The session opened with contributions from Javier Bonet, Director of CIMNE and member of the assessment panel for the United Kingdom’s 2021 Research Excellence Framework (REF), and Jean Grugel, Principal Investigator at IBEI also a member of the REF 2021 Politics and International Studies panel. They offered insights into the challenges and opportunities that impact assessment represents in their respective fields, stressing that impact is, above all, a collective endeavour. It should not be understood as an individual exercise but rather as a shared process between teams and institutions.

Next, Victòria Miquel, Director of the Research Area (Research Personnel) at AGAUR, and Esther Vizcaíno, researcher at the AQuAS Research Lab, provided a closer look at the Catalan context. They explained how AGAUR is working to incorporate impact assessment into its programmes and how AQuAS promotes projects aimed at generating impact within the health system, using shorter and more targeted models.

The session continued with a presentation by Rebeca Zapata, officer at the Directorate-General for Knowledge Transfer and Society of the Ministry of Research and Universities, who outlined the new call for Grants for Projects with Impact on Society, open until 25 February.

Finally, Núria Benítez, Head of Strategy at I-CERCA, presented the next steps for the Impact Community in 2026. Planned actions include disclosure of some narratives submitted in 2024 so they can be shared with all centres as a working tool. This initiative will strengthen collective learning and support the organisation of much-demanded activities, such as training on qualitative and quantitative indicators, understanding non-result-oriented impact models, addressing the specificities of impact in basic research, training trainers, and developing new tools to advance the culture of impact.

In the coming days, contact will be made with the centres that have volunteered to open their narratives, as well as with the advisory board (RIAAB), to manage the necessary permissions.

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Since 2019, and because of the political commitment to define a global impact strategy in research as set out in the Science Law of the Generalitat de Catalunya, CERCA has been working and training the centres to advance in this field, which must demonstrate and give visibility to the demonstrable benefits of research in the real world, outside the academic field.

The project, guided initially by Julie Bayley, director of Research Impact Development at the University of Lincoln, has the support of a national and international advisory board. Its current members are Paula Adam (AQUAS), Jane Millar (Univ. of Bath), David Phipps (Univ. of Toronto), Susan Renoe (Univ. of Missouri), Miguel Sierra (INIA), Esther De Smet (Ghent University) and Anne-Maree Dowd (CSIRO).

Among other materials, there is a Glossary of Research Impact Terminology which includes the terminology most broadly used in both the European and the Anglo-Saxon countries, and it is intended to provide a theoretical common ground for the narratives submitted to RIA 2024.

Also, a panel member of international and local experts will evaluate each narrative, summarizing the main strengths and weaknesses.

Impact of research and its probable effects or benefits in the real world

The evaluation of impact is becoming relevant within all research Systems, as the British REF, and has also a prominent importance in european programs.

According to our definition. Impact of research are probable effects or benefits of the research in the ‘real world’ (e.g. economy, society, culture, environment and the planet), beyond academia.

• Impact can arise at any time, any location and be of any type.
• Impacts may be most easily thought of as research leading to something being increased (e.g. efficiency, effectiveness, well-being, engagement access, profit, skills, increases), reduced (e.g. mortality, waste, risk, cost, staff turnover, stress, crime), stopping something (e.g. dangerous practice) or preventing something (e.g. the deterioration of heritage sites).
• Impact is corroborated by any quantitative or qualitative evidence that shows these real-world changes.
• As impact denotes change in the real world, it cannot be indicated in terms of academic interest, reputation, citations or publications in journals.
• Impact can arise from research findings (new knowledge) or from research processes (i.e. the practice of research acts as a catalyst for change).

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