Impact is for life, not just for REF with Kirsty High and Sean McCaul (recorded live at Impact Ignite 2025) (Episode 84)

About this episode

Kirsty High and Sean McCaul discuss the importance of embedding research impact in institutions and practical ways to achieve it.

Kirsty High is Research Impact Manager at the independent research institution, the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology. Sean McCaul is a faculty impact officer at Ulster University. Both are responsible for overseeing and supporting impact, but with different drivers and priorities. This episode was recorded live at the Impact Ignite 2025 conference, an event dedicated to sharing best practices and sparking new ideas among research impact professionals. Sarah, Kirsty, and Sean talk about How supporting impact in a university compares to an independent research institute The power of embedding impact rather than seeing it as the ‘icing on the cake’ Why trust and long-term relationships with researchers are key Practical ways to spark impact including seed funding and cross-disciplinary peer learning Find out more Get the transcript and timestamps on the episode webpage Connect with Kirsty on LinkedIn Connect with Sean on LinkedIn Find out more about the Impact Ignite event, the Research Impact Academy and listen to Tamika Heiden’s podcast episode Listen to the Hidden REF podcast episode Thanks to All Parties and Events for recording this episode About Research Adjacent Follow…

People in this episode

Host: Sarah McLusky

Guests: Kirsty High, Sean McCaul

Topics covered

• research impact
• university support
• independent research
• long-term relationships
• cross-disciplinary learning
• seed funding

Keywords

• research impact
• university
• independent research
• trust
• long-term relationships
• seed funding
• cross-disciplinary
• Impact Ignite

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, Ulster University, Research Impact Academy

Books & works: Hidden REF podcast

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