With the recent high profile media launch of several virtual reality devices by some of the world’s leading technology giants, including Samsung, Facebook and Sony, 2016 has already been branded the ‘year of virtual reality’. For many of these companies the clear target market is gaming and entertainment but the transformative nature of this technology … Continue reading “Perspectives on Impact – Professor Bob Stone”
Radical Sabbatical Residency 2017
The Cultural Engagement team are seeking expressions of interest from academics who would like to collaborate with artists in a residency scheme called Radical Sabbatical. They are are interested in how artists and academics can explore each other’s research and consider how it is produced and conveyed. They aim to pair practitioners with academics, enabling an in-depth understanding of … Continue reading “Radical Sabbatical Residency 2017”
Reflecting on the Stern Review
On 28th July 2016, Lord Stern published his much anticipated review of the REF: Building on Success and Learning from Experience. The report neither proposed a wholesale move to metrics to assess research quality nor the abolition of REF – both apocalyptic scenarios trailed early in the review process. Rather, the proposals for change are … Continue reading “Reflecting on the Stern Review”
Highlights from our ESRC Impact fund
UoB holds a block grant from the ESRC, the Impact Acceleration Account, which for the last two years has been funding social scientists to undertake impact projects, secondments with non-academic partners and user engagement. Activities funded to date through our competitive funding schemes have achieved a huge range of outcomes and impacts of great reach … Continue reading “Highlights from our ESRC Impact fund”
Public Engagement in the REF: Where’s our ambition?
I recently attended a session, ‘Lessons from the REF’, run by the National Coordinating Centre for Public Engagement (NCCPE). The day-long workshop focused on the outcomes of their review of the impact case studies and impact templates submitted to the Research Excellence Framework 2014 which featured public engagement. Below are some of the key points I … Continue reading “Public Engagement in the REF: Where’s our ambition?”
Science, Research and Parliament – An academic’s guide to getting involved in Parliament
As a new-ish member of the Research Planning Team at the University of Birmingham and from a background in scientific research I now regularly get asked the question ‘How do I get involved in parliament, and influence government policy? – Not a simple answer. So to raise our team’s knowledge and to allow us to … Continue reading “Science, Research and Parliament – An academic’s guide to getting involved in Parliament”
Open Forum Event: Research Impact – Delivering Excellence
A delegation from the Research Planning Team (Gavin, Katharina and Ronni) attended an Open Forums event earlier this year Research Impact: Delivering Excellence. It was billed as an opportunity ‘to explore REF case studies and testimonials to help universities effectively measure and evidence impact, offering practical guidance on delivering high quality submissions across disciplines, institutions and … Continue reading “Open Forum Event: Research Impact – Delivering Excellence”
Welcome to the Think Research blog
Our new blog aims to pull together work and ideas from staff, both Academic and Professional Services, across the institution who are involved in developing and supporting research and the research environment. This could range from the increasing need to make your work and your data open access, to the development and evaluation of impact, the … Continue reading “Welcome to the Think Research blog”