Impact & the REF – Introductory Session
Thank you to all who attended the sessions today on Impact & the REF. If you were unable to attend today’s sessions, please take the time to have a look over the slides. If you haven’t yet booked for the 3 hour workshop session relevant to your unit of assessment please do as soon as possible (email SDbookings@northampton.ac.uk).
Impact and the REF Standard Sized Screen
If you have any questions please email dawn.hibbert@northampton.ac.uk
Note: Recommendations from Lord Sterns Review in the REF: (Final guidelines to be published in Summer 2017)
- Impact – Proposal for impact in REF 2021 is to remain consistent with REF 2014 process
- Impacts are submitted by the institution or institutions in which the underpinning research has been conducted.
- Impacts are submitted by the institution or institutions in which the underpinning research has been conducted.
- Aspects captured by the impact template should be incorporated into the environment statement.
- Propose to take account of the unit’s approach to supporting and enabling impact as an explicit section of the environment element of assessment – impact template would no longer be required.
- 100% of the impact sub-profile would be attributed to the impact case studies.
- Case study ratio should be based on HESA data on research active staff.
- All institutions should be required to submit some institutional-level case studies which arise from multi- and interdisciplinary and collaborative work.
- Proposed that case studies are submitted via a web form in REF 2021 that will include a number of mandatory fields.
- Case studies should continue to be based on research of demonstrable quality, but could be linked to a research activity and a body or work as well as to specific research outputs.
- Proposed that examples of impact in REF 2021 must be underpinned by excellent research, research activity, or a body of work produced by the submitting unit in the period from 1 January 2000 to 31 December 2020.
Highlights from the Graduate School Poster Competition 2017
The Graduate School’s 12th Annual Poster Competition for research students was held on Weds 17th May in Rockingham Library, Park Campus. The event offered UoN research students the opportunity to present their research in the form of a poster, practice their presentation skills to a non-specialist audience and a chance to win a prize of £100 or £75. 17 research students presented their work and eight judges, a mix of University staff, academic and support staff, plus an external judge from the University of Warwick, chose one first and two second prizes. Read the rest of this entry
Graduate School Update Day looks to the future for research students
Every year The Graduate School holds an ‘Update Day‘ where the focus is on topics of interest to supervisors and their postgraduate research students. This year, after an update on UoN ethics processes, a session on ‘Researcher Futures’ looks at career direction strategies beyond academia for researchers. In an employment landscape vastly different from that 20 years ago, research students often look to their supervisor for guidance on career support, even on non-academic choices. This workshop will help both supervisors and PGR students together to
- explore the pathways open to research degree graduates outside of academia;
- introduce techniques and resources that can support further career exploration and decision making;
- recognise potential in skills, experience, attributes and achievements whether the student wants a career in academia or, increasingly commonly, outside it.
For more information please see the programme or book via Eventbrite.
Image credit: Oliver Dixon CC BY-SA 2.0
Impact & the REF – English & History; Education, Business & Law – 9th June
I am delighted to annouce that Sarah Hall will be leading the three hour workshops for English and History and Education, Business and Law on the 9th of June. Sarah has been the Research Impact Strategy and Policy Manager for the University of Leicester for the past four years, and supported the delivery of the impact aspect of the institution’s REF2014 submission. Since 2014, she has worked to embed impact into the research culture of the University and to manage preparations for the next assessment exercise. A member of the University’s Research Strategy and Policy team, Sarah works centrally across the institution supporting academic staff from all disciplines to explore, articulate and evidence the economic and societal impact of their research.
The Research Excellence Framework (REF) is the system used for assessing the quality of research in UK higher education institutions. In order to facilitate preparation for the next REF, two meetings have been scheduled for all staff on the 19th of May.
12 pm to 1 pm – Park Campus – DLT (Delapre Lecture Theatre)
2 pm to 3 pm – Avenue Campus – MR 5
Workshop on REF and the Impact – English and History – C317 – Park Campus – 9th June – 9:30am to 12:30 pm
Workshop on REF and the Impact – Education, Business and Law – C317 – Park Campus – 9th June – 1 pm to 4 pm
To book your place please email SDBookings@Northampton.ac.uk
Butterflies and other animals: Tom Brereton inaugural professorial lecture
Kleiner Fuchs (Nymphalis urticae)
CC BY-SA 3.0
John Sinclair, The Dean of the Faculty of Arts, Science & Technology has pleasure in inviting you to the Inaugural Professorial Lecture entitled
Butterflies and other animals:
40 years of adventure in ecology and conservation
The lecture will be delivered by Professor Tom Brereton, on Tuesday 16 May 2017 at 6 pm in The Grand Hall, Newton Building, St George’s Avenue, Northampton, NN2 6JD
Coffee & biscuits will be served on arrival at 5.30 pm. Following the lecture there will be an opportunity for networking and discussion over drinks & nibbles. For catering purposes, please advise Val Howe if you are able to attend.
Impact & the REF
“In the 2021 REF the University of Northampton will submit and celebrate the excellent research it has done, and is doing, to underpin the delivery of the Changemaker Challenges and the University’s mission of Transforming Lives + Inspiring Change. The interdisciplinary nature of much of our research will be made overt. We will particularly focus on the impact our research has had, locally, nationally and internationally, and the ways the implementation of research findings (the application of our new knowledge) has improved the lives of people, and their environments.” Professor Simon Denny (Executive Dean: Research, Impact and Enterprise).
The Research Excellence Framework (REF) is the system used for assessing the quality of research in UK higher education institutions. In order to facilitate preparation for the next REF, two meetings have been scheduled for all staff on the 19th of May.
12 pm to 1 pm – Park Campus – DLT (Delapre Lecture Theatre)
2 pm to 3 pm – Avenue Campus – MR 5
Further meetings have been scheduled to look deeper at impact and case studies for units of assessment for the next REF. These are 3 hour meetings which will look in detail at what makes a 4 star impact case study and how we can apply that to our own research.
Please ensure that you come along to the meeting that is relevant to you, if you are unsure of which meeting to attend please contact your Research Leader.
24th May – 09:30 am to 12:30 pm – Mechanical Engineering, Art and Design, Geography, Computing – Avenue Campus – MY120
7th June – 1 pm to 4 pm Allied Health & Psychology – Park Campus – C317
9th June – 9:30 am to 12:30 pm – English and History – Park Campus – C317
9th June – 1 pm to 4 pm – Education, Business and Law – Park Campus – C317
Note – these are based on units of assessment, not faculty structures.
Please do prioritise these dates, and attend if at all possible.
Please email SDBookings@northampton.ac.uk to book your place.
If you are a PG Student, please contact dawn.hibbert@ed.ac.uk for booking.
Making Progress Workshop for part-time researchers
On Monday 19 June 2017, 09.30 – 16.30, The Open University in Milton Keynes is organizing a very interesting workshop, usually seen by students as a a real boost to motivation. The event is free but you will be expected to pay for your own travel. This one day workshop is open to all part-time research students within the UK. There are only few places left, so if you want to attend please book your place as soon as possible. Read the rest of this entry
New Academic Librarians Blog
A new blog has recently been launched by the Academic Librarians to provide staff with up-to-date news and information from the library world. The blog also contains training information and other developments from the team as well as links to relevant resources, including the latest Aspire step-by-step guide. If you want to be informed, check out the new Academic Librarians Blog.
PGR Student Poster Competition 2017: Invitation to all
The Graduate School would like to invite you to their Annual Research Student Poster Competition 2017 on Wednesday 17th May 2017, 11am to 2pm, in the Dialog Cafe, ground floor of Rockingham Library, Park Campus.
The poster competition is a development opportunity for doctoral research students, who present their research on an A1/A0 poster, giving short 1-1 verbal presentations alongside. So why not come along to meet some of our research students. They have been given a brief to present their research for a general, non-specialist audience, accessible to all. Read the rest of this entry
Graduate School Workshops Coming Up
Here are the Graduate School workshops running for doctoral students and early career researchers from May to July 2017. These workshops are open for booking through the Gateway Calendar. Also listed are Graduate School events. For more information please see the Calendar.
- Word: Working with Long Documents 10 May 2017, from 09:30 to 11:30
- Risk Assessing your Research 10 May 2017, from 11:45 to 13:15
- Systematic literature searching 10 May 2017, from 14:00 to 16:00
- Graduate School PGR Poster competition 17 May 2017, from 10:45 to 14:00
- Reading and writing skills at Level 8 (session 1) 22 May 2017, from 10:00 to 12:00
- Career management for researchers: CV Workshop 23 May 2017, from 10:00 to 12:00
- Shut Up and Write! 23 May 2017, from 13:00 to 16:00
- Part-Time Researcher 25 May 2017, from 09:30 to 16:00
- Social Media Analysis Workshop – Gathering and analysing social media data from Twitter and YouTube 25 May 2017, from 11:00 to 13:00
- Research Ethics Seminar 01 Jun 2017, from 12:00 to 13:30
- Designing Questionnaires 06 Jun 2017, from 10:00 to 12:00
- Analysing Questionnaire Data 06 Jun 2017, from 13:00 to 15:00
- Q Methodology 13 Jun 2017, from 10:00 to 12:00
- Shut Up and Write! 14 Jun 2017, from 10:00 to 13:00
- Reading and writing skills at Level 8 (session 2) 19 Jun 2017, from 10:00 to 12:00
- Graduate School PGR and ECR Conference 20 Jun 2017, from 09:30 to 17:00
- Graduate School Update Day 29 Jun 2017, from 09:30 to 14:00
- An Introduction to Nvivo ( Intermediate) 10 Jul 2017, from 13:00 to 16:00
UON Graduate School Blog 