DESCRIBE Project

Definitions, evidence and structures to capture research impact and benefits

"What is Impact?" And "How do we assess it?" These are some of the questions that led to DESCRIBE.

The DESCRIBE project is looking at how we provide definitions and capture evidence of research impact. To find out more about the ongoing progress of our project please read our blog.

In the UK, EU and internationally research councils who are responsible for distributing governmental funding to Universities and research institutes need to demonstrate to the government and tax payers the benefits arising from their investment in order to maintain funding. 

The need for accountability of funding has led to the contentious requirement of Universities to provide evidence of the impact value of their research through the Research Excellence Framework (REF) 2014 and this has led to impact being put under the spotlight. The objective of the DESCRIBE project is to answer these questions around impact and recommend some consistent approaches to evaluating impact across different research disciplines. 

If you are interested in learning more about our project, attending the conference or would like to recommend a publication please email us: describe@exeter.ac.uk