What is the data tool about?
It is an interactive visualisation tool developed using Tableau. The tool provides a comprehensive overview of the non-academic (real-life) impact of research for international development in the UK research landscape, based on UKCDR’s analysis of the REF 2021 impact case studies database. The tool allows comparisons of four categories, namely: impact type, impact location, funder type, and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) across REF panels, Units of Assessment (UoAs) and Higher Education Institutions (HEIs). The tool can be used by a variety of stakeholders with an interest in research for international development to quickly view, interact or download information and thereby inform their work.
Why did we create it?
UKCDR strives to contribute to evidence-informed decision-making and promote collaboration and knowledge sharing, as part of our efforts to strengthen the funding ecosystem for research in international development. We do this to support research as a way to help address global challenges and achieve progress toward the United Nation’s (UN) Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). We have created this user-friendly and comprehensive data tool so that individuals with varying specialisms and levels of expertise can explore a selection of impact case studies from the REF 2021 database, relating to research for international development. The data tool enables users to gain insights and draw linkages on trends, patterns and relationships between the research case studies and their type and location of impact, funding and contribution to SDGs.
The tool complements UKCDR’s 2023 report, The Landscape of UK-funded Development Research. This report features a data mapping analysis of the results of REF 2021 impact case study submissions. While the report presents the distribution of the categories mentioned above as high-level results, the tool allows users to filter and sort data at a granular level, and even access the summary of associated case studies. Referring to the report alongside the data tool would provide users with a more comprehensive understanding of the analysis. As such, we encourage users to access the report and learn more about what type of research impact evidenced in the REF 2021 impact case study submissions, and how.
Who is the data tool for?
We have designed this tool to be of value for a variety of actors across the international development research community. We anticipate that funders, research managers and researchers will benefit the most.For example, funders may use the tool to understand in which countries or on which SDGs their funded research for international development had an impact and thus evaluate progress toward their strategies and policies. Similarly, research management teams may find it useful to learn about the different types of impact achieved regarding a specific REF 2021 panel or UoA to enhance preparation for REF 2029.
UKCDR's REF 2021 analysis
What is REF?
The Research Excellence Framework (REF) is a national peer-review assessment of the quality and impact of UK research in Higher Education Institutions (HEIs). . This assessment serves three main purposes: ensuring accountability for public investment, providing benchmarks and establishing reputational yardsticks, and guiding the allocation of research funding to HEIs based on assessment outcomes.
The submissions are assessed by experts who are organised in four main panels and 34 sub-panels or Units of Assessment (UoAs). The main panels are:
- Panel A – Medicine, health and life sciences
- Panel B – Physical sciences, engineering and mathematics
- Panel C – Social sciences
- Panel D – Arts and humanities
The latest iteration (2021) assessed the non-academic research impact achieved between 2013 and 2020. REF defines impact as an ‘effect on, change or benefit to the economy, society, culture, public policy or services, health, the environment or quality of life’, in other words, real-life changes.
The REF impact case studies are presented in an online open access database containing case studies submitted by UK HEIs.
What is international development research?
While there are multiple definitions, UKCDR’s previous mapping analysis and this 2024 tool identify international development research as research that ‘addresses global challenges, in alignment with the UN SDGs, and results in political, economic, social, health or environmental change for the benefit of Low- and Middle-Income Countries (LMICs), specific regions, and/or the global community’. As such, the case studies in this tool include Official Development Assistance (ODA) and non-ODA funded research.
What data did we analyse and how?
The dataset in this tool is a subset of REF 2021 impact case studies extracted by UKCDR. From the 6,361 case studies submitted to REF 2021, UKCDR identified 891 focused on international development research and conducted a portfolio analysis through a combination of text analytics (for the type of impact and SDGs) and text mining (for identifying funders and location of impact). For more details on the methodology see UKCDR’s report (P.13).
The types of impact categories are based on existing literature about real-life research impact and supported by feedback from a subject-expert group. This means that, per REF 2021’s guidelines, UKCDR’s impact categories exclude typical academic metrics of impact, such as the number of citations or publications. We exclude these metrics to take a closer look at four categories of impact: conceptual (perspectives or debates), instrumental (policy and practice), learning and development (capacity strengthening), and networks and connectivity (partnerships).
Data caveats
As the data in this tool is extracted from the REF 2021 impact case studies database, it provides only a partial picture of UK-funded international development research. It does not capture the whole body of development-oriented research conducted in the UK. t is possible that certain types and levels of impact were prioritised over others to secure a positive assessment.
REF submissions registered information on the location of impact in different forms. While most case studies listed the country (or countries) where the impact occurred, the data also contained regions, subregions, international organisations or broad concepts such as ‘climate vulnerable nations’. Due to these inconsistencies, the world heatmap in the ‘Location of Impact’ dashboard only includes country-specific locations. While the UK was listed as an impact location in REF 2021 case studies, our analysis focused on impact outside the UK.
The UKCDR team recognises that research can address multiple SDGs at one time, however for this analysis, each impact case study was only coded against one primary SDG. The coding process involved analysing the case studies’ “summary of impact” and “details of impact” sections to identify the research objectives, outcomes and impact. This analysis was then used to match the case study with its primary SDG.
Per the original REF 2021 impact case studies database, the case studies in the data tool are linked to the HEI that submitted the impact case study. However, there are instances where the research teams included researchers from other institutions.
Missing data
Not all REF case studies have complete information regarding the funding source and location of impact. Case studies without funding information (17%) were not included in the funding tab analysis and those without location information (16.5%) were not included in the world heat map.