The Impact of the Social Sciences: How Academics and Their Research Make a Difference

Abstract

1. The Social Sciences in Modern Research The scale and diversity of the social sciences The social sciences and human-dominated systems Perceptions of 'impact' from the social sciences PART I: HOW ACADEMICS ACHIEVE EXTERNAL IMPACTS 2. Social Scientists' Pathways to Impacts The academic impacts of social science researchers The external impacts of researchers Profiling different types of academic and their impacts 3. Modelling the Determinants of Social Science Impacts Multi-variate modelling of impacts The factors shaping academic impacts The factors shaping external impacts 4. Comparing Individuals' Impact Using case studies of high impact academics Explaining high impacts at the individual level Pulling together the analysis PART II: THE DEMAND FOR SOCIAL SCIENCE RESEARCH 5. Business and the Corporate Sector The range of university links with business The scale of social sciences involvement with business Barriers to greater use of social science research in firms 6. Government and Public Policy Making Social science and the policy arena The scale of social science links to policy Social scientists' influence on policy 7. Civil Society Organizations and the Third Sector Civil society organizations and 'advocacy coalitions' The scale of social science research links to civil society Growing the impacts of social science in the third sector 8. The Media and Public Engagement Academic expertise and 'the public' Social scientists and conventional news media Social science and social media Innovating with social science and the media PART III: PATTERNS OF KNOWLEDGE AND IMPACTS 9. The Dynamic Knowledge Inventory and Research Mediation The dynamic knowledge inventory The mediation of social science research 10. Social Science for a digital era Joining up for a 'broad-front' social science Re-framing human-centred disciplines and integrating STEM and social sciences Towards a more global social science