, 2022