Beyond the ivory tower

Abstract

How is the new impact agenda a particularly valuable opportunity for practice led ECRs whose research is frequently situated and experienced outside traditional academia? What might be the potential complications? How might it structure research design for new projects beyond the academy? Reflecting on my personal experience as an ECR in visual arts, this paper discusses the submission of my work Illuminating Hadrian’s Wall (2010) to REF2014, and the potential resubmission of the work in the context of longitudinal impact as it unfolds by REF2021. I compare approaches to impact for practice led researchers and discuss the strategic design of current research projects (for example The And Or Project which examines and speculates on reading and writing art post internet by exhibition, peer reviewed written submissions and development of a digital tool) in the context of impact, the notion of ‘the package’, and how that has structured my career trajectory since my PhD completion in 2013, through four short term postdoctoral posts at four different institutions .