Impact records are used by the University to collect, analyse and report the impact of our research.

Impact records are created for internal use only and are not displayed publicly on the Royal Holloway Research Portal.

What impact can be recorded in Pure?

Information about past, current and future impacts can be recorded in Pure.

Benefits of creating an impact record

It is good practice to keep track of your research impact and save your evidence on Pure for the following reasons:

• To monitor progress and hold yourself accountable towards your impact goals.
• To include in your annual review meetings and promotion applications (in which research impact is recognised).
• To refer to when completing funder reports (like researchfish).
• To ensure your research impact is considered for University support and investment, including in the lead-up to the Research Excellence Framework (REF) submission.
• To support you in writing compelling evidence-based narratives for impact communications and REF Impact Case Studies.

Adding an impact record

Log into Pure and select the plus sign beside 'Impacts' to create a new record and fill in the template.

When adding your impact record:

• Refer to the full guidance available here: Adding and editing impact records in Pure
• Complete mandatory fields marked with a red asterix.
• Read the guidance available when you hover over the ‘information’ icon for each section.
• Add colleagues who have contributed to the impact by selecting 'add person' under the participants heading.
• Link your impacts to other relations in Pure, such as your Projects and Research Outputs.
• Add evidence and/or contact details of people or organisations to corroborate your impact claim/s.
• Remember that no impact records will be publicly available on the research portal however, ensure the visibility of your record is set to 'Restricted' so that the information is only visible to you (the record creator), linked individuals and staff with admin or Editor rights (i.e. not any Royal Holloway user logged into Pure).
• Remember to save your record before you close it.

Developing impact with other academic colleagues

We understand that by nature Impact often arises from collaborative research between multiple academics. We recommend creating one Impact record and adding collaborators to this record. You will need to agree for one person to “own” the record.

Using Pure records to prepare for a REF Impact Case Study

The impact records in Pure are not the same as a REF impact case study however, Pure records will help you to build a successful Impact Case Study because the recorded data aligns with REF requirements. You can also save your evidence on Pure which you can revisit if you are preparing a submission to REF. It is highly recommended that you save evidence as you go. This ensures evidence is timely, high-quality, and it will save you time when you are writing up your Impact Case Study.

You can see examples of Impact Case Studies on the REF2021 Impact database.