Furthering the Research impact of UCD: Report of the Beyond Publications Committee

The "Beyond Publications" project was set up by the UCD University Research Strategy Board (URSB) to investigate the definitions, evidence and systems for capturing outputs beyond publications, and the impacts and benefits of that research from the perspective of the university. Its findings are based on a literature review; a survey of UCD's academic staff, semi-structured interviews and a series of project steering committee meetings where senior academic staff discussed definitions, debated findings on methods, and explored recommendations for a system to capture impact at the university.UCD faces a fundamental choice when implementing systems and supports for impact. Does it adopt a "follower" approach and react to the definitions and information requirements for impact as defined by government departments, funding agencies and EU institutions, or does it do what leading research intensive universities around the world are doing and concentrate on being "leaders" in the field by defining what impact means from a university perspective? The Beyond Publications steering committee firmly believes that UCD should strive to be a leader in the field of impact capture, measurement and communication. This allows for the fullest picture of research impact to be developed and which is not focused solely on short term measures of impact such as employment and foreign direct investment. This approach means that the university must implement systems to capture additional outputs and indicators of impact retrospectively and prospectively.