We have a crucial role in creating the conditions for a UK science superpower and innovation nation. We work with our partners, with the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy as our sponsoring department, and with other parts of government to deliver research and innovation priorities.
To achieve this ambition, it is vital that we can:
- monitor progress
- manage our own performance
- evaluate the impact of the wider efforts and actions we support.
We must use this to inform our future strategies and plans, putting evidence at the heart of our decision-making.
In this section, we present part of the work that demonstrates our commitment to monitoring and evaluating our investments rigorously to understand our impact and to learn from ‘what works’.
We will continue to monitor and evaluate the impact of our activities in line with our overarching evaluation framework. The framework sets out the principles and processes by which all monitoring and evaluation is undertaken within UK Research and Innovation. This will include:
- commissioning independent evaluations of our major research and innovation grants and investments
- continuing to build our in-house skills, capabilities and analytical frameworks.
BBSRC
Evaluation of the multi-funder Insect Pollinators Initiative: May 2018
EPSRC
Review of EPSRC-funded doctoral education: October 2021
Impact of the energy research programme: September 2020
Value of EPSRC fellowships: August 2020
Evaluation of EPSRC’s Healthcare Impact Partnerships investment: March 2020
Impact of EPSRC’s investments in HPC infrastructure: November 2019
EPSRC bibliometric study 2018: April 2019
Impact assessment of EPSRC funding on the circular economy: April 2019
Socio-economic impact of EPSRC’s investment in research equipment: February 2018
The era of mathematics: January 2018
Analysis of publications arising from research funded by ESPRC: January 2017
Returns of engineering research and postgraduate training: March 2015
Investing in excellence, delivering impact for the UK: January 2015
Economic benefits of mathematical science research in the UK: June 2013
ESRC
Evaluation of the UK in a Changing Europe (UKICE) hub: March 2022
Evaluation of Understanding Society: September 2022
ESRC-FCDO Raising Learning Outcomes programme evaluation report: July 2022
ESRC investment in What Works Centres: January 2022
ESRC-FCDO Joint Fund for Poverty Alleviation Research Programme evaluation: February 2021
ESRC-DFID Joint Fund for Poverty Alleviation Research Programme evaluation: March 2016
Impact evaluation of the New Dynamics of Ageing research programme: August 2015
Impact evaluation of the millennium cohort study: September 2011
MRC
Timeline of MRC research and discoveries
Review of the Health Systems Research Initiative: June 2021
COVID-19 response interim report: January 2020 to March 2021
Clinical Research Infrastructure Initiative report (2019): December 2019
MRC 10 year translational research evaluation report 2008 to 2018: October 2019
Decades of discovery science set to revolutionise healthcare: November 2018
Review of the UK’s interdisciplinary research: July 2015 (UK Government Web Archive)
Estimating the economic benefits from medical research in the UK: November 2008
NERC
Impacts of NERC science: cleaner seas: October 2016
STFC
Socio-economic impact evaluation of the UK subscription to ESO: February 2022
Socio-economic impact study of Diamond Light Source: May 2021 (Zenodo)
Evaluation of the benefits that the UK has derived from CERN: August 2020
Bibliometric analysis of publications funded by the STFC: September 2020
Evaluation of the STFC-EPSRC SLA for CCP and HEC consortia: November 2019
Hartree Centre phase one and two baseline evaluation: October 2018
Sci-Tech Daresbury Campus impact study: March 2017
ISIS lifetime impact study: November 2016
New light on science: socioeconomic impact study of Daresbury SRS: January 2010
UKRI
Strategic Priorities Fund: baseline and interim process evaluation: July 2022
UKRI Future Leaders Fellowships: Evaluation Scoping and Feasibility Study: April 2021
Fund for International Collaboration (FIC): Baseline and interim process evaluation
Last updated: 3 October 2022