The webinar “Preparing for Impact Success in REF” took place online on the 2nd of July to an audience of some fifty academics and research impact professionals from more than thirty universities across the UK. This was the first in an ongoing series of webinars to support universities in their preparations for impact in Research Excellence Framework (REF) 2029. In this companion piece, we take a look at some of the key points raised by our presenters and the audience.
It was led by Carlos Galan-Diaz and Laura Kemp, both bringing significant experience around impact in academia.
Research Excellence Framework (REF 2029): The Development
The Research Excellence Framework (REF) has evolved significantly in its approach to impact. For REF 2029, the traditional Impact element has been redefined as Engagement and Impact (E&I), retaining its 25% weighting but with a broadened scope and added depth. This reflects the previous Australian approach to reporting on impact at a national level, through the Engagement & Impact Assessment 2019. Institutions will now submit not only Impact Case Studies but also a unit-level engagement narrative, detailing how they strategically engage with stakeholders to achieve impact.
This marks a shift from simply reporting outcomes to evidencing the quality of engagement processes. While reach and significance remain central criteria, a new focus on rigour assesses how engagement was conducted, in terms of planning, ethics, and reflexivity. This aligns with the National Centre for Coordinating Public Engagement’s (NCCPE) vision of a more participatory research culture, promoting two-way, collaborative knowledge exchange, as opposed to one way vision of an ivory academic tower.
This Engagement and Impact element is quite complex and can encompass a wide range of activities- from citizen science and co-produced policy briefings to public festivals and participatory research- thus recognising that impact arises through meaningful, sustained dialogue with end-users, not just top-down dissemination.
Although some details are still emerging, the key messages are clear: plan early, document thoroughly, and embrace diverse pathways to impact. It is important to note that the greater focus on engagement in REF 2029 isn’t just a metric shift- it is a cultural call to embed engagement as a core aspect of research excellence. Although not officially confirmed (as asked by one of the participants at the webinar), there is high probability that it will be.
And the key part of that is the Logic Model underpinning the process of impact.
The Logic Model and the Process of Impact
The logic model is a structured framework used to plan, describe, and evaluate the process of achieving research impact. It offers a step-by-step view of how academic activities can and do translate into tangible benefits beyond academia.
At its core, the logic model maps a causal chain from inputs to impacts, showing the logical (thus the name) progression of activities, engagement, and outcomes. The typical stages include:
- Inputs: These are the foundational elements: funding, time, infrastructure, and personnel. They represent the resources invested in the research and its dissemination. This is also what your Hivve consultant will ask you first about.
- Project Activities: This refers to what the research team does with those inputs. It includes conducting the research itself, as well as associated engagement activities such as workshops, stakeholder meetings, co-production exercises, and communication efforts.
- Outputs: These are immediate, measurable products of Project Activities stage. These may include journal articles, reports, policy briefs, media content, tools, or prototypes. It is important to note that, while necessary for dissemination and communication, outputs are not impacts per se.
- Translation Activities: Here, the model becomes dynamic. Translation Activities involve two-way interactions with stakeholders, users, or beneficiaries. The examples of those can be found in many facets of co-creation, consultation, public events, knowledge exchange, and collaborative partnerships. This stage is critical in the REF 2029 framework, as per rigour metric.
- Outcomes: These changes that result from engagement with the outputs. Examples include changes in knowledge, attitudes, behaviours, or practices among stakeholders or users. Again, it is crucial to evidence those as you move along.
- Impacts: The long-term, demonstrable benefits to society, policy, culture, economy, health, or environment, underpinned by the research in the certain unit of assessment. These must be evidenced and significant. Impact may be local, national, or global, and should be linked back clearly to the research and engagement process.
It is important to note that the logic model is not a one-size-fits-all blueprint; rather, it should be tailored to each project’s aims, disciplinary context, and stakeholder landscape. Importantly, it supports strategic thinking: if impact is the destination, the logic model helps map the route, anticipate gaps, and plan for evidence-gathering.
For REF 2029, using a logic model approach can support both the writing of case studies and the development of the Engagement Narrative. It ensures researchers can articulate not only what impact occurred, but how and why- clearly linking activities to outcomes in a structured, easy to evidence way (and saving you having to get that shoe box from the top of the dusty cupboard, where you are sure you put that statement from a city council you helped on that project five years ago).
How can we make that easier?
hivve’s Impact Journey is designed to help individuals and organizations assess and advance their maturity in understanding, managing, and communicating impact. It provides a structured path through six progressive stages: Discovery, Understanding, Engagement, Management, Optimisation, and Amplification.
At the Discovery stage, users explore what impact means, why it matters, and how others are responding, building the confidence to move forward. Most of the universities already have the awareness, so focusing on the next step is crucial. Understanding involves identifying gaps, benchmarking against peers, and securing internal support.
Once these two steps are achieved, we have to help our colleagues (or our research outputs) with Engagement. This is about demonstrating early success and gaining stakeholder buy-in. And gathering evidence as you go along (yes, again). In Management, impact becomes embedded in strategy and systems for consistent tracking and reporting. This point is especially important, as life can often take over and we might forget to collect the evidence as we go along. The strategies to capture that are also a key part of “winning” REF preparation.
Optimisation focuses on enhancing effectiveness and aligning impact across programs, while Amplification scales results, strengthens visibility, and builds broader networks and capabilities, in order to draw benefits from the hard work put into developing it in the first five pages.
The framework draws from over a decade of experience across academia, international NGOs, and corporate sectors. hivve supports organizations with a combination of advisory services, digital tools Impact Tracker, and a unique proprietary taxonomy of impact types. This enables evidence-based reporting, consistent language, and the ability to aggregate and compare results across different initiatives.
hivve can support you through a range of resources, services, and software:
- Resources: such as training courses and webinars;
- Services: including bespoke feedback on impact case studies or environment statements, as well as one-on-one impact drafting sessions; the cost of this- as asked by one of the participants- is bespoke and depends on a number of factors. Should you need more information, please contact us and we will be happy to provide the details.
- Software: ImpactTracker, a secure and effective tool for storing evidence related to impact case studies or for running assessments if needed.
Support can be provided through any one of these, or a combination of all three, depending on your needs.
In the coming months, there are three other webinars coming up – register here!
- Getting REF-Ready: Building Institutional Readiness Ahead of Final Guidance – 24th September
- Impact Case Study Development: What You Can (and Should) Do Now – 28th October
- Preparing for People, Culture and the Evolving Research Environment – 3rd December
And the Impact Symposium, our annual impact event, taking place on Wednesday, 12th November.
If you want to start moving forward along your Impact Journey today, you can sign up to our ImpactAcademy eLearning courses here, or consider purchasing a single licence of ImpactTracker here.