Support for Impact

We aim to provide support and reward staff who have consistently engaged in engagement, impact and innovation activities, while providing new opportunities for those who may have been limited from doing so in the past.

With the increasing emphasis by the UK Government and Funding Councils on translating research into impact, we are keen to enable as much of our internationally recognised research to fulfil its impact potential as possible. As part of the University’s commitment to investing in impact and innovation, a number of key initiatives have been developed that aim to remove some of the barriers that may hinder or prevent the impact of our research.

Time

Undertaking impact and innovation activities can be time consuming and, with the exception of certain external grants, not directly funded. This runs the risk of research impact having a lower priority compared to other areas of staff activity. In the past, we aimed to address this by allocating time in the WAMM and creating a specific entry for impact activities. WAMM has been suspended since the 2023 calendar year in order to improve its functionality. 

Support

Research Impact and Knowledge Exchange Officers provide discipline-specific advice, support when undertaking engagement and impact activities and assistance when writing up case studies for the REF. They also play a key role in publicising impact achievements.

Evidencing impact is vital, especially for the REF, but it can sometimes be a problematic area for staff given time commitments elsewhere. We also offer specialist support and oversees data collection (e.g. on PURE) as well as exploring research opportunities through impact evidence collection.

PURE allows staff to view all of their current research activity including research outputs, activities and impacts on a single, secure system. It also feeds data into the AU Research Portal. The Aberystwyth Research Portal makes the very best of Aberystwyth University's staff and postgraduate research openly available online, free of charge. Content in the portal includes published outputs, postgraduate theses, project details, as well as records for other esteem activities. All academic members of staff can sign in to the system with their AU log in details. Please contact the Open Access and Research Data Officer, pure@aber.ac.uk, if you experience any problems.

Training

AU recognises the importance of providing training sessions for staff that focus on the different aspects of research impact. 

We fund key opportunities for academic staff to be trained by outside experts. These sessions are also supplemented by in-house training offered by our Research Impact and Knowledge Exchange Officers and other staff members who have been successful with their impact work and can pass on best practice.

Our Research Impact and Knowledge Exchange Officers are given training to ensure they are kept up-to-date with developments in best practice, which they can then use when advising staff. This training ranges from sector-wide best practice workshops to ‘Train the Trainer’ sessions and training led by the UK Parliament and the Welsh Government.

This subsequently allows our Research Impact and Knowledge Exchange Officers to deliver effective presentations and workshops on a regular basis, offer one-to-one consultations and help to raise awareness of research impact at both faculty and departmental level. Please get in touch with any specific training needs.  

Recognition

AU also encourages impact activities by recognising good practice: 

Promotion on AU Webpages and other AU publications - Publicising and highlighting impact success stories on the AU webpages and in other University publications and publicity material.

Please see examples of projects with strong research impact below or on our Research in Action page. 

Examples

 

Biodiversity and Values of Nature: Professor Michael Christie, Aberystwyth Business School

 

Regulating Human Trafficking: Professor Ryszard Piotrowicz, Department of Law & Criminology

 

Transforming the Response to Domestic Violence and Abuse (DVA) in Later Life through the Dewis Choice Initiative: Dr Sarah Wydall, Department of Law & Criminology

 

Reducing reliance on imported protein feed within a ruminant supply chain: Dr Christina Marley, IBERS

 

CSI Medieval - the contribution of medieval seals to scientific research and heritage practice: Dr Elizabeth New, Department of History & Welsh History

 

Using telehealth to support the psychosocial needs of palliative care and cancer patients: Dr Rachel Rahman, Department of Psychology

 

Disease outbreak collaboration: Professor Colin McInnes, Department of International Politics

 

Sustainable fisheries management: Professor Paul Shaw, Institute of Biological, Environmental and Rural Sciences

 

Drones and Malaria: Dr Andy Hardy, Department of Geography and Earth Sciences

 

Minority Language Revitalisation: Dr Catrin Wyn Edwards, Dr Huw Lewis and Dr Elin Royles, Department of International Politics