Knowledge exchange and impact

Research carried out by staff in the School of Education and Social Work is making a substantial and positive impact to the lives of people globally.

Research Impact wordle Our work is improving policy and practice for children and young people at risk of abuse, neglect, violence, exploitation, and school exclusion. Strong partnerships with practitioners and policy-makers have enabled research on educating refugees, young people’s sexual health, adults in higher education, and children in conflict-affected areas to bring about measurable change in national and international policy. Our research on safeguarding adults, supporting individuals with learning disabilities, and evaluating interventions with parents, children, and families continually shapes the innovative practices of educators and social care professionals both nationally and internationally.

Planning for research impact is integral to the way in which we support academics and doctoral researchers to develop and carry out their research; discussing pathways to impact, planning and measuring impact is at the heart of our research culture.

Knowledge Exchange Poster

Knowledge Exchange poster as image: Feb 2022 This knowledge exchange infographic has been adapted with permission from Nick Bull in Life Sciences as a helpful reminder of what Knowledge Exchange is, how it has come to be conceptualised in higher education, and how we as a school can use it to maximise the reach, impact, and influence of our work.

View/download the Knowledge Exchange poster.

Research Expertise Impact Videos

The following videos created by ESW researchers represent a wide range of expertise and critical thinking within the school and an investment in making research accessible to those who might benefit from it. The videos also demonstrate the School's collaborative, multi-disciplinary work and how it seeks to answer big questions which will shape future society.

Addressing Loneliness and Isolation in Older People from Minoritised Ethnic Groups: Brenda Hayanga
Older people from minoritised ethnic groups living in the UK are more likely to experience social isolation and loneliness as a result of age/ageism, migration-related factors, health and socio-economic inequalities, and racism/discrimination. This video reports findings from a four-phased mixed-methods ESRC-funded PhD project conducted by Brenda Hayanga. The study revealed that community-based groups tailored to aspects of older minoritised people’s identities that they value, and which provide activities/opportunities to connect based on these identities, can help social isolation and loneliness in older minoritised people.
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How to organise social services during and after a natural disaster: Reima Ana Maglajlic
This video summarises the key findings from a rapid review of the organisation and delivery of social services during and following natural disasters.
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Navigating White Privilege - The key to achieving anti-racism in social work: Tam Cane & Karen Okuena Budd
Unravelling white privilege can help social workers appreciate and accept racial and cultural needs of ethnic minorities, their experiences and fear of discrimination. This animation from Dr Tam Chipawe Cane and Karen Okuefuna-Budd provides a brief overview of strategies that social workers can use to understand and address white privilege in the communities they serve.
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Understanding Research Impact

What is Research Impact?

There are two key definitions:

The demonstrable contribution that excellent research makes to society and the economy.
Research Councils UK (RCUK)
Any identifiable benefit to, or positive influence on, the economy, society, public policy or services, culture, the environment or quality of life.
Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE)

Research has impact if it has brought about some kind of direct change or benefit to society, or has influenced thinking or practices in a positive way. It is about the effect of academic research on those who take new knowledge into the non-academic world, for example, teachers, social workers, health practitioners, or policy makers. While conference presentations, journal papers, and books are a highly effective way of disseminating ideas to others (and can be part of a pathway to impact), communication of research findings does not usually constitute impact in its own right, but is the first stage of a process. What constitutes impact is what happens next. Summarised as follows:

Public Engagement: Communicating the research to the relevant stakeholders so your research starts to influence the thinking of those outside academia.
Knowledge exchange: Shaping the findings so that they generate recommendations which are relevant to the policy and practice arena – can be an important part of the process.
Research Uptake: Persuading key stakeholders to take the research forward in their particular field, organisation, or practice. If you have managed to engage those with both high interest in the topic and high influence in the field, then they may have the resources and power to take changes in policy, services or practices forward.
Impact Capture: Ensuring that any substantiated evidence of the changes which have resulted from the research are established and kept.

Impact in REF 2021

For the purposes of the REF, impact is defined as an effect on, change or benefit to the economy, society, culture, public policy or services, health, the environment or quality of life, beyond academia. It is an important element of the REF 2021 assessment; case studies describing specific examples of impacts achieved during the assessment period are to be submitted. Impact element is weighted 25 per cent of the submission.

Impact includes, but is not limited to, an effect on, change or benefit to:

activity, attitude, awareness, behaviour, capacity, opportunity, performance, policy, practice, process or understanding
an audience, beneficiary, community, constituency, organisation or individuals
any geographic location whether locally, regionally, nationally or internationally.

Impacts are assessed in terms of their ‘reach and significance’, regardless of the geographic location in which they occurred - locally, regionally, nationally or internationally. The UK funding bodies expect that many impacts will contribute to the economy, society and culture within the UK, but equally value the international contribution of UK research.

Impact case study templates and guidance (Annex G)

Impact Newsletters

Research impact is an evolving feature of the academic landscape and we are working to make it an integral part of ESW’s research culture. We publish all our impact updates via our Impact newsletters.

The aim of our newsletters is to raise awareness and understanding of impact news and events within the School, including funding calls. Through these newsletters, we hope to promote the real-world impact capabilities of staff, and develop levels of engagement and participation within the School’s impact culture. The newsletters also feature updates on impact funding and training opportunities, as well as other useful resources.

If you have any impact news from your research or pathways to impact updates you would like to submit we would love to hear from you. We are also happy to receive any comments you may have on our newsletters. Please email Professor Elaine Sharland.

Impact Funding

Over the last four years, the School has been running the Impact Quick Boost (HEIF) funding scheme. The scheme provides awards of up to a maximum of £1000 for activities that can accelerate the impact of research our academics are currently involved in. The funding is also intended to help generate new pathways to impact and/or evidence ongoing impact from research. The call goes out in December every year. If you are interested in applying for this fund please send your expression of interest (just a few quick lines about your proposed activity and approximate budget), or any questions you might have about the funding scheme, to Professor Elaine Sharland or Hazel Crawford.

Jessica Beck can give advice on funding routes available, signpost you to appropriate colleagues in the Research Quality and Impact office, and assist with funding applications.

Impact Quick Boost Funding Recipients

2019/20	Project Title
Professor Gillian Ruch	Talking and Listening to Children 'Kitbag' Campaign
Dr Jeri Damman	Parent-Partner Programmes in Child Proecion: Considering the case for peer mentoring approaches
Dr Tam Cane	HIV Awareness Training for Social Workers Working with Children and Families
Dr Marcos Delprato	Web interface of education spatial inequality indicators in sub-Saharan Africa in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) context: A prototype
Dr Rebecca Webb	Informing, inspiring and supporting teachers to engage with 'PREVENT' in schools to better equip them to engage with it in more ‘critical’ and ‘uncertain’ ways.
Dr Louise Gazeley	Connecting Research and Practice in Widening Participation: Exploring (alternative) routes to change

2020/21	Project Title
Dr Tam Cane	Promoting Anti-discriminatory Practice
Dr Reima Ana Maglajlic	Promotional video on the value of community-based mental health services, based on a study by experts by experience
Dr Laia Becares	Visualising the Mechanism Behind Ethnic Inequalities in Later Life
Jo Tregenza	The Joy of Reading
Professor Gillian Ruch	BASW Talking and Listening to Children 'Kitbag' Conference

There are also a range of external funding opportunities available for social science impact and public engagement activities.

Research Impact Toolkit

The University has developed the Research Impact Toolkit. This very useful resource provides guidance on understanding impact, embedding impact into research proposals and projects, funder requirements concerning research impact and communicating research. The Toolkit will also provide a range of good research impact exemplars.

See the Impact Toolkit on the internal Research and Knowledge Exchange website (you will need to enter your login details to access this area).

Useful Contacts, Help and Advice

There are a range of useful contacts who can help you plan for impact:

Jessica Beck can offer advice and support on scoping out research impact pathways, planning impact generation, on impact components of funding applications and bids, on stakeholder mapping exercices, on preparing and disseminating policy briefs, and on developing research impact and supporting knowledge exchange activities for REF 2021 case studies.

Policy@Sussex act as a bridge between University of Sussex social sciences research and policy-making organisations. Their website includes a range of useful resources to assist researchers interested in writing policy briefs, getting research presented within Parliament and contributing to select committees. ESW has established links with policy@sussex and work with them via Deeptima Massey.

The Sussex ESRC IAA supports researcher-led projects through our Fast Track seed fund, our open call, small-scale (up to c. £3,000), agile funding scheme providing responsive support for impact, pump-priming activity and encouraging innovation.

For more information please contact Lorna Hards, ESRC IAA Project Manager.

The IAA team are working with local partners to identify challenge-led activities in order to build social science-led collaboration, particularly around healthy ageing, digital, modern slavery and policy. We assist researchers to engage and build stakeholder relationships, undertake knowledge exchange activities, develop collaborative activities and think about commercialisation.

For more information please contact Nora Davies, ESRC External Partnership Manager.

We are supporting PhD students and ECRs to undertake business engagement through funding for placements and projects with businesses, a Fusebox residency (with local digital business incubator) and consultancy skills training.

For more information please contact Mary Harris, ESRC IAA Administrative Assistant.

Useful Websites

Sussex Research impact web pages:
For information about funding opportunities, support networks and the research impact toolkit

ESRC Impact Toolkit:
Specifically aimed at social science researchers and offers guidance on writing pathways to impact communication strategies and public engagement activities

LSE Impact Blog:
A lively and topical blog run by the London School of Economics geared towards social science research

The STERN Review:
In 2016, the Government published a review of the Research Excellence Framework (the STERN Review) which made recommendations on the REF and on allocating university research funding

Fast Track Impact:
Developed by Professor Mark Reed, the Fast Track Impact website provides more information, advice and resources about impact planning, engaging with stakeholders and writing impact pathway statements for funding bids.

ESW has purchased copies of The Research Impact Handbook by Mark Reed, which are available to borrow.