What is research impact?
Research can have multiple beneficial academic and non-academic effects. While academic impact enhances understanding, methods or theory within scholarly communities, non-academic impact addresses real-world challenges, informing policy, practice and influencing positive societal changes.
What is international development research?
In the context of non-academic research impact, UKCDR defined international development research as
“Research that addresses global challenges, in alignment with Sustainable Development Goals (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.”
This definition intentionally includes research across various disciplines and topics, encompassing both Official Development Assistance (ODA) and non-ODA funded research.
Why are we working on this?
UKCDR strives to support evidence-informed decision-making processes in the research funding ecosystem. Our analysis on the REF 2021 results provides a snapshot of the nature of development research impact in the UK research landscape. Such a snapshot allows funders, research management teams, and academics to gain key insights that can inform their future work.
The landscape of international development research in the UK has experienced multiple changes over the last few years. From our expertise supporting the coherence of research addressing global challenges, we recognise that institutional, budget, and funding model shifts bring new challenges and opportunities for supporting impactful international research. Understanding current trends and patterns in achieving research impact alongside best practice can motivate the wider research community to adopt strategies that enhance the societal benefits of their work, thereby advancing progress towards the SDGs.
What have we achieved?
Contact us
For more information on our work on development research impact, please contact Andrea Padilla – Research and Policy Officer (a.padilla@ukcdr.org.uk).