Introduction
Information about past, current and future impacts can be recorded in Pure.
Impact records are included in the Research Activity Report and are used to collect information for the Research Excellence Framework (REF) impact case studies. Impact records are created for internal use only and are not displayed on the University of Bath Research Portal.
Adding an impact record
Select the green ‘Add content’ button at the top right of the screen, select ‘Impact’ and fill in the template.
When adding your impact record:
- complete mandatory fields marked with a red asterisk
- add as much information as possible
- leave the ‘Keywords’, ‘Files’ and ‘IDs’ sections empty
- make links under ‘Relations’ to your other content in Pure
- select the visibility of your record
- remember to save your record before you close it
Impact status
- In preparation: a potential impact that has not yet achieved a tangible change
- In progress: an impact that has resulted in a change that is being implemented
- Closed: research no longer active at the University or the impact was not sustained
Title
Choose a concise and meaningful description of the impact, for example, ‘Encouraging policy-makers to listen to children when developing policies to address childhood poverty’ or ‘Novel light sources and the economic success of Fianium Ltd’.
Description of impact
The information you record here is very important so be as detailed as possible, though you can use a bulleted list. Consider the following questions:
- what was the external organisation’s need/issue that your research addressed?
- what has changed or is in the process of changing?
- how can you evidence this?
How did your research contribute?
Provide details of the research you conducted and describe the key insights or findings that contributed to the impact. Further down the template you can link to your relevant research outputs.
What steps have been undertaken to achieve impact?
Briefly document the activities and research outputs which form your pathway to impact - examples of where to enter them in Pure. Further down the template you can make links to these records.
Who is affected?
Detail the beneficiaries of your research. For example, for an improved health intervention the beneficiaries could be clinicians, patients and their families, and society.
What support could help in the development of impact?
Add a note here if particular support from the faculty or a professional service could help in the development of your impact. For example, support from the research commercialisation managers in RIS or the Public Engagement Unit.
Category of impact
Select the category of impact that most closely aligns with the impact of your research. You may choose more than one category.
Geographic reach
- UK only: the impact is restricted to the UK
- Europe only: one or more European country, one of which can be the UK, for example France and UK
- International: one continent beyond Europe
- Global: across two or more continents, for example Australia and Germany
Evidence
You should upload all evidence of your impact. This could include:
- testimonial letters from collaborating organisations
- reports citing your research
- screen grabs of websites
- company accounts
- White Papers
- policy documents
- awards for the product or impact
You can use this template for requesting testimonial letters.
Some organisations may have concerns about confidentiality or business sensitivity. If this is the case you can provide reassurance on several points:
- REF panels treat all information in confidence
- we only publish the case study and not the supporting letters
- option to partially redact the case study or not to publish it at all
To restrict access to an impact record, you should choose ‘Confidential' under ‘Visibility’. This will restrict access to staff associated with the impact and some professional services staff.
Participants and affiliations
Add all the people involved in the impact at Bath; they will be able to edit the impact record and link to their activities and publications. You can also add your external collaborators.
Use this guidance to help you complete the fields in the record.