Research Impact: Guidance on Advancement, Achievement and Assessment

Research for research sake is no longer tenable or affordable; to be  valuable to society, research must have impact! This textbook takes the  reader on a journey from how the UK Research Excellence Framework  assesses impact to real examples of outstanding research impact case  studies.  Along the way, Prof. Hugh McKenna describes and explains the  case for research impact, the challenges, the link between research  impact and evidence informed practice, achieving impact through changing  policy and engaging with the public, how researchers can make their  research findings more impactful and how research impact is assessment  nationally and internationally

It is written in an easily  accessible and understandable style, with reflective exercises amply  distributed throughout its pages and helpful guides helping to engage  readers and notably health professionals who are often turned off by the  normal heavy research tomes. This book makes the complex simple and the  wearisome fascinating. The short chapters are interesting and  authoritative and can be read on a ‘standalone’ basis, allowing readers  to ‘dip in and out’.
From his experience in various countries, the  author has a unique insight into what research impact is, how it is  assessed and how and where research findings can have the most benefit.  The stimulus for this book has been the excellent feedback that the  author has received from health professionals, students and fellow  researchers.  There is always a risk that good knowledge and experience  do not transfer well into a good textbook. In Research Impact: Guidance  on Advancement, Achievement and Assessment, nothing has been lost in the  transition.

The book will be of great interest to many health  researchers from nursing to midwifery, pharmacy, medicine or any allied  health professional, but also to any research manager in all professions   who want their research to bring positive change to society, culture,  the economy, health and quality of life. It will be of particular  interest to those who want to understand the difference between research  impacts that are weak and those that are outstanding and how such  assessments are made.