Research impact as ethos

by Lauren Rickards, Wendy Steele, Olga Kokshagina and Oli Moraes

Generating real impact from research and innovation is more important than ever to help move the world off its current unsustainable trajectory. But to generate the sort of transformational improvements needed, we need to innovate around research impact itself.

How can we get smarter and more effective at generating impact in a targeted, joined-up, meaningful way?

RMIT researchers Lauren Rickards, Wendy Steele, Olga Kokshagina and Oli Moraes set out a vision for evolving the culture of research impact at academic institutions. They argue we need to progress past a ‘first generation’ approach where impact is sought at the completion of projects, and past a ‘second generation’ approach where impact is considered from the outset but pursued in a project-by-project way. They argue instead for a mature ‘third generation’ approach where a collective focus on generating positive impact becomes an ethos that drives new cross-institutional relationships and genuine transformational change within as well as through universities.

View the full report below.

Rickards et al (2020) Research Impact as Ethos (1)