RLUK Research Shift Programme (RSP) | Impactful research

This is um part of ROUK's wider engagement uh around uh research making uh research library practitioners uh much more um kind of visible and much more engaged. Um during this year from May to July we've had three interconnected interactive events. We're all about empowering librarians, archavists, technicians, information professionals, and technicians as researchers. We use this as a forum for sharing experience, developing ideas, and addressing challenges. And it's been co-created with colleagues who have been on a number of our ROUK programs. So that includes um colleagues from um the the national ar the national archives itself uh our partnership with RL UK and our research catalyst cohort and we're all about supporting building research capacity capability and confidence in the sector. Um but we're also really interested in that wider culture in that building of a community and being as inclusive as possible. As I say, this is the third session. Um, we've had uh a couple of uh really great sessions before this. We've done inclusive and equitable uh with colleagues Andy Corrian and Luis Zambiani and Professor Carlos Lopez Galves um who's from Lancaster University and from Cambridge. Um we've had uh an exploration of collaborative research with um Emily Roer from Cambridge and Kirsty Patrick from the Mass Observation and the University of Sussex. And I'm really delighted to um have the opportunity to shortly introduce. So this session is also part of um libraries x research and it's about the fact that rouk champions pivotable contribution that librarians make to the research process as enablers, partners and pioneers of research excellence. So it's very timely that we are about making an impact. Um we're interested in what does that mean for individuals growth in skills in confidence in impact uh itself where we can build collaboratively stronger research cultures building cap capacity and collaboration and then more widely across the se the sector which is why it's so great to have um presentations both from institutions like Cambridge and Lancaster but also today from the national archives around the the wider sector. So I am delighted to introduce Dr. Claire Kennan. Uh Claire is head of research, impact, culture and engagement at the TNA and she is a medieval historian, public engagement and research impact specialist with experience working in a independent research organizations. Uh so Claire also specializes in the history of Britain between 1300 and 1500 and prior to joining the uh National Archives in 2025 as the head of research impact culture and engagement. Claire was the research impact manager for Reading and for King's College London. And Clare communicates her research to broad audiences including school learners, teachers, independent researchers, and the media. and we're delighted to add glam and librarians and related professions today. So, we're delighted that you're able to join us today, Claire. >> So, yes, thank you. Hi, I'm Cla Kennan, head of research, impact, culture, and engagement at the National Archives. And to to join in the weather chat, I'm presenting from Eastborne, which uh is sunny today. Highs of 26 degrees, but I have got a nice seab breeze, which I won't boast about too much. Um so impact [clears throat] um impact at the national archives is incredibly important in relation to our research. And when I'm talking about research uh I am talking about sort of more of those traditional forms of research. So whether that's researching and publishing in books and journal articles but also the research that we do by practice. We have a fantastic archive sector leadership team who are doing a lot of work through practice. We have a collection care department. We have our document delivery service department as well and they all of those departments are engaged in research. Um and anyone at the National Archives can be a researcher which is really exciting. Um, so when we're thinking about impact at the National Archives, we're really thinking about supporting all of the research that we do to have a real world impact through capturing, understanding, and communicating the contribution that our research makes um to the galleries, libraries, archives, museums, and academic sectors. So, glamour sector, but also to wider society more broadly. And what this looks like in practice for us is we have a team that is dedicated to doing this. There are four of us in that team that I head up. Um, and we provide support around sort of planning for impact, developing impact ideas, monitoring projects as they develop, evaluation and reporting. And we do a lot of one-to-one mentoring support for individuals, teams, projects, and departments and sort of formal uh, delivery of training as well. And when we're talking about impact, what we're really thinking about is something that you can demonstrate. It needs to be evidence-based. um a change for a specified group as a result of the research or the project that you've done. So when I'm talking about impact, what I'm really talking about is like benefits or change and and that's what we really mean uh at the National Archives. And some of you may know that in 2024 we launched our first research vision and within that we identified some key areas where we we wanted to really make a difference with our research. Um those were trusted and secure custodianship, a responsible sustainable future, global inclusive access and the archive within and for society. And what I've done today to kind of really showcase what we mean um sort of impact the national archives is I have taken a case study to put this all into practice. And the theme that the case study really speaks to is global inclusive access. and it comes from our research area in collections and archives. Uh as you can see, we've got sort of various expertise and research areas, but um these are the two that I'm going to focus on today. And when we're thinking about that global inclusive access that encompasses a lot for the National Archives, but in particular the area where we're having an impact with the project that I'm going to speak to in a moment is around foregrounding global majority voices that are in our collection uh and centering the communities that those collections represent as well as working in partnership with other global institutions. And that's something this project is doing fantastically. When we think about impact or change benefit at the National Archives, um we often like to utilize something called the theory of change model and this is uh this is not new to us. This is not revolutionary. This is not something we've invented. It's very well known. Um but it's a useful way to be thinking about how your research can make a difference and how to plan for that. And we encourage our colleagues to think about the theory of change model when they are planning their research. Um so from this lovely diagram you can see on screen uh you can see that what the theory of change model really likes you to do is to think about the context or the problem that your research would like to address. Uh the inputs that you're going to need to sort of lead you to do some activities uh with your stakeholders which will lead to some outputs that hopefully have some various outcomes that will lead to impact which is the change. And I'm going to basically lay our case study over this theory of change model to show how that works in practice and how we plan for and measure impact at the national archives. So what you need to start with when you you've got this research idea uh is thinking about the problems and the solutions that you want to kind of solve because for there to be a change that happens there's got to be an issue that you'd like to address or a challenge. Um, so it's really important to establish a clear sense of the issue that you're trying to solve and any existing evidence that there is for this issue. Um, and a couple of questions I get our researchers to think about is sort of what's the overall problem that your research is trying to address. um you know and that can be anything from uh a lack of representation in the archive to um environmental issues that the archive is facing and then what are the specifics of the problem that your research is going to address because usually you can't solve these big problems with just one research project no matter how much we would like to. So think about some of those specifics and drilling down a little bit. Um it's really really important when you're thinking about this to engage your stakeholders. Uh co-production and co-design for research projects is so important to make them impactful. Um it really encourages a diverse range of views and it is going to improve your outcomes. So often I we try to get our researchers very early on to think about who is affected by the the problem or the challenge that they've identified. Um who could influence the success of the project, who has an interest in the project, who can contribute to the project as well, who can help you achieve some of the desired changes. Um and who can help you identify other stakeholders that you might not be aware of. So it's always really important to do that bit of stakeholder mapping. And then finally, it's really important to think about the long-term effect or or benefit or change that you would like your project to have. How are you going to sort of work with your stakeholders to create the change that you want to see? So again, sort of thinking about some useful questions uh like what is the desired effect of the project? What are the success criteria? How will you measure and evidence the success of the project? Um what is the overall change you're trying to achieve? And how will you know if you've achieved it? So if I introduce you to the case study that I'm using today, this is the passage project which is led by my brilliant colleague Dr. Philip Hel who is head of collections research at the national archives. So passage uh is an acronym. It stands for the partnership for transatlantic slavery scholarship archiving and global exchange. And this project combines archival research on the history of slave ships um from between 1760 to 1807. And it's going to deliver a range of academic and public engagement outputs um with an international research mobility program that is really seeking to center and financially support the research of scholars from West Africa and the Caribbean. And the project has been co-designed with stakeholders um from academic, government and cultural institutions uh in Ghana, Barbados and Jamaica. Uh it's a major partnership project. So it connects researchers and archival collections that are held at the National Archives as well as uh Lloyd's Register Foundation um and other archives in the UK and globally. So absolutely a mammoth project. But the problem that the project identified, so starting, you know, with this issue that it wanted to address was that there were still significant barriers existing for those who wanted to research the history of the transatlantic slave trade. Um, many archival collections are quite difficult to access uh for researchers. Um, this can be because of a lack of um catalog descriptions and also because often the material that people want to look at is separated across a wide variety of different archives. globally. Um, it's often also uh in paper form only in uh in the UK or Europe and and North America. And so if you're a researcher based in the Caribbean or West Africa, you've got that kind of barrier to overcome as well, trying to access the material. And finally, the way that the transatlantic slave trade is taught um both sort of at school level and university level does tend to still be quite euroentric and and there's very much a focus on the the power of the British Empire. So these were some of the issues that the project team identified that they were hoping they could solve. And they wanted to do that by really tackling these challenges, combining archival research with exciting new uh outputs, including uh new scholarship, digital outputs, um and new data in the national archives catalog um which is called discovery, by the way, if if if you're not sure. um and and a research mobility program so that there was uh greater and easier access to the records that we have. Um furthermore, the project also wanted to provide this really in-depth and sensitive interpretation of colonial history which centers the colonized, the subjugated and the enslaved so that we can deepen our understanding [clears throat] of the social and economic issues in these rich regions and encourage greater empathy with the upsetting parts of West African and Caribbean diaspora in the UK today. So that was kind of the the the change that the project team wanted to see and we can sort of break that down into four kind of outcomes or impacts really. Um so those would be firstly improved access accessibility of the nation's slavery archive, increased awareness of of the archive as well, increased opportunities for researchers from global communities or heritage um affected by the slave trade and then finally also a transformation of cultural attitudes towards Britain's colonial past. So those were sort of, you know, the the identified issues or challenges and some of the solutions or or or impact that the team wanted to see. And the team then thought, well, how are we going to know if we've done this? You know, how are we going to be able to to say that we've achieved some of the these aims that we've had? Um, and so what we did was we we mapped some of those kind of evidence or impact indicators against some of the desired outcomes that they have for the project. So, for example, thinking about improved accessibility of the nation's slavery archive, um well, an increased number of sort of catalog entries and discovery, which is our our big uh online catalog, uh would make our collections actually searchable and findable for for scholars and researchers. Um it'd be great if we could see changes in the content and delivery of academic courses which make use uh of the collection and those new discovery entries. Um increase research output sort of very broadly defined. So yes, books and and academic articles, but you know, other sort of more creative outputs would be fantastic that really use and center those collections. In terms of increased awareness of the slavery archive, uh we could look at things like sort of downloads, listens, reads of project outputs, so you know, podcasts, blog posts, articles, things like that. Engagement with those outputs and sort of comments on those outputs is another great piece of evidence. any media uptake, curriculum changes, increased interest from TNA readers and the wider public. So tracking the use of those records. Um and in terms of increased opportunities for researchers from global communities or heritage affected by the slave trade, um passage has a fantastic global mobility scheme. They've just announced um the projects that they have awarded funding to um under the scheme. So kind of looking at at those fellows and the outputs that they produce as well as sort of any uh further international research collaborations or or funding applications that that come from that would be a great piece of evidence to look at. And then finally in terms of transforming cultural attitudes towards Britain's colonial past, we would be looking for things like uh new interpretations of items in the collections, um testimonials, changes in heritage interpretation across the glamour sector. There's lots of bits of evidence that we can piece together to show the difference that this project has made. And so once in your theory of change model, you've thought about your problem and your solution and how you're going to evidence that, it's really important to think about how you're going to get from A to B. Like how do you get to the from the the issue you've identified to the impact you want to have? That is primarily through sort of working collaboratively with your stakeholders um to sort of engage in various activities and produce some outputs. And so when you're thinking about activities as part of a research project, um you want to think specifically about how you're engaging those stakeholders or your various audiences, but also anything you're going to do on a day-to-day basis as part of the project. And so again, some of the questions that we like to pose to our researchers are things like what is the activity? Uh where does it take place? When does it happen within the project and who is involved? And then the outputs are the tangible things that are a direct result of those activities. And that can be anything from workshops, resources, exhibitions, talks, digital media, publications, uh collection cataloges, uh guidance for the sector and so much more. Um and really it's these outputs that help you then sort of achieve the outcomes and the impact [laughter] that you want to have. So it's really useful to kind of work backwards in that way. And when you're thinking about your outputs, it's really useful to sort of consider what would be the direct result of the activity like what's the thing that's going to come out of that and what do you need to produce to actually achieve your desired impact or effect or change. So again if I take the passage project um oh sorry I'm just yeah one word on um co-production collaboration um I think it's really really important to highlight that at the national archives we are big believers in co-production and co-design so doing with uh our stakeholders and our audiences so you know equal and reciprocal partnership is really really important to us uh rather than sort of just engagement which um as you can see from this sort of uh middle illustration here is more sort of you know engaging and involving people, you're kind of doing it for them. So, um co-productions is really important to us and as part of the the passage project, um the activities and the outputs are being, you know, co-produced, co-designed. And in terms of activities, there is obviously a huge amount of cataloging work that is going on as [laughter] we're trying to kind of reveal the collections in the archive. Uh we've also got the knowledge uh exchange global mobility program that I mentioned. Uh there will be an international conference I believe that's next year which will be held at the national archives and then also a series of educational workshops uh co-produced with house of dread who are absolutely fantastic and the outputs from those activities um will include things such as um around about 8,000 new catalog entries on discovery which is phenomenal um a new research guide for the National Archives and Lloyd's Register Foundation um on tracing the history of slave ships uh various conference papers and publications in academic journals. Um a podcast for the National Archives on the record is our our regular podcast. Uh various blog posts um online classroom resources as well as an interactive digital map which is going to trace the history of some of these ships using the documents that are uncovered. And then finally, once you've thought about your kind of your your activities and your outputs, you do need to think about the inputs. What do you need to make this project happen? And this can include things like funding, any existing structures, processes, procedures, uh people, partners, and stakeholders. Um, and I always urge people to think, you know, what resources do you already have available? What knowledge, skills, and expertise do you have already in your team, your department, your organization? Are there any limitations on those resources? Um, often yes, time is the biggest one. Um, and when you're thinking about the resources, you might need to sort of think about things like, you know, are there bits of the budget that are ringing fenced for a specific purpose. Um, do you have the right people in the right places to to carry this project out? And is there a time constraint on any of the facilities or resources? So, some real kind of practical nuts and bolts questions. And just again to sort of map that onto the passage project, some of the inputs that were required for this uh were of course funding from the Lloyd's Register Foundation um just shy of a million pounds. we we received that project uh existing staff time. So as I said our head of collections research Dr. Philip Helal is the project lead and then our head of research grants and academic engagement Jack Butworth is the co-lead for the project. Uh we also hire new project staff with the funding we were awarded. So we we have got a project researcher and a project cataloger. Also institutional support from the two um organizations leading the project. So the National Archives and Noise Register Foundation and that can be for things like communications, events management, evaluation, as well as also the stakeholders that we were co-designing and co-producing the project with. Um, and for example, I've just put a few of our stakeholders on screen here. So Jamaica National Archives, Ghana Museum and Monuments Board, uh, the Digital Library of the Caribbean, the Barbados National Archive, and the Barbados Museum and Historical Society. So that then when you've mapped all of that gives you this kind of model for impact that you can use really from the very beginning of your project. Um so you identify your problem, you think about the the impact you want to have and then you can work backwards. Um so that eventually you have something that looks like the diagram on screen. And so just kind of a few final thoughts from me because I'm aware that I'm creeping over my allocated time. um a theory of change model is really really helpful to plan impact from the very start of your project and I do urge everyone to kind of use something like this or similar um to really embed that impact. It shouldn't sort of be something that's tagged on at the end of a project um and to tell a really compelling story around your impact. You need to articulate the problem or the challenge that exists and how your research or your project is going to help to solve that because that's what gives you the change that you're you're seeking to make. Um, identify your stakeholders and engage them early on. That's really important. And I would really encourage you to think about co-design and co-production with your stakeholders because that is central to having this meaning and meaningful and lasting impact. Um, and finally, always gather evidence as you go and plan that evaluation in right from the very beginning. Um, that will make your life a lot easier.