New report assesses impact of arts and humanities research at Cambridge

Research in the arts and humanities deserves wider recognition for the broad range of palpable contributions it is making to the life of the nation, a new report suggests. The independent study was carried out by the policy research organisation, RAND Europe, and was commissioned jointly by the University of Cambridge and the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC). It will be publicly available from Thursday, June 10th, via the RAND Europe website ( http://www.rand.org/pubs/technical_reports/TR816/ ) The aim of the study is to explore, using Cambridge as an example, how university research in the arts and humanities is serving society, and how that impact might be effectively and appropriately measured. The study indicates that such research is producing a wide variety of identifiable "vital public benefits". Evidence was drawn both from a survey of almost 300 researchers, and from in-depth interviews and case studies carried out both inside and beyond the University. In part, it is hoped that the report will inform the development of future models for the assessment of research in the UK, for which the quantifiable impact of that research is likely to be an important concern. More broadly, however, the document aims to provide a workable model that other universities and research institutions could use to track and assess the benefits research in their own arts and humanities faculties is having.