Impact at Reading

What is impact?

Impact is making change for and with individuals and communities outside of academia with research. This is different from engagement. Engagement is what you do and impact is what happens as a result of what you do. Engagement is a pathway to impact.

Why impact matters

Making change. Research has significant power to make the world a better place and provide steps towards solutions to complex global challenges.
Research funding. Funders are increasingly looking for impact to be built into research grant bids.
The Research Excellence Framework (REF) cycle. Every seven years, UK HEIs are assessed on the quality of their research. The outcome of this assessment determines the proportion of quality-related (QR) research funding allocated to each institution by Research England. The ‘Impact and Engagement’ element will make up 25% of the submission for REF2029.

What we offer for researchers

We engage with academics in an advisory capacity to support thinking and activities that translate research into lasting change outside of academia. Our aim is maximise the University's impact by:

Identifying and building partnerships in policy, industry, or with communities, and supporting plans for engagement (or stakeholder-mapping).
Facilitating strategic planning (or road-mapping).
Training in developing and evidencing impact, tailored for subjects, themes, and career level.
Providing opportunities for networking to support inter-departmental collaboration.
Inspiring confidence and raising aspiration and impact potential in researchers.
Identifying and organising funding opportunities to support engagement and impact activity.

Explore resources to support with planning, delivering, and evidencing impact, and writing REF Impact Case Studies, on the Impact SharePoint (University log-in required).

Celebrating impact

Be inspired by University of Reading researchers talking about their work and what impact means to them. All of the videos below can be played together at the Impact at Reading YouTube page.