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 grater 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/