Kushwanth Koya

Measuring the Impact of Research: Lessons from the UK’s Research Excellence Framework 2014

Impactful academic research plays a stellar role in society, pressing to ask the question of how one measures the impact created by different areas of academic research. Measuring the societal, cultural, economic and scientific impact of research is currently the priority of the National Science Foundation, European Commission and several research funding agencies. The recently concluded United Kingdom’s national research quality exercise, the Research Excellence Framework (REF) 2014, which piloted impact assessment as part of the overall evaluation offers a lens to view how impact of research in different disciplines can be measured. Overall research quality was assessed through quality of outputs, ‘impact’ and research environment. We performed two studies using the REF 2014 as a case study. The first study on 363 Impact Case Studies (ICSs) submitted in 5 research areas (UoAs) reveals that, in general, the impact scores were constructed upon a combination of factors i.e. quantity of quartile-one (Q1) publications, quantity and value of grants/income, number of researchers stated in the ICSs, spin-offs created, discoveries/patents and presentation of esteem data, informing researchers/ academics of the factors to consider in order to achieve a better impact score in research impact assessments. However, there were differences among disciplines in terms of the role played by the factors in achieving their overall scores for the ICSs. The outcome of this study is thus a set of impact indicators, and their relationship with the overall score of impact of research in different disciplines as determined in REF2014, which would in the first instance provide some answers to impact measures that would be useful for researchers in different disciplines. The second study extracts the general themes of impact reported by universities by performing a word frequency analysis in all the ICSs submitted in the five chosen research areas, which were substantially varied owing to their fields.

Leadership capability : an autopoietic perspective

There is a large body of literature by the Chilean biologists Humberto Maturana and Francisco Varela, referred to as Autopoietic Theory. This theory describes the dynamics of living systems; dealing with cognition as a biological phenomenon. The theory, however, has found far wider application than may be suggested from its biological roots, to generate implications for epistemology, i.e. enactive view of cognition, communication and social systems theory. This paper presents key insights and explores their implication to understanding leadership capability from the perspective of an enactive view of cognition. Autopoiesis suggests that the quality of human experience, is determined by the interplay between the internal dynamics (biological processes) and the environment (social and other) of an active situated human agent, and thus offers an alternative perspective to interpreting and developing leadership capability. What is required is to foster an environment where awareness is actively developed, fragmentation of experience is avoided and language is used to promote creativity. A mini case study of the hearing aid manufacturer, Oticon A/S, is used for illustration.

Information practices for sustainability: role of iSchools in achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

In September 2015, the United Nations (UN) General Assembly passed a resolution identifying 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and 169 associated targets, and countries around the world agreed to achieve these by 2030. By conducting a thematic analysis of four key UN policy documents related to sustainable development, this paper argues that alongside financial and other resources, access to, and use of, appropriate information are essential for achieving SDGs. The paper also reviews research on information and sustainability undertaken at the iSchools and the computer and human–computer interaction HCI communities. Given that the mission of iSchools is to connect people and society with the required information through the use of appropriate technologies and tools, this paper argues that iSchools can play a key role in helping people, institutions, and businesses, and thus countries around the world achieve SDGs. The paper identifies 4 broad areas of teaching and research that can help iSchools around the world prepare a trained workforce who can manage, and facilitate access to, information in specific domains and contexts. It is also argued that cooperation and collaborations among iSchools can promote a culture of sustainable information practices among university graduates and researchers in different disciplines that will pave the way for achieving SDGs in every sector.

An enactive perspective on comprehending leadership: a comparative case study approach

Leadership is a significant element in the present life of organizations. Recent reviews suggest building novel frameworks through which leadership, as a phenomenon, could be understood comprehensively, considering all the aspects of human experience. The autopoietic perspective on cognition suggests that the quality of human experience is determined by the interplay between the biological and social dynamics of an active situated human agent, we enact our ‘reality’, rather than recognize one. Thus, an integrated approach to the study of any phenomenon in the social domain requires focus on the interrelatedness of the biological, mental and social aspects. This exploratory paper provides an insight into the findings of an empirical study of leadership consonant with an enactive perspective on human experience, including the biological, behavioral and social dynamics of the leadership phenomenon. The research implemented mixed methods under the umbrella of a multidisciplinary comparative case study. Heart rate variability (HRV) demonstrated as the biomarker for physiological data, semi-structured interviews, the Leadership Behavior Development Questionnaire (LBDQ) and a researcher’s reflective diary were used to collect qualitative data and assist in understanding behavioral attributes. The results indicated a correlation between physiology, attitudes and behaviors, social dynamics and performance.

Attributes of embodied leadership: A beginning in the next chapter of leadership development

Research and guidance on leadership behaviour has been documented throughout history, from the epics to more recent leadership theories, evolved over the last century. However, despite ample research and practice, leadership failures continue in being typical.Areviewof literature in leadership studies reveals that recommendations have often been descriptive, assumptive and prescriptive without considering various individual differences. Additionally, leadership development often utilises methodologies in which individuals are trained to ‘act’ as leaders rather than fully embody leadership behaviour. This paper explores the generic attributes that describe embodied leadership behaviour. Semi-structured interviews were performed on a panel of individuals from different backgrounds and analysed using a grounded theory approach. Along with the interviews, the works of Scharmer (2008) and behavioural traits identified in leadership by Derue, Nahrgang,Wellman and Humphrey (2011) were taken into consideration. A final consensus was reached using a set of ten attributes that potentially contribute to embodied leadership behaviour; being non-judgemental, embracing uncertainty, active listening, congruence (morals and ethics), intuition, reflective practice, sense of meaning/purpose, holistic decision making, authentic presence and intention.

Metric-based vs peer-reviewed evaluation of a research output: Lesson learnt from UK’s national research assessment exercise

Purpose There is a general inquisition regarding the monetary value of a research output, as a substantial amount of funding in modern academia is essentially awarded to good research presented in the form of journal articles, conferences papers, performances, compositions, exhibitions, books and book chapters etc., which, eventually leads to another question if the value varies across different disciplines. Answers to these questions will not only assist academics and researchers, but will also help higher education institutions (HEIs) make informed decisions in their administrative and research policies. Design and methodology To examine both the questions, we applied the United Kingdom’s recently concluded national research assessment exercise known as the Research Excellence Framework (REF) 2014 as a case study. All the data for this study is sourced from the openly available publications which arose from the digital repositories of REF’s results and HEFCE’s funding allocations. Findings A world leading output earns between £7504 and £14,639 per year within the REF cycle, whereas an internationally excellent output earns between £1876 and £3659, varying according to their area of research. Secondly, an investigation into the impact rating of 25315 journal articles submitted in five areas of research by UK HEIs and their awarded funding revealed a linear relationship between the percentage of quartile-one journal publications and percentage of 4* outputs in Clinical Medicine, Physics and Psychology/Psychiatry/Neuroscience UoAs, and no relationship was found in the Classics and Anthropology/Development Studies UoAs, due to the fact that most publications in the latter two disciplines are not journal articles. Practical implications The findings provide an indication of the monetary value of a research output, from the perspectives of government funding for research, and also what makes a good output, i.e. whether a relationship exists between good quality output and the source of its publication. The findings may also influence future REF submission strategies in HEIs and ascertain that the impact rating of the journals is not necessarily a reflection of the quality of research in every discipline, and this may have a significant influence on the future of scholarly communications in general. Originality According to the author’s knowledge, this is the first time an investigation has estimated the monetary value of a good research output.

The Embodied Nurse: Interdisciplinary knowledge exchange between compassionate nursing and recent developments in embodied leadership studies

AIMS To report a potential knowledge exchange between nursing studies and the results obtained from a study conducted into the attributes of embodied leadership. BACKGROUND Leadership theories have been applied to evaluate, improve, and train nursing practitioners in several previous studies. However, leadership research has entered a new phase where the focus is to produce sustainable leaders through authenticity and compassion, the same two characteristics identified as being of most success in emergent nursing practice. There are few studies that have indicated a knowledge exchange between the latest developments in leadership studies and nursing. DESIGN An exploratory and qualitative study. METHODS Between February 2012 - July 2012, a focused sample of 14 medical care professionals was interviewed across a chain of hospitals. The aim was to evaluate embodied leadership characteristics and understand the factors that contribute to the manifestation of these characteristics. The transcribed interviews were analysed using thematic analysis. FINDINGS Several factors that contribute to the characteristics of embodied leadership have been identified in the interviews and in subsequent literature searches on the characteristics and contributing factors found to be associated with nursing research. These could prompt a knowledge exchange. CONCLUSION The results suggest common ground between nursing and contemporary leadership research in the exposition of behaviours; namely, being non-judgmental, listening actively, reflective practice and embracing uncertainty. Several implications can therefore be expected through the exchange of knowledge resulting from collaboration between researchers in the two disciplines.