The Evaluation team provides evidence to address key questions posed by the Department of Innovation, Universities and Skills (DIUS): demonstrating the value of arts and humanities research, why it should be funded by the taxpayer, and what ‘added value’ the AHRC as an organisation delivers. The work of the Evaluation team also feeds into each of the four aims set out in the AHRC’s Vision and Strategy.
Two key organisational changes have created new opportunities for the team to increase the strategic focus of their work: the creation of the Directorate of Policy and Public Affairs; and the relocation of responsibility for planning and performance management issues to the Evaluation Team. We are exploiting these new opportunities, and developing our existing activities to ensure that data and evidence is fully exploited to maximise its impact within the AHRC and externally with stakeholder audiences. This is achieved in a number of ways:
Quality Assurance
The Evaluation Team collects quality assurance evidence and data through two main mechanisms:
- Scheme/programme evaluations to assess the extent to which AHRC programmes and schemes are delivering their aims and objectives, and to provide advice to Council on the outcomes of these evaluations to enable strategic decisions to be made.
- Data and metrics that represent the nature, scope and volume of research in the arts and humanities.
Scheme/programme evaluations are intended to assess the extent to which they are fulfilling their aims; highlight any issues relating to their scope and implementation; and assess wider impacts and benefits. Evidence for reviews includes analysis of monitoring and assessment reports, along with surveys, interviews, focus groups and case studies. More information on our evaluation work can be found on the scheme evaluations page.
Evidence of Achievements
The arts and humanities create social and economic benefits both directly and indirectly. The Evaluation Team works in two key areas to deliver evidence on these impacts generally, and on AHRC-funded research more specifically:
- Building the evidence base through a range of reviews, case studies and papers that demonstrate the economic impact of arts and humanities research in four key areas: providing benefits to business and the UK economy; providing a highly skilled labour force; improving public policy and public services; and improving quality of life in the UK.
- Developing new approaches to impact assessment across a range of activities to demonstrate the value and impact of arts and humanities research.
More information can be fonud on the impact assessment and case studies page.
Strategic Intelligence
The Evaluation Team works in two key areas to deliver strategic intelligence both internally and externally for the AHRC:
- Delivering key strategic documents to BIS to meet Performance Management requirements.
- Developing evidence-based policy and decision-making internally through policy reviews and evidence gathering activities.
- Informing the AHRC’s strategic interventions in public policy, providing evidence of the relevance of arts and humanities research to key issues and debates.
Two key Performance Management documents are the Economic Impact Reporting Framework (EIRF) and the Economic Impact Baseline. These documents provide evidence on aspects of AHRC performance relevant to Government objectives for the UK science base. Full versions of both reports are available on the Corporate Documents page.
Further Information
More information about our evaluation activities can be found in our strategy document.