Why would three UK universities want to be a member of the Research Impact Canada network?
There is a rich culture of knowledge mobilization and research impact in the UK driven in large part by the Research Excellence Framework (REF) that assesses universities on the quality of their research, the research environment and the impact that research has had on broader society. But impact is more than REF, at least for these three universities. They are interested in Canadian models of knowledge mobilization and drivers of healthy impact culture that are not rooted in assessment.
I visited all three last week to understand the unique needs of RIC members in the UK. REF was in the background, but the foreground was all about healthy impact culture.
Brighton was like going full circle for me. They set up their Community University Partnership Program in about 2003. I began an early collaboration with Angie Hart, the academic lead of Cupp. She came to present at the very first York University Knowledge Mobilization Expo in 2006 and I visited Cupp in 2007. Jo Allen is the RIC lead for Brighton.
I met Helen Baxter from University of Bristol when she visited Toronto in 2022 when we were still wearing face masks! Helen was working at Applied Research Collaboration – West, hosted at U. Bristol. She has remained the RIC lead at Bristol and assembled a group that included the Health Ambassadors working in community for Bristol Health Partners. Check them out – identifying research needs in the community!
London Southbank University is deeply engaged in local businesses and communities. My visit there was the only REF focused visit as I met with five incredible researchers who were drafting REF impact case studies. I didn’t read the case studies. I chatted with each researcher to help dig into the impact that they were writing about.
And then LSBU hosted Brighton and Bristol in London. In discussing what is next for them and their RIC memberships Sally Drayton, LSBU Impact Lead, observed that since they all know each other, they can continue their conversations as a group. 100% Sally! I look forward to seeing how this group moves forward.
If you’re interested in how impact has grown in Canada without an assessment system like the REF, you can read a recent article I co-authored on the “Made in Canada” approach to research impact.
And while in Bristol check out the Bag of Nails Pub. Cats. Four that I counted but I saw five baskets. That pub certainly made an impact on the cat lover in me.
