Park guards view maps and photos of high-altitude glaciers – information that can be shared with local communities dealing with changing water levels.
Anne Toomey
Science can't just stay in the ivory tower. But what does impact really mean and how does it happen? A study of more than a decade of ecological fieldwork projects in Bolivia suggests a better way.
Engineering can greatly bolster any country’s development and growth.
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Africa has recorded a tremendous growth in its output of academic engineering research over the past 20 years. Greater collaboration can increase this growth even more.
For research to have an impact, it needs to be used or applied in some way.
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The scientific impact of a research paper increases with every additional commenter who provides feedback – particularly if the comment came from a well-connected academic.
What’s the best way to measure research impact?
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This move to measure the impact of university research on society introduces many new challenges that were not previously relevant when evaluation focused solely on academic merit.
Research shows that Wikipedia is one of the most read sources of medical information by the general public across the world.
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Medical entries on Wikipedia are widely consulted across the world. Doctors and medical researchers need to make efforts to ensure the content on the online collaborative encyclopedia is accurate.
In-depth surveys allow governments to drill their understanding down to street level.
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Without data, people don't know what to believe or whom to trust. Empirical, thorough data collected by academics can help to fill important governance gaps.
More medical experts should contribute to Wikipedia to ensure its health pages are accurate.
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The academic medical community largely views Wikipedia with suspicion. But some traditional journals are starting to take the site more seriously – and some journals work very closely with it.
Piles of evidence don’t make any difference if they’re not being used to develop policy.
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Researchers and policymakers need to talk to each other. If they don't, important research will merely gather dust and policies might do more harm than good.
What is the purpose of measuring engagement, impact or quality?
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Engagement is not impact, and simple measures such as non-government research income tell us very little about genuine external engagement between universities and industry.
Education should be a laughing matter.
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A government report on research funding and policy has recommended introducing a funding incentive to ensure university research benefits society and business.
Too many academic careers are shaped around writing journal articles nobody reads and planning twice-weekly lectures to a diminishing class of students.
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Prime Minister Turnbull has signalled a desire to move away from a 'publish or perish' academic culture toward one that prioritises public impact and engagement. It's a challenge scholars should embrace.
The iPhone is a good example of an entire industry built on the back of publicly funded research outcomes. The ‘iPhone fish’ is designed to teach people healthy eating through portion size control.
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Publicly-funded research should contribute to society in some way. But we need to think carefully about how we create a system that allows us to measure the impact of research.
Academics are under enormous pressure to publish prolifically because this generates subsidies for their universities.
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President of the Australian Academy of the Humanities and Director of the Asia-Pacific Program for Social Investment and Philanthropy in the Centre for Social Impact, Swinburne University of Technology