The VBN Team

Social impact

There are no fixed guidelines for the definition of social impact. Upon registration of an impact in Pure, the impact must be made probable and visible through relations between the impact registration and other content in Pure: Publications, press clippings, activities etc. These are displayed via the VBN Research Portal.

There will always be different degrees of social impact. There is a difference between a research area being addressed in the press, to it becomes the basis for a larger social debate, and to whether it may lead to a change of law. At the same time, one may be the consequence of the other. It is possible to describe this in more detail in the free text field.

Registration and evaluation of impact is time consuming. You must be willing to invest some time in the task, after assessing how and where it will prove valuable. This could be supported by strategies/criteria for registration of impact within the different academic disciplines (e.g. departments or research groups), as well as the opportunity for a broader basis on which to assess the University’s impact within different scientific fields.

Strategic considerations in connection with social impact could be considerations regarding the expected impact of a specific research project. Since the actual evidence of an impact is recorded after is has taken place, these are likely to contain evidence of an unplanned social impact. An analysis of the intended and the actual impact (positive as well as negative experiences) is valuable in terms of future considerations regarding specialised dissemination strategies. There may be great differences depending on academic discipline.


Links:

Humanomics: Mapping the Dynamics of the Humanities