ESRC Impact Acceleration Accounts
In recognition for its growing profile and its commitment to impact and engagement NIESR has been awarded an Impact Acceleration Account (IAA) from the Economic and Social Research Council. Funding will be provided for four years from Spring 2019.
IAAs are block awards made to research organisations to promote the impact of research. They help social scientists collaborate with businesses, policymakers and civil society, creating new opportunities for research to make a positive contribution to society and the economy.
NIESR was one of 26 research organisations across the UK to be selected as the ESRC unveiled its second round of awards.
New Opportunities for collaboration
The award gives us the opportunity to increase the impact of our work, target new audiences, deepen our collaborations with existing partner institutes and stakeholders, invest in our staff and contribute towards a better understanding of the knowledge exchange process.
There will also be opportunities to make NIESR facilities available to new audiences – through inward and outward secondments, jointly funded events with business and other stakeholder briefs and work with organisations previously unable to access our work, such as schools, smaller business and NGOs. Approaches for joint activities are welcome.
Managing the IAA
The grant will be managed by NIESR Director Professor Jagjit Chadha, and Partnerships and Impact Manager Shane Conneely. To ensure external leadership, activities will be reviewed by a newly created NIESR Impact Acceleration Committee, comprising Diane Coyle (University of Cambridge, and former Deputy Chair, BBC), Tera Allas (McKinsey Global Institute, former Director-General at the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills), Neville Manuel (Independent Film producer and former Group Manager, Strategy, BT) and Lorna Unwin (Professor Emerita, Vocational Education, UCL).
Enquiries
Any enquiries and suggestions for how your organisation could become involved in the NIESR IAA activity, should be addressed to Shane Conneely (s.conneelyj.kirkland [at] niesr.ac.uk (@niesr.ac.uk))
