Next week (10th April 2013), ‘The Future of Impact’ Conference will take place at Woburn House in London. The event aims to “showcase leading national and international inquiry into the Impact of university research”, while also marking the end of the DESCRIBE project  – A JISC-funded research project based at the University of Exeter that has been exploring the need for an expanded understanding of the types of impact research activities have.

The event promises to outline a “comprehensive, more ‘nuanced’ understanding of Impact and its evidence” as leading specialists from the funding, policy and HEI sectors discuss emerging issues around research impact.  Crucially, with REF 2014 already fast approaching, this conference looks to establish specific recommendations for improving current standards relating to the evidence of Impact.

R2A will be blogging and tweeting from the event. You can follow the discussion on twitter via the following hashtag: #futureofimpact

Issues to be addressed:

• The Strategic Case for Impact
•  Learning from existing best practice examples of methodological approaches to evaluating Impact
• International contexts for Impact
•  The potential for developing new methodologies for accounting for more complex Impact interactions
•  Impact as a journey
• Impact Information Management Systems
•  The Impact of ‘Impact’ on Universities: skills, resources and organisational structures

Speakers:

• Nicola Dandridge, Chief Executive, Universities UK
•  Rachel Bruce, Innovation Director for Digital Infrastructure, JISC
• Professor David Cope, former Director, the Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology
• Dr Averil Horton, Head of Business Development and Innovation, Brunel University
• Paul Manners, National Coordinating Centre for Public Engagement
• Dr Sarah Morton, University of Edinburgh David Sweeney, Director (Research, Innovation and Skills), HEFCE
• Professor Julia Lane, Senior Managing Economist at the American Institute for Research
• Anke Reinhardt, Director of Evaluation and Monitoring, German Research Council
• Dr Michael Wykes, Policy, Impact, and Performance Manager, University of Exeter

The full agenda for the event can befound here, along with a sumary of the workshops taking place on the day: Conference Agenda, Workshop Summaries