Impact Workshop (5): Research Impact Case Studies – An Interesting Journey

Abstract:

This talk is about the journey of the speaker's own experience in preparing his department's submission to the Research Excellence Framework (REF) 2014 in the UK. Being the Head of Imperial College's Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering since 2008, he was responsible for their REF submission including: formulating the strategy, motivating the department's sense of purpose, selecting and drafting much of the final submission. The focus of this talk will be on research impact: how he led the department in their submission of five case studies and the impact template document. The success of his approach to impact is clearly demonstrated by the fact that 100% of their entire submission on impact was rated 4* (top rating).  

He will conclude the talk by reflecting on the entire REF experience as one of the leaders at Imperial College responsible for REF.

About the Speaker:

Professor Peter Y. K. Cheung is Professor of Digital Systems and Head of the Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering at Imperial College London. He is also Vice Dean (Education) of the Faculty of Engineering. Together with Professor Wayne Luk in Department of Computing, he established one of the strongest research groups in the area of Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs) in the UK. His research in reconfigurable systems and technology includes architecture, variability mitigation, reliability issues, high-level synthesis and tools, and various application area for FPGAs.

Background on the Workshops:

Impact is a key element of the University's knowledge exchange (KE) strategy. Since 2012/13, the University Grants Committee (UGC) requires each UGC-funded institution to submit up to 5 impact case studies that are underpinned by excellent research as part of the knowledge transfer/KE annual report each year. The prescribed format follows the impact case study template of the UK REF 2014.

It is also important to note that in the Panel-Specific Assessment Criteria for the UGC RAE 2014, all the Panels included under the "Esteem" measure some elements relating to KE/technology transfer. This suggests that the next Hong Kong RAE will likely require evidence of impact and the UK experience indicates that now is the time to start collecting evidence of such impacts.

The Knowledge Exchange Office is organising workshops to be conducted by researchers who have hands-on experience in preparing impact statements and impact case studies for the UK REF 2014. The workshops will be of interest not only to colleagues who want to maximise the impact of their research, but also to those who co-ordinate research developments and research assessment in Faculties.