Capturing and evaluating impact

Capturing the impact of your research outputs allows you to evidence what is changing as a result of your work. This will help to measure and communicate the contribution your research is making to society, which is becoming an increasingly important requirement of funding applications. It is also an opportunity for reflection and growth.

Capturing Impact

The Engagement and Impact Team at Edinburgh Research Office (ERO) have written a guide to help you embed evaluation into your project design so you can track and evidence your impact:

How to capture and demonstrate impact guide (EASE login required)

The Research Excellence Framework (REF2021) provide examples of impact and indicators for different fields, which can be useful inspiration even if you are not submitting your work to REF.

Examples of impacts and indicators (EASE login required)

It can be useful to monitor and track who is engaging with your research to know where your research might be making a difference. The University has a subscription with Overton, the world’s largest searchable index of policy documents, guidelines, think tank publications and working papers. You can create a free account using your ed.ac.uk email address.

Overton 

Evaluating Effectiveness of Engagement Activities

Evaluating the effectiveness of your public engagement activities can help you learn from your experiences and also assess the impact of your work.

The National Co-ordinating Centre for Public Engagement (NCCPE) provide a guide on how to evaluate public engagement projects, which includes a worked example of an evaluation plan.

NCCPE How to Evaluate Public Engagement Projects and Programmes (PDF)

You can find easy-to-use methods for evaluating how your public engagement activities are received with the Little Book of Evaluation Tools from the University of Oxford, Curiosity Carnival:

Little book of evaluation tools (PDF)

The University of Oxford also provide a thorough breakdown of the most appropriate tools to use for different online public engagement with research events:

Guide on evaluating online engagement (PDF)