In search of SDGs in REF impact case studies

In May 2020 we released our report, Contextualizing Sustainable Development Research, showcasing the growth in research around the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). We are following last month’s blog post on the UK’s research contributions to the UN SDGs observed through national assessment exercises with more analysis from Dr Juergen Wastl, Dr Briony Fane and Bo Alroe from Digital Science’s Consultancy Team. In this post, they focus on the impact of the UK’s research excellence framework (REF) submissions in relation to the UN SDGs.

Juergen Wastl is Director of Academic Relations and Consultancy at Digital Science…

Briony Fane is a Research Analyst at Digital Science…

Bo Alroe has worked with research management and administration since 2004, and currently as Director of Strategy with Digital Science…

Introduction

In this analysis, we have used Dimensions on Google BigQuery to analyse the Impact Case Studies from REF 2014…

Of the 6,975 Impact Case Studies submitted to REF 2014, 6,737 were included in the publicly available HEFCE dataset

Using Google BigQuery to connect external datasets to Dimensions to gain important insights

Thanks to HEFCE’s (now Research England) freely available database of REF research submissions…

Google Big Query screenshot
Figure 1: Google BigQuery’s SQL query console showing simultaneous querying…

Prevalence of SDG-related research underpinning Impact Case Studies

Table 1: Extent of research in the context of sustainable development goals

Alignment of SDGs within the Dimensions categorisation and REF-related ‘types of impact’

Alignment of SDGs within the Dimensions categorisation and REF-related ‘types of impact’

SDGs can be clustered into three overarching pillars: Environmental, Economic and Social…

Table 2: Representation of underpinning research publications across the SDGs by REF impact types

Comparing citation averages for SDG-related underpinning research versus non SDG-related underpinning research

REF Impact Case Studies were categorised into eight types by HEFCE…

Figure 2: Citation averages across HEFCE impact type for SDG research

Looking ahead, we might expect that research underpinning Impact Case Studies in REF 2021…

  • Main Panel C (social sciences) contributes most and is evident in all SDGs…
  • Main Panel A contributes predominantly through SDG3 Health and Well-Being…
  • Main Panel B mostly contributes to SDG7 and SDG13…
  • Main Panel D accommodates a more diverse portfolio…
Figure 3: Interplay between SDG tagged underpinning research, REF 2014 impact type and REF Main Panels

Conclusion

This blog has revealed a starting point for us looking at the scope for interpreting SDGs through the lens of Impact…


Footnotes

1: The document can be viewed here

2: Each underpinning research publication may be associated with more than one SDG classification…

3: The SDG ‘wedding cake’, developed at the Stockholm Resilience Centre…