Section 3: What value should be placed on societal impact?

What value should be placed on societal impact?

Introduction

Our societal impact research and interviews have revealed that researchers, and particularly younger researchers, certainly recognise the value of societal impact work. However, there were concerns raised in both the survey and the interviews that societal impact needs to be balanced with academic impact.

Over two-thirds (68%) of the researchers we surveyed think that societal impact is important. But it was still seen as less important than academic impact with peers.

It’s also clear that while researchers do recognise the importance of societal impact – and in many cases, feel very strongly about it – they do not necessarily think that societal impact needs to come directly from every piece of research.

Indeed, some of the researchers we interviewed were keen to emphasise that they felt individual researchers should have a choice over how much time they dedicated to societal impact work. With many acknowledging the need for fundamental and ‘blue-sky’ research where the direct societal impact may not be immediately clear.

In addition, discussions touched upon the idea of teamwork – where individual researchers could each play to their strengths and take on the work they felt best suited to. Whether that was communicating about their research with the general public or focusing purely on work in the lab.

Research insights

We conducted a survey with over 9,000 researchers to understand how societal impact is viewed by academics across different countries, disciplines and career stages. This is what we found…

In general, researchers care more about their papers being read by their peers than about the societal impact of their research beyond academia.

When asked about their most recent publication:

82% say that having their paper read by their peers is ‘extremely’ or ‘very’ important

68% say that their research having societal impact beyond academia is ‘extremely’ or ‘very’ important

For 31% of researchers, societal impact is only moderately or slightly important, or not at all important

Most – but certainly not all – researchers feel that funding should be tied to societal impact.Over 60% of respondents agreed with the statement that research funding should be more strongly linked to demonstrable societal impact, with 19% disagreeing:

This was most strongly felt by younger researchers (71% who first published in 2010 or later strongly or somewhat agreed), and researchers from medicine (68% strongly or somewhat agreed).

By contrast, there was lower agreement from researchers in Physics/Chemistry/Materials (54%) and Arts & Humanities (43%).

Those who agreed funding should be linked to societal impact were more likely to give reasons related to the purpose of research.

Those who agreed tended to make connections between the purpose of research and wider social good, such as benefits to humanity, improving lives, giving back to society and being accountable to the public:

45% of responses were about how societal impact of research is important or even should be its ultimate goal.

15% of responses expressed a sentiment that researchers should give back to society or should be accountable to the public, especially if they were publicly funded.

However, 19% of those who agreed also brought up the point that not all types of research have a demonstrable societal impact and that there needs to be a balance in funding a variety of research – both applied and pure.

Those who disagreed that funding should be linked to societal impact were more likely to point to pragmatic reasons:

53% stressed that some types of research should not be expected to deliver societal impact and there should be a balance in funding a variety of research types

15% believed research is about improving science and knowledge and shouldn’t be constrained by societal agendas

33% highlighted impact can take a long time to manifest and/or is difficult to foresee

12% said societal impact was difficult to demonstrate: either being time- or resource-consuming or hampered by researchers not knowing how to do it

12% believed that basing funding on societal impact reduced quality of research or even scientific progress.

Interview insights from academics based in the Netherlands

We carried out a series of interviews with researchers from a variety of disciplines who have made a societal impact with their research.The researchers we spoke to were all passionate about the variety of ways in which research can have an impact in society…

I think we have a mandate to maximise how our research is used in an impactful way. That doesn't mean that each individual researcher has to go through the entire process of taking their research through to societal use. Some research topics are simply not suitable for that. But we must create a culture where all researchers seriously ask themselves: “Can taxpayers make use of what I have discovered?” If we don’t do that, maybe we should question whether we are really fulfilling the mandate we have received.

Professor Davide Iannuzzi, university research chair professor in experimental physics at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam.

Read the interview.

I think society needs academics and academia to help develop solutions, approaches, new ways of doing things. And it’s not just about developing them but also making them usable. I also feel that it’s my role as an academic, our role in academia, to use the knowledge we’ve gained from our research to better inform broader audiences.

Dr Marieke de Hoon, assistant professor of international law, international criminal justice and human rights at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam

Read the interview.

I think it's important to get as much interaction with non-academia as you can, no matter your research discipline, because at the end of the day these are the taxpayers – the people who are providing money for your academic work. So I think that engagement with partners outside of academia and with the general public is needed to ensure continuing support for academia.

Mark Post, professor of vascular physiology at Maastricht University and chief scientific officer at Mosa Meat

Read the interview.However, many emphasised that they felt not all research – or every researcher – needed to have a direct and immediate societal impact…

I believe that, as a researcher, contributing to basic knowledge is societal impact. It's high societal impact, just as much as, for instance, collaborating with a patient advocacy group on a particular disease. Those are both contributions to society.

Michel Dumontier, distinguished professor of data science at Maastricht University.

Read the interview.

I do not, and I really want to emphasise this, I do not believe that every single academic needs to be ticking all of those [impact] boxes. As a team, as a university, as a faculty, as a department, we should try to see how we can do this together.

Dr Marieke de Hoon, assistant professor of international law, international criminal justice and human rights at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam

Read the interview.

I think teamwork has also become more important than before. If you have a good mix of skills within your team, then it's not necessary for each researcher to have every one of those skills. An individual can bring his or her strengths to the team.

Professor Frank Cörvers, scientific director at the Maastricht University School of Business and Economics

Read the interview.