This is the question at the centre of Trinity's new Researcher Impact Framework (RIF), a new open-access tool developed by Dr Giovanna Lima, Trinity's first Research Impact Officer hosted by the Trinity Long Room Hub, and Sarah Bowman from the Office of the Dean of Research and lead of Trinity's Research Impact Unit pilot. Launched as part of a discussion event in the Trinity Long Room Hub Arts and Humanities Research Institute on 12 October, the RIF will assist researchers in identifying, recognising, and valuing the multiple activities of academic life by building and communicating a comprehensive awareness of their scholarly labour with accurate impact statements and supporting indicators.
"It's been a privilege to work with so many impactful Arts and Humanities researchers and now share learnings to benefit researchers across Trinity and beyond", said Dr Giovanna Lima, Research Impact Officer.
"We wanted to make sure that people were excited about impact", said Sarah Bowman.
The RIF stems from work developed by Giovanna and Sarah as part of Trinity College Dublin's Research Impact Pilot, pioneered by the Office of the Dean of Research, the Trinity Long Room Hub Arts and Humanities Research Institute, and the School of Medicine.
The panel at Wednesday's launch event featured Prof Wolfgang Schmidt, Trinity's Dean of Research, along with several researchers who spoke first-hand about their work with the Research Impact Pilot. The researchers on the panel included Prof Mary McCarron, Director of the Trinity Centre for Ageing and Intellectual Disability (TCAID) and Executive Director of the National Intellectual Disability Memory Service; Dr Joseph Roche, Director of Research at Trinity's School of Education; Orlaith Darling, a PhD candidate in Trinity's School of English and an Early Career Researcher in the Trinity Long Room Hub; and Lisa Doyle, a PhD candidate in Classics and an Early Career Researcher in the Trinity Long Room Hub.
For the researchers on the panel, learning how to articulate the impact of their work has helped to expand the visibility of their academic contributions.
"A lot of what I think about impact is less to do with impressing our work on others, and more to do with ethically engaged research, where our research questions are geared towards some wider purpose," said Orlaith Darling (School of English). "This is why it's so great that, as well as the pragmatic element of Giovanna and Sarah's work here, there is also a clear statement as to the values researchers should be espousing."
"Taking part in the Research Impact Pilot was especially rewarding because it helped us to understand how to think about research impact at a school level and also at an individual level in terms of how we craft impact-based narratives for research grants or promotion applications," said Joseph Roche (School of Education). "In the Researcher Impact Framework Giovanna and Sarah have distilled their brilliant perspectives into an accessible guide that will be invaluable to researchers."
Following the panel discussion, Prof Eve Patten, Director of the Trinity Long Room Hub, and Trinity Provost Linda Doyle spoke about the effect the RIF will have on Trinity academics going forward.
"This is a pioneering venture that reflects the embedding of impact awareness in our everyday research activity", Professor Patten said. "The authors are to be congratulated on an excellent publication, which will be of value to academics at every stage of their research career."
To wrap up the event, Eve led a congratulations to Giovanna Lima, who will be leaving Trinity at the end of October to pursue a new opportunity in impact at Erasmus University Rotterdam. The RIF can be accessed for free here.