Critical ‘impact work’: Researching the Riots

1. Critical ‘impact work’: Researching the Riots ‘Engage’ talk by Diane Frost and Richard Phillips

2. Engaging ... making an impact ‘Impact is often what motivates academics, whether they're researching medicine to improve patient care or conducting research in the archives that can transform understanding of our country's history.’ (David Willets, Minister for Universities and Science, 2010) See: Richard Phillips, 2010, ‘The impact agenda and geographies of curiosity,’ Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers

3. Defining/contesting impact ‘Impact is a story being written and implemented, and there is much to be done to develop sensible procedures for its recognition. The word is ugly, and the concept uses its elbows in places unused to such behaviour: so the intrusion is resented by some. But open enquiry requires us to respond to such questions, and if we don't have good responses then the problem is ours.’ Rick Rylance, Chief Executive of AHRC, August 2010

4. Audit culture: ‘how to’ • ‘A research impact is a recorded or otherwise auditable occasion of influence from academic research on another actor or organization.’ (LSE Public Policy Group, 2011, Maximizing the Impacts of your Research: A Handbook for Social Scientists) • Auditing: • Impact case studies (20% of REF) • Outputs (65% of REF): e.g. 4* for ‘major changes in policy or practice’ • Research Councils: Pathways to Impact, Plans, Reports

5. Interrogating impact ‘We need ... a way to talk about relevance that avoids the dualism between theory and practice’. (Lyn Staeheli and Don Mitchell, 2005) • Are some impacts better than others? • Are measurable impacts better? • Is a broader impact better? • What are the impacts of impact assessment? • What does impact work really serve? The neoliberal state? • What causes (unpredictable) impacts? • If impacts are unpredictable and co-produced, who takes the credit/blame?

6. How is impact produced? Research process: co-production of knowledge Circulation: dissemination and communication Reading and interpretation: making and contesting meanings

7. Actors in the production of impact Media: conventions and formats Commissioning editor Editorial Advisory Board University Press Authors Research participants Community, gatekeepers and leaders Organisations: Merseyside Black History Month Marketing team University: communications and press offices Media: newspaper and radio editors and producers, journalists and presenters Readers and listeners Reviewers and critics Websites, forums and bloggers Community organisations Teaching: students

10. Community, gatekeepers and leaders • Community histories, collective memory • Identifying a ‘community’ • Aim to ‘engage’ but mindful of ‘impact’ • Anticipating consequences/impact of research on communities themselves – Fletcher • Engaging a community through gatekeepers

11. Research Participants • What stories did people want to tell? • How to ensure that all section of community feel ‘heard’? • How could research benefit interviewees? • How could research avoid harm?

12. Building trust • Trust has to be built and sustained • Historically - sense that ‘white academics’ gone into the community, taken and not given anything back • Interviews - dependent on open, ethical, honest relationships

13. Organisations: Mediating Engagement Merseyside Black History Month • Who should ‘profit’ from this research? Not us! Royalties to MBHM • Involvement, e.g. Book Launch • Community history, e.g. Adult Education text

14. Conclusion: What is impact? Engagement? What was ‘our impact’ among • Community? • Participants? • Organisations? What is impact? What should it be? Impact, Engagement, or ??