Engagement and Impact

We wish to acknowledge that the material used in this guide was developed via a collaborative Regional Universities Network E&I working party

In December 2015, as part of its National Innovation and Science Agenda (NISA), the Government announced the development of an Engagement and Impact (EI) assessment. The EI assessment examines how universities are translating their research into economic, environmental, social, cultural and other benefits.

EI 2018 aimed to encourage greater collaboration between universities and research end-users, such as industry, by assessing engagement and impact. The EI 2018 assessment was a companion exercise to Excellence in Research Australia (ERA) 2018, and data collection for ERA 2018 formed part of the EI 2018 assessment.

The objectives of EI are to:

• provide clarity to the Government and Australian public about how their investments in university research translate into tangible benefits beyond academia
• identify institutional processes and infrastructure that enable research engagement
• promote greater support for the translation of research impact within institutions for the benefit of Australia beyond academia
• identity the ways in which institutions currently translate research into impact

Engagement:

Research engagement is the interaction between researchers and research end-users outside of academia, for the mutually beneficial transfer of knowledge, technologies, methods or resources.

Impact:

Research impact is the contribution that research makes to the economy, society, environment or culture, beyond the contribution to academic research.

Research end-user:

A research end-user is an individual, community or organisation external to academia that will directly use or directly benefit from the output, outcome or result of the research.

https://dataportal.arc.gov.au/EI/NationalReport/2018/pages/introduction/index.html?id=definitions

Source: Knowledge Translation Australia https://www.ktaustralia.com/