Adding Impact to Research
Organisations that are producing relevant and worthwhile research are finding that their ideas or reflections are often not been taken account of by people developing policy or practice. This can be frustrating for researchers but more importantly society can miss out because key pieces of the jigsaw are not considered when important decisions are being made.
The reason why so much research does not feed into the process of making decisions is often because people creating policy or developing practice aren't fully aware of the research. This is because most academic research, and much research developed by the voluntary sector, sits in a vacuum. Researcher talks to researchers. Papers are written that are peer reviewed and then filed.
Occasionally an academic may get a position on a committee or be asked to contribute to something serious, like a chairing a review. This is wonderful for the academic who may get a knighthood, but it does little to promote the work of the bulk of researchers who are spending their time developing the ideas and solutions that could revolutionize our future.
Policy makers are sometimes seen to be compromised where as researchers are seen as pure and above the fray. This of course does not happen when commercial interests are involved. Business likes academic research because it is relatively cheap and can help drive innovation and ideas. So although many academics, especially those working in the fields of science and technology have commercial relationships with businesses the same tends not to happen with the public sector.
Public policy academic research, and to a degree research created by the voluntary sector, has given ground to the Think Tanks. There is of course nothing wrong with Think Tanks - at their best they provide spiky and challenging commentary or a new perspective on existing or developing research. What they aren't however are organisations deeply embedded in an issue or with the capacity for detailed rigorous long term research.
It is time for academics to think again about how their work can be promoted to the people who need to hear it.
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updated: 31/03/2008
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