March 29, 2019
Engagement and impact assessment shows which industries take up research
The industries making the most use of high-quality university research have been revealed via the Australian Research Council (ARC) ‘Engagement and Impact’ assessment released today.
The Engagement and Impact assessment provides the balance to the Excellence in Research for Australia assessment released earlier this week. It shows how and where the research is translated into outcomes across Australia and the world.
A breakdown of Engagement and Impact outcomes data, analysed by the Innovative Research Universities (IRU) group, shows that ‘health’ was the socio-economic objective for 86 research projects gaining a high impact assessment, 19 percent of all projects achieving that standard.
Research with a ‘Culture’ objective was second best placed, being recognised for 47 high impact projects. ‘Environment’, ‘Expanding knowledge’ and ‘Law, politics and community’ made up the top five areas to be awarded high impact status.
Top five socio-economic objectives in ARC Engagement and Impact assessments
1. Health (86 high impact assessments)
2. Culture (47)
3. Environment (42)
4. Expanding Knowledge (42)
5. Law, politics and community (41)
IRU members showed the effectiveness of their research with 82 percent of assessments of impact rated as medium or high.
Commenting, IRU Executive Director Conor King said:
“The Engagement and Impact Assessment confirms that IRU members translate their research into use.
“The assessment is particularly valuable for identifying which industries are most active in working with Australia’s universities.
“This allows universities and the Government to target industries where greater use of our research capabilities is needed.”
Which industries use high impact research?
The IRU analysed the stated objectives of 240 projects assessed by the ARC to be ‘high impact’ as part of the Engagement and Impact Assessments 2018/19. Many of the projects had more than one stated objective, meaning they appear in more than one category.
