EPSRC has awarded the University of Glasgow a £3.19m Impact Acceleration Account for the period from April 2022 to March 2025 as part of UKRI's harmonised IAA programme. This harmonised IAA programme encompasses IAA funding across all four Colleges of the University and includes AHRC, BBSRC, ESRC, MRC, and STFC IAA's. The EPSRC and STFC IAA's at the University of Glasgow are managed and delivered by the College of Science and Engineering.
About the EPSRC IAA
Introduction
Impact Acceleration Accounts (IAAs) allow universities to respond to opportunities in flexible, responsive and creative ways that align with their institutional strategies and opportunities. Responsibility for management of IAAs is devolved to individual institutions, allowing them to operate tailored schemes to facilitate the realisation of impact. They are intended to add value to existing funding and take advantage of new or unforeseen opportunities. IAAs are one of the primary funding mechanisms for supporting knowledge exchange, innovation and impact at UK Research and Innovation (UKRI).
EPSRC Strategic Aims for IAAs
The Engineering and Physical Sciences (EPSRC) IAAs are designed to help support a broad range of impact activities, and have the following strategic aims:
- strengthening engagement with users in order to accelerate the translation of research outputs into impacts
- supporting, developing and fostering strategic partnerships for knowledge exchange and impact, including across disciplines and sectors
- building and maintaining an environment and culture that enables effective and ambitious knowledge exchange and impact, including development of skills, capacity and capability within research organisations
- providing early-stage support for progressing research outputs towards the next stages in the impact pipeline, for example:
- proof of concept projects
- commercialisation
- market validation
- activities targeting policy, business and the third sector
- driving continuous improvement in impact by supporting innovation, enabling ‘fast failure’, and capturing learning through appropriate mechanisms
- enabling flexible and adaptive approaches to knowledge exchange and impact, including the ability to respond quickly to emerging opportunities.
EPSRC IAA Strategy at Glasgow
The overall strategic ambition for the EPSRC IAA at Glasgow is to drive global impact of our research through a significant increase in external engagement and innovation. We will deliver this through four core objectives:
Commercialisation & Entrepreneurship – to increase the economic impact of EPSRC research through strategic investments in innovative technology development, licensing and new venture creation, while at the same time developing entrepreneurial individuals.
Partnership Development – to increase the volume and depth of our industry, government and third sector partnerships. By utilising the opportunity afforded by IAA harmonisation and our increased EPSRC allocation, we will lead the University in creating more and wider cross-disciplinary impact activities to create more partnerships including in new sectors. We will hence stimulate a pipeline of new impact opportunities, particularly supporting new career development pathways for our PGRs and PDRAs.
Mobility - enabling a two-way, dynamic flow of researchers between academia and external partner organisations through project placements, co-location, and secondments.
Capacity Building, Culture Change & Engagement – to progress an evolution of a KE culture that embeds responsible innovation and sustainability, and safeguards equality, diversity, and inclusion by lowering the barriers to innovation and engagement and by upskilling researchers in impact creation.
We aim to utilise IAA funding to help build cross-university multidisciplinary networks, comprising teams of researchers and their collaborators, thus enabling a step change in the scale and scope of our impact activities and the impacts they deliver. All IAA activity will be underpinned by responsible innovation and the promotion of equality, diversity and inclusion, with the IAA mechanisms toolkit enabling us to initiate and accelerate fruitful and lasting partnerships. The IAA is a key piece of our impact generation eco-system, as shown below:
Alongside our Early Career Development Programme, the 2022-25 EPSRC IAA will enable us to develop our strong and growing early career researcher base into a powerful cohort with the skills to deliver economic and societal impact, including via entrepreneurial training. Increased commercialisation of our research is a priority - we will use IAA funding to mature IP leading to the next phase of commercialisation funded via investors and innovation funders.
IAA KPI's - How We Measure Success
Key performance indicators (KPIs) for our IAA in terms of value, volume and trajectory have been set to enable the measurement of success and to help us understand the success of specific interventions. We measure and report on IAA project outputs, outcomes and impacts. These include:
1. Enterprise and entrepreneurship:
Number of:
- new records of invention
- patents filed
- invention disclosures received
- licensing agreements
- proof of concept projects
- market assessments
- prototypes produced
- jobs created or safeguarded
- new products, processes or services on the market
As well as the value of:
- increases in industrial turnover, profit, or exports (including university spin out companies)
- cost savings at partner organisations
- increases in R&D expenditure by external organisations (including university spin out companies)
2. Partnership development:
Number of:
- collaborative projects supported by the the IAA
- new company partners participating in collaborative projects
- new collaborative projects post IAA
- cash and in-kind contributions from company partners
- industry visits
- strategic events participated in
- joint academic/industry publications
- jobs created or safeguarded
- new products, processes or services on the market
As well as the value of:
- increases in industry partner turnover, profit, or exports
- cost savings at partner organisations
- increases in R&D expenditure by partner organisations
3. Researcher mobility:
Number of:
- secondment projects
- cash and in-kind contributions from company partners
- joint academic/industry publications
- new products, processes or services on the market as a result of researcher mobility
- jobs created or safeguarded
- Knowledge Transfer Partnership awards
4. Capacity building and culture change:
Number of:
- academic staff trained
- staff engaging with the IAA
- case studies developed and published or submitted to funders
- events delivered, and number of attendees
- people completing surveys/interviews;
- university staff attending external stakeholder engagement events
- simplified routes to engagement and impact
EPSRC IAA Management Group
The EPSRC IAA Management Group oversees the strategic direction of the EPSRC IAA at Glasgow. It ensures delivery against our objectives and helps to guarantee that priorities in responsible innovation, ED&I and sustainability are embedded in our activities. It also informs our strategic planning, manages risks and ensures that activities are resourced appropriately. Finally, it also ensures that EPSRC IAA activities and are integrated with existing complimentary initiatives, and monitors delivery of outcomes and reporting. The EPSRC IAA Management Group is as follows:
University of Glasgow IAA Core Management Group:
Prof Margaret Lucas, School of Engineering / Dean of Research, College of Science and Engineering (Chair)
Prof Chris Pearce, School of Engineering / Vice Principal for Research
Mel Anderson, Head of Commercialisation, Research and Innovation Services
Keith Dingwall, IAA Project Manager, College of Science and Engineering
Neil Bowering, Head of Professional Services, College of Science and Engineering
Lynne McCorriston, Research and Business Development Manager, College of Science and Engineering
External members:
Andrew Strain, CTO, Clydespace
Stephen McGeoch, Research & Technology Manager, Thales Optronics
Stephen Clark, Director - Building Services, WSP
Alan Tait, Chief Architect, Pelion
Michael Miller, Hoare Lea LLP
University of Glasgow members:
Dr Julien Reboud, James Watt School of Engineering
Prof Joemon Jose, School of Computing Science
Gordon Meiklejohn, Business Development Manager, Research and Innovation Services
Prof Michael Wemyss, School of Mathematics and Statistics
Prof Jon Cooper, James Watt School of Engineering
Prof Adrian Boyce, Scottish Universities Environmental Research Centre.
Institutional IAA Management
The role of the institutional IAA Management Group at Glasgow is to ensure effective use of IAA funds across the institution in a way that aligns with the ambitions of UKRI, University of Glasgow and the specific themes we have committed to.
The Institutional IAA Management Group comprises of:
- Prof Chis Pearce - Vice Principal, Research (Chair)
- Prof Margaret Lucas, Dean of Research, College of Science and Engineering
- Prof Dauvit Broun, Dean of Research, Colleges of Arts
- Prof Gerard Graham, Dean of Research, College of Medical, Veterinary and Life Sciences
- Prof Graeme Roy, Dean of External Engagement, College of Social Sciences
- Dr Bryony Wakefield, Director of Research Services, Research and Innovation Services
- Dr Decland Weldon, Director of Innovation and External Engagement, Research and Innovation Services
The Management Group is responsible for overseeing the delivery of the IAA. This includes budget, alignment with the IAA strategy and wider University strategies, ED&I aspects, Responsible Innovation and overall harmonisation and alignment.
The purpose of the institutional IAA Operations Group at Glasgow is to enable, enact and deliver the University IAA commitments on behalf of the IAA Management Group to ensure effective use of IAA funds across the institution in a way that aligns with the ambition of UKRI, University of Glasgow and the specific themes we have committed to.
The IAA Operations Group comprises of:
- Dr Gordon Meiklejohn, Business Development Manager, Research and Innovation Services and Convener of IAA Operations group
- Rose-marie Barbeau, Research Impact Manager, Research and Innovation Services
- Melville Anderson, Head of Commercialisation, Research and Innovation Services
- Bhoomi Gor, research Impact Officer, Research and Innovation Services
- Helen Green, Ref/Impact Officer - College of Arts
- Fraser Rowan, KE & Impact Manager, College of Arts
- Samantha Sherry, Research Support Manager, College of Arts
- Kirsty Wild, Head of Research and Operations Strategy, College of Arts
- Keith Dingwall, IAA Manager, College of Science and Engineering
- Elaine Hunter, Research Impact Officer, College of Science and Engineering
- lewis Thomson, REF Impact Officer, College of Social Sciences
- Dr Fiona Heatlie, Head of Research Business Development, College of Social Sciences
- Dr Louise Mason, Transnational Research Development Manager, College of Medical, Veterinary and Life Sciences
- Ruth McLaughlin, College Innovation Manager, College of Medical, Veterinary and Life Sciences
- Dr Jim Caryl, Research Impact Officer, College of Medical, Veterinary and Life Sciences
- Vicky Heath, Research Impact Officer, College of Medical, Veterinary and Life Sciences