Impact

Our excellence in research across media, the arts and humanities engages and reimagines the world in many different ways. Addressing challenges and initiating innovative approaches in areas as diverse as new musical technologies, homelessness, midwifery, migration, and the rethinking of artistic and cultural histories, faculty in the School are making a difference.

We have a distinctive ethos that foregrounds collaboration and co-creation with our partners and stakeholders, working at a local and national level; an approach that produces research at the cutting edge of our disciplines and which informs the key issues of our time. We are also deeply connected with Brighton and the South East with its unique creative and cultural ecologies.

Much of the impact of our research crosses between subject areas and approaches, informing regional and governmental policy, particularly in areas such as education and heritage. The internationally recognised expertise of our faculty means we can be responsive to a shifting and unpredictable environment, and recent initiatives engaging with climate change and the post-Covid 19 cultural landscape show how we are continuing to generate creative and mould-breaking research, ideas and approaches that inform positive and meaningful change in our society.

We’re delighted with our impact performance in the Research Excellence Framework 2021 (REF 2021). 83.3% of History research impact was found to be ‘outstanding’, and 75% of Philosophy research impact was found to be ‘outstanding’. 

Impact is facilitated in the School by a dedicated Research Team and specific training and funding initiatives that work together to ensure it plays a central, sustaining, and vitalising role in our wider research culture.

The University holds an AHRC Impact Acceleration Account (2022-2025) of £450,000 to invest in impactful projects that draw on arts and humanities research.