Impact in international affairs: the quest for world-leading research

Abstract

‘International Relations was always meant to have impact’. Starting with these words, James Gow and Henry Redwood's book examines how the discipline fared in the 2014 round of the UK's Research Excellence Framework (REF2014), where research impact was assessed for the first time through impact case-studies. In the words of Gow and Redwood, ‘Politics and International Studies failed’ (p. 124) the research impact assessment in 2014 because no single university achieved a ‘full house’ (p. 122) of 100 per cent at the top score (4*), which they find especially disappointing in light of the introductory quote. This led the authors to examine the characteristics of ‘world-leading research impact’ by analysing case-studies across disciplines from institutions that received top scores for 100 per cent of their impact submission.
They start with a helpful discussion of definitions of impact, prior to REF2014 (chapter two). This introduces the tension between ‘impact’ and ‘dissemination’, and the ensuing disparate assumptions about the role of media engagement. Media and public engagement are seen by many academics as impact in themselves, and in earlier, wider definitions of impact, this would have held; but in the REF2014 definitions and guidance, it is explicitly excluded.