AHRC Impact Acceleration Account
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Birmingham
Department Name: Research Support Services (RSS)
Abstract
The new AHRC IAA will be instrumental in increasing capacity to deliver timely impact activities developed with strategic partners and diverse external stakeholders. It will enable the arts and humanities to fulfil key objectives from the Birmingham 2030 Strategic Framework which align with UKRI priorities. These aims and objectives underpin this IAA:
Aim 1: Support innovative and experimental knowledge exchange
The AHRC IAA funding schemes will enable arts and humanities scholars and practitioners to maximise user engagement. We will encourage applications for innovative and experimental knowledge exchange to generate high-risk/high-gain impact initiatives through new modes of delivery for knowledge exchange and new methods of evaluation (objective 1). Researchers will reach new audiences (both diverse and underrepresented), develop novel partnerships in academia and beyond and support a model of co-design and implementation. By supporting challenge-led research and impact initiatives (objective 2), and enabling and mentoring UoB researchers working in these areas and in these ways, we aim to accelerate and maximise their impact potential. In particular, this aim seeks to support researchers in extending the capacity for impact through identifying and developing key strategic partnerships at an early stage and maintaining the involvement of key stakeholders.
Aim 2: Strengthen stakeholder engagement and leveraging of cultural assets
We will strengthen and widen user engagement with arts and humanities research (objective 3). This will be achieved by enabling our collaborators to inform what 'good' impact looks like and developing measures of success that demonstrate the changes (economic, social, cultural) achieved. We will develop new strategic partnerships, while consolidating existing ones to identify together future challenges and solutions (objective 4). This will build capacity at user organisations through a skills training scheme involving ECRs to fast-track their engagement through secondments to users of arts and humanities research. A key outcome is evidence- based 'key performance indicators' to improve stakeholder engagement.
Aim 3: Consolidating and enhancing impact culture
We will embed impact leadership within institutional structures (objective 5), developing impact leaders of the future with a mentoring and coaching programme to underpin all funding schemes to better support early career researchers (ECRs) and EDI-protected characteristics. Emphasis will be on creating diverse and inclusive interdisciplinary mentoring teams to work across projects, thus creating additional opportunities for connections across academic communities and further enhancing the value of impact to users and beneficiaries. We will ensure that impact is fully supported and rewarded as part of the arts and humanities research portfolio (objective 6). To do this we will increase researchers' capabilities to facilitate impact by ensuring a nuanced and widespread understanding of the concept and how to deliver it. It will be incentivised through the new Birmingham Academic Career Framework that specifies impact and engagement as a pathway for promotion. Core to this objective is an interdisciplinary approach: we will work across UoB to facilitate impact workshops annually with the specific aim to IAA-fund the best projects. There will be a multidisciplinary impact fund and we will promote and celebrate impact from arts and humanities research (objective 7). Such promotion will showcase the best impact examples to demonstrate to a diverse range of audiences the socio-economic value of these engagements at civic, regional, national, and international levels though The Exchange, Public Engagement Day, Light of Understanding Award, Annual University Research Conference, and Knowledge Exchange Concordat.
Aim 1: Support innovative and experimental knowledge exchange
The AHRC IAA funding schemes will enable arts and humanities scholars and practitioners to maximise user engagement. We will encourage applications for innovative and experimental knowledge exchange to generate high-risk/high-gain impact initiatives through new modes of delivery for knowledge exchange and new methods of evaluation (objective 1). Researchers will reach new audiences (both diverse and underrepresented), develop novel partnerships in academia and beyond and support a model of co-design and implementation. By supporting challenge-led research and impact initiatives (objective 2), and enabling and mentoring UoB researchers working in these areas and in these ways, we aim to accelerate and maximise their impact potential. In particular, this aim seeks to support researchers in extending the capacity for impact through identifying and developing key strategic partnerships at an early stage and maintaining the involvement of key stakeholders.
Aim 2: Strengthen stakeholder engagement and leveraging of cultural assets
We will strengthen and widen user engagement with arts and humanities research (objective 3). This will be achieved by enabling our collaborators to inform what 'good' impact looks like and developing measures of success that demonstrate the changes (economic, social, cultural) achieved. We will develop new strategic partnerships, while consolidating existing ones to identify together future challenges and solutions (objective 4). This will build capacity at user organisations through a skills training scheme involving ECRs to fast-track their engagement through secondments to users of arts and humanities research. A key outcome is evidence- based 'key performance indicators' to improve stakeholder engagement.
Aim 3: Consolidating and enhancing impact culture
We will embed impact leadership within institutional structures (objective 5), developing impact leaders of the future with a mentoring and coaching programme to underpin all funding schemes to better support early career researchers (ECRs) and EDI-protected characteristics. Emphasis will be on creating diverse and inclusive interdisciplinary mentoring teams to work across projects, thus creating additional opportunities for connections across academic communities and further enhancing the value of impact to users and beneficiaries. We will ensure that impact is fully supported and rewarded as part of the arts and humanities research portfolio (objective 6). To do this we will increase researchers' capabilities to facilitate impact by ensuring a nuanced and widespread understanding of the concept and how to deliver it. It will be incentivised through the new Birmingham Academic Career Framework that specifies impact and engagement as a pathway for promotion. Core to this objective is an interdisciplinary approach: we will work across UoB to facilitate impact workshops annually with the specific aim to IAA-fund the best projects. There will be a multidisciplinary impact fund and we will promote and celebrate impact from arts and humanities research (objective 7). Such promotion will showcase the best impact examples to demonstrate to a diverse range of audiences the socio-economic value of these engagements at civic, regional, national, and international levels though The Exchange, Public Engagement Day, Light of Understanding Award, Annual University Research Conference, and Knowledge Exchange Concordat.