Piercing the darkness

A post from the CPE blog about my reflections on a recent REF workshop.

“No light, but rather darkness visible” was the comment by my neighbour at the workshop we were attending on writing REF impact templates.  Quoting Milton’s Paradise Lost, he was referring to the guidance for impact templates which seemed to impress (and bemuse) a number of us with its opacity.

The workshop, run by the NCCPE, was designed to help us those us involved in the REF process think about ways to tackle the impact templates for each Unit of Assessment.  In relation to other sections of the REF guidance, many people feel that this area lacks detail so it was unsurprising that a large chunk of the workshop focused on challenging our misconceptions.  One area of confusion was the relationship of the template to the impact case studies, bearing in mind that the template should be a framework on which the case studies sit but that the case studies don’t have to reflect the template.

Another difficulty many people face is that Units of Assessment can be made up of several different research groups with different approaches; as such, you can end up with a patchwork quilt of ideas rather than a coherent theme.  Thankfully, there is an acknowledgement of this challenge in the guidance so there is no expectation for one approach in each template.  Conversely other people felt that their issue was that of generic plans across several Units rather than a tailored approach – a single-colour duvet rather than a patchwork quilt, as it were.  Advice here was that the strategy section of each template should be reflective – thinking about issues as well as strengths and providing an honest (but positive) assessment about where improvements could be made.

There were some handy tips from the day, especially that engagement which has had an impact on research strategy actually belongs in the environment template rather than the impact template.  And we were encouraged to suggest questions that the NCCPE could take to the REF panels and ask for clarification.  So whilst we may not have moved into the bright light just yet, at least now there might be a glimpse of something through the darkness.

Why the REF is like writing a novel

Another post from the Centre for Public Engagement blog.

Last week I went to a workshop that the NCCPE was running on developing impact case studies for the REF.  The REF is, unsurprisingly, on the minds of a lot of people within the University at the moment so it was a good time to get some tips on writing a good impact case study.

The first revelation of the day was that we weren't going to focus on the evidence required for a case study.  So far, the majority of my thinking around the REF has concentrated on coming up with ways of developing evidence of reach and significance; so I was expecting the workshop to include techniques and methodologies for producing this evidence.  However, apart from a mention that the REF panel will appreciate the challenge of gathering evidence retrospectively, we left that aspect of the case studies alone.

In the REF pilot, the highest scoring case studies were those which had a coherent narrative.  So instead of thinking about evidence, we found ourselves looking at the narrative arc and how the format of the case studies could be used to fit the progression of a story.  This is not to say that a good case study should be a work of fiction - the quality of the writing is always going to be less important than the story it tells.  But like all good novels, you need a narrative that hooks the reader and keeps them involved.  At the heart of this is the research itself, which should be thought of as the main character in the story.  If you don’t engage with the main character it can be quite hard to maintain your interest in the novel, as I have found on many occasions (since this is my personal version of the post, I can digress - see below*).  Once this is done, there is only the not so small task of describing the impact, both in summary and in more detail, and providing the evidence for the research and impacts.  And all of this in a very limited word count – this is definitely no War and Peace.

Bearing all of this in mind, there are still challenges to face with writing impact case studies – not least the difficulty of attributing impact and disentangling it from all the other factors that might have affected the outcomes.  One helpful suggestion from the audience was to use language that focused on the contribution that the research and impact had, rather than making over-ambitious claims about impact in a vacuum.  And of course there is still work to do in writing and honing the impact case studies at the University.  But hopefully we now have some more techniques to help us with making the most of the impressive impact that research here has had, whether it’s on the economy, culture, policy or society.

*  There are many instances where I don't agree with or sympathise with the main character but total incomprehension is much harder to deal with.  A good example of this is Don Quixote, one of the only books I have failed to finish.  I just cannot work out if he is crazy or idealistic or why he even does half of the things he does - his character is unfathomable (and why would anyone walk around with a bathtub on their head?).  However I've been told by a friend that I might just have a poor translation, so perhaps I'll give Don Quixote another go some day.