The nature, scale and beneficiaries of research impact - An initial analysis of Research Excellence Framework (REF) 2014 impact case studies - Research Report 2015/01

Sep 18, 2026

Uploaded by Himbo

The report presents an initial, synthetic analysis of 6,679 non-redacted Research Excellence Framework (REF) 2014 impact case studies submitted by UK Higher Education Institutions. It examines the nature, scale, and beneficiaries of nonacademic research impact across areas such as economy, society, culture, public policy and services, health, environment, and quality of life. Using text-mining and qualitative methods, it quantifies word distributions from Section 4 and summarizes headline findings about how frequently different terms occur in the documented impacts.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages92

Reading Time3 h 52 min

AccessFree to download

Preface

List of figures, tables and boxes

Headline findings

Authorship

Acknowledgements

Glossary

Chapter 1 : Introduction

An overview of the Research Excellence Framework and impact case studies

Purpose of this report

Overview of methodological approach

Caveats and limitations of analysis

Chapter 2 : An overview of the impact case studies

Overview of submission totals and coverage

Chapter 3: The nature and beneficiaries of research impact

The nature, scale and beneficiaries of research impact An initial analysis of Research Excellence Framework (REF) 2014 impact case studies King’s College London and Digital Science Prepared for the Higher Education Funding Council of England, Higher Education Funding Council for Wales, Scottish Funding Council, Department of Employment and Learning Northern Ireland, Research Councils UK and the Wellcome Trust March 2015 The word cloud on the front cover visualizes the ‘Details of the impact’ (Section 4) of the 2014 REF impact case studies. The clouds give greater prominence to words that appear more frequently in the source text. In total 6,247,292 words were harvested from Section 4 of the 6,679 non-redacted case studies. After ‘stop’ words (eg ‘and’ ‘the’, ‘but’, etc.) were removed, this gave 3,730,769 words and 108,717 unique words (or ‘tokens’). Removing low frequency items (10 or fewer occurrences) resulted in 19,266 unique words, with the illustrated word cloud showing the most frequent 684 words. We used a word cloud generator ([www.jasondavies.com/wordcloud/](www.jasondavies.com/wordcloud/)) for this visualization. The nature, scale and beneficiaries of research impact: An initial analysis of Research Excellence Framework (REF) 2014 impact case studies Research Report 2015/01 King’s College London and Digital Science March 2015 Prepared for the Higher Education Funding Council of England (HEFCE), Higher Education Funding Council for Wales, Scottish Funding Council, Department of Employment and Learning Northern Ireland, Research Councils UK and the Wellcome Trust © HEFCE 2015 Preface This report is based on an analysis of the 6,679 non-redacted impact case studies that were submitted to the 2014 Research Excellence Framework (REF). The Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) and its partners (Scottish Funding Council, Higher Education Funding Council for Wales, Department for Employment and Learning Northern Ireland, Research Councils UK and the Wellcome Trust), commissioned a synthetic analysis of the impact case studies to provide evidence on the impact of research in UK Higher Education Institutions (HEIs). The case studies outline changes and benefits to the economy, society, culture, public policy and services, health, the environment and quality of life. Using a mix of text-mining approaches and qualitative analysis, the nature, scale and beneficiaries of the nonacademic impact of research is described. The report will be of interest to anyone interested in the assessment of research impact, REF and the impact of universities on society. This report is part of a wider project led by Digital Science (a division of Macmillan Science and Education) working in conjunction with its sister organization, the Nature Publishing Group, the Policy Institute and Department of Digital Humanities at King’s College London. The synthetic analysis was led by the team from King’s College London. Digital Science is an innovative technology company developing software and apps that change the way science is done. The Policy Institute at King’s links insightful research with rapid, relevant policy analysis to stimulate edgy, forward-looking debate and shape future policy agendas. The Department of Digital Humanities at King’s is an international leader in the application of technology in the arts and humanities and social sciences. For more information about this report, please contact: Professor Jonathan Grant Director, Policy Institute at King’s & Professor of Public Policy King’s College London VB1. 17, 1st Floor Virginia Woolf Building 22 Kingsway London WC2B 6LE Tel: + 44 (0) 20 7848 1742 Email: [jonathan.grant@kcl.ac.uk](jonathan.grant@kcl.ac.uk) Contents Preface ........................................................................................................................................... 1 List of figures, tables and boxes.................

FAQs

What dataset does the report analyze?

The report is based on analysis of 6,679 non-redacted REF 2014 impact case studies submitted to the 2014 Research Excellence Framework.

How is “impact” assessed in the report?

It uses a mix of text-mining approaches and qualitative analysis to describe the nature, scale, and beneficiaries of the nonacademic impact of research.

What are the main areas of benefit discussed in the impact case studies?

The case studies outline changes and benefits to the economy, society, culture, public policy and services, health, the environment, and quality of life.

Sep 18, 2026

Uploaded by Himbo