Research impact

A core aspect of the School of Management's mission is providing demonstrable benefits to society and organisations. This means that the School is committed to ensuring that its research and expertise are accessible, relevant and useful to those who could benefit from them. Reseachers in the School use evidence-informed approaches and initiatives to enhance engagement and impact activities.

Members of the School contribute through their research to a wide range of policy debates and organisational practices, including in the areas of human rights, Fair Work and the living wage, financial regulation and supervision, funding to SMEs in normal and stressed periods, innovation policy, devolution, cyber-security, climate change, sustainability issues, healthcare and creative industries.

The School was placed second in Scotland for social and environmental impact in the Research Excellence Framework (REF) 2021. Its impact case studies on financial cooperatives (credit unions), evidence-based policy, and small and medium-sized enterprises were considered to demonstrate impacts of outstanding or very considerable reach and significance, especially in terms of informing policy.

Beneficiaries of the School's research span a wide range of sectors, including:

policymakers (European Commission, Oireachtas Éireann, Scottish Parliament, Scottish Government, UK Parliament, UK Government Department of Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy, UK Government Department of Culture, Media and Sport)
international organisations (International Labour Organization, Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development, World Bank)
regulatory bodies (Bank of England, Financial Conduct Authority)
public sector bodies (Police Scotland, COSLA, NHS Scotland, Scottish Enterprise)
commercial businesses and start-ups (Dundee United Football Club, Ethical Finance Hub, Money Dashboard, Triodos Bank)
third sector organisations (Foundation Scotland, social care organisations and the Coalition of Care and Support Providers Scotland, UK Migration and Minority Rights groups, Communication Workers Union, Trade Union Congress).

Channels for impact

Linking research, engagement and impact

The School of Management actively pursues an approach to research impact that has engagement at its core: a focus on the interaction between researchers and those outside of academia for the mutually beneficial transfer of knowledge, technologies, methods or resources.

Researchers across the School engage with potential research beneficiaries in a number of ways, some of which are illustrated in the examples below.

- researchers and external partners working together

Dr Cinla Akinci has conducted research on intuitive decision making in collaboration with Police Scotland.

In InGAME, an AHRC funded project, Dr Shiona Chillas and Professor Paul Hibbert collaborate with a wide range of commercial, government and third sector partners, including Beano Studios, BBC, Creative Scotland, DCMS, Innovate UK KTN, Michelin Scotland Innovation Parc, Microsoft, Nesta, NHS Scotland, Outplay Entertainment, Roblox Corporation, Sony Interactive Entertainment Europe, Tay 5G, V&A Dundee, Ukie and Women in Games. InGAME provides a proven model for, and practical experience in, supporting collaborative R&D between HEIs and industry.

Dr Fergus Neville is a member of the Dundee United Lab. The Lab supports research and innovation across Dundee United FC to ensure that decisions and developments are informed by evidence.

Dr Celal Agar has been undertaking research on migration and minority rights in collaboration with a number of groups in the UK including the Kurdish-Turkish Alevi Community in Edinburgh, the Kurdish Community Centre in Haringey, London and the Portsmouth Kurdish Association.
- research requested by a non-academic organisation

Dr Vicky Ward has been commissioned by the Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology at the UK Parliament to undertake research on the mechanisms used by parliaments around the world to access and source academic research.

Dr Juliette Summers and Dr Boyka Bratanova were commissioned by Scottish Enterprise, Scotland's national economic development agency, to undertake research on the resilience and recovery of employee owned business in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Professor John Wilson, Dr Dimitris Chronopoulos and Dr Anna Sobiech were commissioned by the UK Financial Conduct Authority to write expert papers on unsecured lending and bank taxation to inform discussions about challenges facing financial services.

Dr Alina Baluch's research on workforce issues in the social care sector, including Fair Work, implementation of the Scottish Living Wage and contract withdrawal, was commissioned by the Coalition of Care & Support Providers Scotland.

Research within the School has also been commissioned by the Equality Challenge Unit, Higher Education Academy and UNISON.
- network leads, expert advisors and visiting academics

Professor Ross Brown engages with the OECD and policy makers on SME growth and finance. With the South African think tank, the Centre for Development and Enterprise, he has also engaged with senior government officials, small business funders, leaders of business associations, entrepreneurs and other experts on entrepreneurship.

Dr Shona Russell and Professor John Ferguson engage with Institute of Chartered Accountants for England and Wales, the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants and International Federation of Accountants as part of research on climate change and sustainability education.

Dr Laurence Lasselle regularly interacts with members of Scotland's Community of Access and Participation Practitioners about issues of educational access and is a member of the Governance Group of the Scottish Framework for Fair Access.

Professor Kirstie Ball co-hosts the Scottish Privacy Forum, a group of independent senior academics, practitioners and policy-makers who share knowledge about the development of public policy and service delivery and their impact on privacy. She also advises the Communication Workers Union in their campaign for legal reform and better management practice in relation to employee monitoring.

Dr Fergus Neville has engaged with senior UK Government advisors and the Head of Behavioural Science at the Cabinet Office on the subject of behavioural science and the Covid-19 pandemic.

Dr Hannah Dean leads the network Rethinking Female Entrepreneurs which brings together female entrepreneurs and women's agencies with UK and international early career researchers.

Dr Alina Baluch engages regularly with communities of practice in social care about workforce issues, including the leading employer bodies of care and support providers in Scotland, the HR voluntary sector forum, and the digital and health technologies community of practice.

Professor John Ferguson, with the Scottish Government and Danish Institute of Human Rights, co-hosted an event on 'Securing Sustainable and Accountable Business in Europe: the role of National Action Plans' which engaged with representatives from the UN, OECD, the Council of Europe and representatives from several European governments.

The Research Unit for Research Utilisation has well-established links with a number of research intermediary organisations including the Institute for Research and Innovation in Social Services, Research in Practice, Scottish Policy and Research Exchange and the Wales Centre for Public Policy.
- consultations by government, and professional or public sector bodies
Researchers within the School regularly contribute to policy consultations and reviews. Recent contributions have been made to:
- UK Parliament Call for Evidence on Impacts of Covid-19 on Scotland (Dr Dimitris Chronopoulos, Dr Marcel Lukas, Professor John Wilson)
- House of Lords EU Internal Markets Committee (Professor John Wilson)
- Scottish Government consultation on a national care service for Scotland (Dr Alina Baluch)
- HM Treasury consultation on Financing Growth in Innovative Firms (Professor John Wilson and Professor Ross Brown)
- Scottish Government's Community Empowerment Bill (Dr Juliette Summers)
- European Commission WeValueNature campaign (Dr Shona Russell).
Dr Shiona Chillas advised the Department of Culture, Media and Sport on the harmful effects of gambling in videogames.

Researchers from the School are involved in or have advised on a number of policy working groups including:
- Scottish Government's Waste Action Plan (Dr Lucy Wishart)
- Scottish National Action Plan on Business and Human Rights (Professor John Ferguson)
- Scottish Parliament cross-party group on cooperatives (Dr Juliette Summers).
- sharing research activities and benefits in the community

Professor John Wilson spoke to members of the House of Commons about the impact of his credit union research as part of the Academy of Social Sciences Making the Case of Social Sciences Campaign.

Dr Hannah Dean engaged with members of the public about her research on female entrepreneurship as part of the British Academy summer showcase.

Professor Kirstie Ball chaired a Church of Scotland Science and technology Committee event at the Edinburgh Science festival entitled 'Borders, Benefits and Biomedicine'. She has also addressed the International Labour Organization, the National Association of Data Protection Officers and The Royal Society of Arts on the subject of employee monitoring and surveillance.

Dr Fergus Neville co-organised an interactive event on social influence and crowd behaviour at the British Library.
- sharing research with non-academic audiences via blogs and more
Professor Kirstie Ball appeared on BBC Radio 4's Thinking Allowed discussing her work on surveillance and was interviewed for the short film 'A Model Employee', which is informed by her research.

Dr Vicky Ward shared insights from her research on parliamentary research mechanisms with members of the European Parliamentary Technology Assessment network at their annual directors meeting.

Researchers share their research via:
- TEDx talks (Dr Fergus Neville)
- The Conversation (Dr Celal Agar, Dr Cinla Akinci, Professor Ross Brown, Dr Philip Roscoe, Dr Lucy Wishart, Professor John Wilson)
- externally hosted blogs and podcasts (Professor Tobias Jung, Dr Philip Roscoe, Dr Vicky Ward).
The School's research has been featured in news outlets such as VoxEU, BBC Radio Scotland, Telegraph, The Herald, The New Yorker, The Times and Scotsman.

Research impact

Channels for impact

Linking research, engagement and impact

Collaborative research and co-production

Research consultancy and commissioned research

Established networks with policy-making, practice and professional communities

Policy reviews, consultations and working groups

Public engagement

Dissemination