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Impact in UKRI Grant Applications – Briefing Update

Overview: UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) no longer requires the completion of separate impact sections (‘pathways to impact’ and ‘impact summary’) in its Je-S grant applications. This briefing considers the implications of this change for applicants.

1. Context

In January 2020, UKRI announced the removal of the pathways to impact and impact summary sections from research council grant applications, effective 1 March 2020.

In announcing this change, UKRI underscored the continuing importance of the impact agenda to its grant funding streams.

2. Why has this change occurred?

In removing these impact sections, UKRI has signalled its intent to:

  • reduce bureaucracy and streamline systems for grant applicants;
  • ‘embed impact more centrally’ throughout the application and assessment processes.

3. What does this change mean for grant applicants?

UKRI continues to encourage applicants to include impact in their applications, detailing project impact activities and associated resource requirements in their case for support and justification of resources, respectively.

But the specific requirements of how to include impact in grant applications may vary between calls as determined by the particular objectives of the given opportunity.

Applicants should therefore consult the updated call-specific guidance from research councils to ascertain precise detail on how to include impact in their applications and how impact will be assessed in each opportunity:

4. Articulating impact in UKRI grant applications: key questions to consider

Who (beyond academia) might potentially benefit from using your research?

  • How might they potentially benefit?
  • Is there a demonstrable demand for/interest in your research among the potential beneficiaries and users?
  • How might you reach out to these potential beneficiaries/stakeholders and engage them in making your research accessible, relevant and useful for them?
  • How might you show you’re making progress in working towards your intended benefits?
  • What resources might you require to fulfil this impact plan?
  • Are your impact goals realistic?

5. Further guidance

Further application guidance may be found in the Je-S handbook or by contacting impact@ulster.ac.uk.

There may be other funders who request an impact summary and/or a pathways statement as part of the application process; the below information provides advice on completing these components:

The impact summary should address two fundamental questions:

  • Who beyond academia might potentially benefit from the research (i.e. the question of stakeholder/beneficiary typology)?
  • How might they potentially benefit (i.e. the question of impact typology)?

By contrast, the pathways to impact statement should address the question of impact activity typology, i.e.:

  • What precisely will be done to maximise a. stakeholder/user engagement with the proposed research; and, in consequence, b. the potential for research impact generation?

Pathways to impact statement should  include:

  1. a clear and meaningful impact activities plan to ‘actively’ engage stakeholders/users and meet their particular needs, covering activity ‘timing, personnel, skills, budget, deliverables and feasibility’; and,
  2. a brief account of any ‘relevant’ applicant track record of stakeholder engagement and impact realisation.
  • Who (beyond academia)might potentially benefit from using your research?
  • How might they potentially benefit?
  • Is there a demonstrable demand for/interest in your research among the potential beneficiaries and users?
  • How might you reach out to these potential beneficiaries and engage them in making your research accessible, relevant and useful for them?
  • How might you show you’re making progress in working towards your intended benefits?
  • What resources might you require to fulfil this impact plan?
  • Are your impact goals realistic?

Content - key steers:

  • be clear, specific and credible (i.e. avoid generalisation, vagueness and unrealistic/infeasible claim-making)
  • do not simply cut and paste from any previous pathways to impact statement/s
  • concentrate on how research will be used, not disseminated
  • Integrating impact: aim to clearly integrate impact across the wider project proposal, where possible
  • Stakeholders:
    • clearly demonstrate stakeholder demand for or interest in your work
    • focus on trying to cultivate two-way communication/engagement: consider stakeholder involvement in pathways planning (collaboration/co-production) to maximise ‘buy-in’ and impact potential
    • be specific, naming key organisations/departments/contacts, where possible
  • Impact goals/deliverables typology: clearly specify intended impact goals/deliverables, focusing on the range/typology of potential benefits
  • Impact activities:
    • clearly specify key impact engagement activities for each kind of public/stakeholder group identified in the impact summary, aligning/tailoring these to specified impact objectives and public/stakeholder needs
    • provide for appropriate activity typology: communications, collaboration, events, press activity etc.
    • avoid activity plan appearing as a bolt-on to proposal
    • ensure any public engagement is relevant/justified, i.e. integral to impact plan
  • Timescales and milestones: provide clear detail on intended impact timescales and milestones
  • Costing/resourcing: provide a proper (realistic, justified and sufficiently detailed) costing/resourcing summary to support the impact activity plan, for example, this might include accounting for specialist staff, travel and venue hire
  • Track record: specify any relevant previous experience of engagement and impact with public/stakeholders identified in proposed impact plan
  • Impact evaluation/measurement: plan for impact evaluation, specifying indicators to track and measure progress and fulfilment of impact plan
  • Impact management plan: clearly assign management responsibility for impact activities to project personnel
  • Style: use plain English
  • Formatting: refer to funder-specific guidelines
  • No impact potential?  The research councils expect that pathways to impact ‘will apply for the vast majority of proposals’, and that should an applicant or applicants not consider this to be the case in respect of a given project, a pathways to impact statement should nevertheless be completed to ‘fully justify the reasons why this is not possible’

*NB: the guidance that appears in this section builds on information available at UK Research and Innovation, the Je-S handbook and  fasttrackimpact.

On public engagement and pathways to impact, see National Coordinating Centre for Public Engagement.