Call for Abstracts:
Doing Research Impact Differently (Routledge)
About the Series: Doing Academia Differently
Doing Research Impact Differently aims to form part of Routledge's new series, 'Doing Academia Differently', which builds on the growing interest in doing things differently in academia. For years, critical scholars in management and organisation studies, higher education studies, and other social sciences have been drawing attention to the imposition of increasingly narrow prescriptions of what it means to be an academic and to do academic work. The damaging effects of such narrowing prescriptions on academic careers, identities, knowledge, and well-being and their adverse implications for universities and broader society have also become increasingly recognised. Academia and academics are at a breaking point in many parts of the world, and alternatives must be urgently sought and found to reimagine, nourish, and revitalise academia. This series aims to consolidate this search for alternatives by making available cutting-edge, creative, and innovative contributions that ask how we can do academia differently.
Doing Research Impact Differently
Adapted from Reed (2018) and Bayley (2023), we define impact as the demonstrable difference that research makes in the world, beyond academia.
Aim
This proposed edited book, Doing Research Impact Differently, explores and interrogates research impact discourse, theory, and practice. It aims to provoke a shift in how we 'do' impact, from defining and understanding research impact to innovative new methods for delivering and evaluating impact in practice. We will interrogate perceptions of what constitutes a 'gold standard' impact, as well as the gatekeepers of those standards. To do this, we invite contributions that critically examine all facets of research impact and challenge the normative impact agenda within academia, often driven by mandatory national assessment requirements, such as the Research Excellence Framework.
We want to take a holistic view of research impact. To do so, we seek to uncover the often complex, messy, and frustrating yet fulfilling journey of creating and supporting research that makes a meaningful difference in the world. A central aspect of this work is including and valuing the knowledge, expertise, skills, and experiences of all those involved in the research impact journey. To achieve this, we will provoke debate reflecting a heterarchical research impact model. This model will enable us to critically reflect on the current state of research impact so that we may meaningfully inform future thinking and practice.
Co-Authorship
We will be proactive in ensuring a diversity of voices and perspectives are included in this new literature on research impact. Therefore, we will prioritise submissions that are co-authored by two or more from the following groups:
· Researchers: e.g., academic employees in any higher education institution, research institute, NHS body with research capacity, or independent research organisation.
· Practitioners: e.g., professional service staff responsible for supporting delivery of research impact, knowledge exchange, public engagement, commercialisation, partnership development, communications, etc.
· Publics: e.g., non-academic research partners, including those from public, private, and third sector and end users/beneficiaries of research.
· Research policymakers: those responsible for research policy, governance, assessment, and funding.
We will support authors who are persistently underrepresented and marginalised in research. This may include, for example, women in academia from racially minoritised backgrounds or public representatives of underserved communities. Please get in touch if you wish to discuss this opportunity further.
Potential Topics
The proposed book chapter must first and foremost focus on research impact, but it may span any geographic location, locally, regionally, nationally, or internationally. Regarding themes and topics, we do not intend to be prescriptive and warmly encourage innovative new approaches, perspectives, theories, and practices in any area related to research impact. Topics may include but are certainly not limited to:
· (Re-)defining research impact
· Co-production and co-creation of research impact
· Evidencing and evaluating research impact
· Decolonising research impact
· Research impact and equality, diversity, and inclusion
· Research impact and local, regional, national, or international policy priorities
· Research impact in the public, private, and/or third sectors
· Impact literacy and planning tools
· Ethical research impact
· 'Grimpact' (Derrick et al, 2018)
· Research impact and the funding landscape
· Research impact and the open research agenda
· Research impact culture and environment
· Assessment of research impact, e.g., Research Excellent Framework or Knowledge Exchange Framework
· Knowledge mobilisation methods (including knowledge exchange, public engagement, commercialisation, communications, etc).
· Research impact policy and governance
How to Submit an Abstract
Please send abstracts of 500 words, and a brief biography of 150 words, to Maranda Ridgway, Michelle Poland, Jo Richardson, and Nadia Kougiannou at DoingImpactDifferently@gmail.com by Friday 23rd August 2024.
To ensure the book can be used and is useful to those outside the academic community, we ask that all contributors use lay language and write for an interested and educated non-specialist reader.
References
Bayley, Julie. (2023) Creating Meaningful Impact. Bingley, Emerald.
Derrick. G. E., Faria, R., Benneworth, B., Budtz-Peterson. G, & Siversten. G. (2018) Towards characterising negative impact: introducing Grimpact. Science and Technology Indicators 2018 Conference Proceedings, 1199-1213. Retrieved from: https://hdl.handle.net/1887/65230.
Reed, Mark. (2018) Research Impact Handbook, 2nd Edition. Fast Track Impact, Aberdeenshire.
About the Co-Editors
Maranda Ridgway is Associate Professor of People and Inclusion and Co-Director of Research Impact at Nottingham Business School, Nottingham Trent University. Committed to impacting policy and practice, Maranda's research is informed by experience as a senior HR professional. As Co-Director of Research Impact, she has leadership accountability at NBS through strategic contribution, promoting impact-healthy cultures and enhancing the impact literacy of researchers. Maranda has published in Human Resource Management Journal, Gender Work & Organization, Organization, and Global Networks and is a Fellow of the CIPD. Her research interests traverse inclusion, intersectionality, global mobility, and navigating the research-practice gap.
Michelle Poland is a Research Impact Manager at Nottingham Trent University (NTU). She is passionate about enabling academic colleagues to connect their research to the real world in ways that are meaningful to them and the people and places their research benefits. Michelle is experienced in supporting REF impact and environment submissions and is responsible for managing a portfolio of impact case studies at NTU. Michelle is currently co-designing a Research Impact Culture Framework tool and has undertaken impact evaluation projects, including an impact evaluation of the Peatland Pavilion at COP26 led by Prof Mark Reed. Michelle's research interests include research impact, Gothic literature, and ecocriticism and she is Co-Founder of the Gothic Nature Journal.
Jo Richardson is Professor of Housing and Social Inclusion and Associate Dean Research at Nottingham Business School. Her research experience is largely in social housing management and her publications focus on housing, home and homelessness with her most recent book (2019) Place and Identity: the Performance of Home published by Routledge. Jo's research has been funded by charities, local and national government as well as grant funders including JRF, ESRC and AHRC. She is passionate about co-production and working with people for meaningful change and likes bringing different ideas and thoughts together across diverse groups, for example as founding chair of the emerging Women in Business Research (WiBR) network. Jo has experience of leading submissions to REF and has submitted her own impact case study; but she is even more interested in nurturing a high-impact/high-inclusion culture that requires us to do impact differently.
Nadia K. Kougiannou is an Associate Professor of Work and Employment and Co-Director of Research Outputs at Nottingham Business School, UK. Her principal research expertise lies in work and employment relations. Nadia's research interests encompass work voice and silence, participation, worker mobilisation, trust, social justice, 'atypical' work such as the gig/platform economy, and bridging the research-practice gap. She has published extensively, including the British Journal of Management, Human Resource Management Journal, British Journal of Industrial Relations, Industrial Relations: A Journal of Economy and Society, Work, Employment and Society, and New Technology, Work and Employment. Additionally, she has authored and co-authored several book chapters focusing on employee voice and silence. Nadia recently co-edited a book titled Work, Employment and Flexibility: Innovation, Technology and the Changing World of Work (in press) for Edward Elgar's 'The Future of Work and Employment' series.
Dr Nadia K. Kougiannou
BA, MA, PhD, FHEA, AcACIPD
Associate Professor of Work and Employment
Co-Director of Research Outputs
Nottingham Business School
Nottingham Trent University
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Recent publications:
'We Are Not All the Same': The Capacity of Different Groups of Food Delivery Gig Workers to Build Collective and Individual Power Resources, Work, Employment and Society
Fair Gig Work in Scotland? A Review of Employment Practices in the Scottish Food Delivery Work
Equality, diversity, and inclusivity in engineering, 2013 to 2022: a review.
Organisational voice and employee-focused voice: Two distinct voice forms and their effects on burnout and innovative behavior, Human Resource Management Journal
Mind the gap: DBA students, knowledge generation, transfer and impact, Studies in Higher Education
Informalization in gig food delivery in the UK: The case of hyper-flexible and precarious work, Industrial Relations: A Journal of Economy and Society
Disconnecting labour: The impact of intraplatform algorithmic changes on the labour process and workers' capacity to organise collectively, New Technology, Work and Employment
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Konstantina Kougiannou
Associate Professor
Nottingham Business School
NOTTINGHAM
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