Research Impact
Impact – the provable benefits of research beyond academia – is an increasingly weighted component of the research landscape both within the UK and internationally, and has a growing community of practice. With impact so important to national assessments, competitive funding, and longer standing applied research agendas, research managers have a significant role to play in impact planning and delivery. The Impact SIG focuses on developing skills and strengthening the research management of impact both for REF and for impact more broadly. It encompasses a broad range of professionals working in areas such as funding, public engagement, communications, information management and those focused on REF impact at all career levels. The Impact SIG focuses on connecting peers to share good practice and drive impact-related professional development.
Champions:
Our Special Interest Group champions are responsible for the activity and resource base of the group.
Alisha Peart PBIAA Manager (NESCA Manager), Northumbria University
Alisha Peart is a proven leader in research impact and strategic programme management, with extensive experience securing and managing external funding across UK Higher and Further Education.
She is currently Programme Manager for the North East Space Communications Accelerator (NESCA), leading a multi-partner initiative to drive innovation and regional growth in the North East’s space sector.
Previously, Alisha was part of Northumbria University’s Extended Leadership and RIS Executive Teams, where she led strategies to enhance research impact, public engagement, and knowledge exchange. As Head of Research Impact and Engagement, she oversaw teams delivering KTPs, policy engagement, and impact support, significantly raising the university’s profile. She played a key central role in Northumbria’s REF 2021 submission, helping double Northumbria’s impact submission and achieving the largest GPA increase among peer institutions.
Alisha is a UKRI Talent Peer review college member, an ESRC panel reviewer, and contributed to the ESRC’s 2024 Doctoral Training Partnership award assessment.
Charlotte Holloway Head of Research Impact, University of Hertfordshire
With 11 years’ experience working on Impact over two REF exercises, Charlotte is currently Head of Research Impact at the University of Hertfordshire. She leads a team supporting all aspects of impact, including training, funding, bid development, Impact Acceleration Accounts, REF preparations and impact strategy. Prior to joining Hertfordshire she worked at UCL (on impact), Imperial (organising CPD courses in the Middle East) and in the Public Health department of an NHS trust.
Joel Baker Faculty Impact Coordinator, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of York
Joel Baker is Faculty Impact Coordinator for the Faculty of Social Sciences at the University of York. He is responsible for developing processes to monitor and support the development of impact and knowledge exchange projects in the Faculty, implementing a programme capacity-building, training and one-to-one support for academic colleagues around research impact. Joel has particular interests in how processes for tracking impact pipelines can underpin joined-up, comprehensive and equitable support for impact and KE at all stages of the research process. Joel is enthusiastic about sharing best practice across the sector to support the positive difference that academic research makes in society.
Saskia Gent, Director, Insights for Impact
Saskia has nearly two decades experience in all aspects of research impact. Having started her impact life on a migration and development project, she set up and ran the impact office at the University of Sussex. She led the Sussex impact submission to REF 2014, as well as managing a series of internal and external impact funds. Since creating the consultancy Insights for Impact in 2016, Saskia has supported numerous organisations, departments, and projects across the UK and elsewhere. She designs her interventions to enable researchers to set and achieve their impact goals, with a particular focus on using coaching-led approaches.
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