1st Edition

Research Impact and the Early Career Researcher Lived Experiences, New Perspectives

Edited By Kieran Fenby-Hulse, Emma Heywood, Kate Walker Copyright 2019
    238 Pages 4 B/W Illustrations
    by Routledge

    238 Pages 4 B/W Illustrations
    by Routledge

    Research Impact and the Early Career Researcher documents experiences and perspectives on the emerging concept of research impact from a range of disciplines and places them within an analytical and critical discursive framework. Combining personal reflections with research essays, it provides the reader with a multi-dimensional perspective on research impact and how it connects to the research lives and practice of early career researchers.

    Research impact is playing an ever-increasing role in international research policy and government strategy. This book:

    • Explores the arrival of impact into the national research consciousness
    • Discusses how to build capacity and skills within research impact and how this might impact academic career progression in an international job market
    • Offers advice on balancing national expectations with institutional expectations on research in terms of funding and career progression
    • Offers suggested ways forward whilst actively challenging what constitutes research impact

    Research Impact and the Early Career Researcher provides a much-needed research base for studies of research impact and the extent to which it has altered, changed, and influenced the research practice of early career academics. It is an essential guide for any new and early career researchers wishing to navigate the complex landscape in order to meaningfully contribute to the impact agenda.

    Table of Contents

    1. Foreword

    Julie Bayley

    ii About this Book

    Kieran Fenby-Hulse, Emma Heywood, Kate Walker

    Iii Acknowledgements

    iv List of Contributors

     

    Section One: Research Impact and Me

    Chapter One: Uncertainty and Confusion: The Starting Point of All Expertise

    Ged Hall, Helen Morley and Tony Bromley

    Reflection: Start Small, Think Big: The Hard Path to Success for the ECR

    Kate Walker

    Chapter Two: Developing an academic identity: What’s the time Mrs Wolf?

    Tracy Hayes

    Reflection: Reflexivity, doubt and social tensions in collaborative research as a foundation for positive research impact

    Alex McDonagh

    Chapter Three 3: Creative-Practice Research, Impact and the REF

    Isabella Streffen

    Reflection: Thinking Laterally: A Public Health Practitioner's View of Impact

    Victoria Gilroy

     

    Section Two: Research Impact and Collaboration

    Chapter Four: Knowledge Exchange as Impact

    Louise Maythorne

    Reflection: Communicating Research to Policymakers

    Diana Warira

    Chapter Five: Experimenting with Interdisciplinarity: Researcher development and the production of impact

    Robert Meckin and Sandrine Soubes

    Reflection: Research impacts of engineering for society, with society

    Anh Tran

    Chapter Six: Connecting Epistemologies and the Early Career Researcher

    Helen Graham, Katie Hill, Peter Matthews, Dave O’Brien and Mark Taylor

    Reflection: Collaborative work of early career researchers: does the impact agenda transcend continents?

    Anna Mary Cooper-Ryan, Alex M. Clarke-Cornwell, Jenna Condie

     

    Section Three: Research Impact Systems and Structures

    Chapter Seven: Propelled for take-off? The Case of Early Career Social Science Researchers in South Africa

    Ke Yu, Ian Edelstein, Balungile Shandu

    Reflection: International Impact: What is the problem? Can I solve it and will anyone benefit?

    Emma Heywood

    Chapter Eight: Doctoral Education and the Impact Gap: What we can learn from ‘Prof Docs’ and why it matters for Early Career researchers?

    Smith-McGloin: Prof Docs

    Reflection: Knowledge Transfer Partnership, the ECR, and the Humanities

    Jessica Medhurst

    Chapter Nine: Engaging with the Impact Ecosystem (Kieran Fenby-Hulse, Coventry University)

    Reflection: Putting Social Responsibility at the Heart of the Institution: The Research Experience and Career Development of Early Career Researchers

    R. L. Cowen, J. Gracey, D. Johnson

    Biography

    Kieran Fenby-Hulse is an Assistant Professor in Research Capability and Development at Coventry University, UK.

    Emma Heywood is a Lecturer and Researcher in Journalism, Politics and Communication at the University of Sheffield, UK.

    Kate Walker is an Assistant Professor in the Centre for Advances in Behavioural Science at Coventry University, UK.