How useful do you find ESRC-funded research? Has any particular piece of research inspired change in your organisation or way of working? In what ways could the ESRC make it easier for you to benefit from appropriate research findings?
As part of a wide-ranging review into the impact of research, we are keen to hear about your experiences of using our research. A discussion forum has been set up on ESRC Society Today and we invite users to contribute their experiences - both positive and negative - of using research material to this forum. In particular, we hope to gather practical examples of the transfer of research findings into policy, business or public sector settings. In other words, to gather 'real-life' examples of the ways in which research influences the world outside academia.
ESRC Senior Evaluation Manager, Ronni Littlewood, explains: "we are currently exploring new ways of assessing the nonacademic impact of research, in order to demonstrate how the outcomes of ESRC research are utilised by policymakers and practitioners.
"It is clear," she continues, "that there are numerous ways in which the outcomes from social science research can contribute to and influence policy and practice by, for example, encouraging better informed public policy and decision making, improved professional practice and organisational decision making, different ways of thinking about the nature of social and economic problems, and innovative solutions and improved public understanding and more informed public discourse. But, to ensure that our research does make such impact, we need first to understand how our users interact with social science research and with researchers.
The discussion forum can be accessed on ESRC SocietyToday at www.esrcsocietytoday.ac.uk/ESRCInfoCentre/Forums/default.aspx?f=22
Alternatively, you can contact Ronni Littlewood at the ESRC (veronica.littlewood@esrc.ac.uk) or on 01793 413141.