Analysis of MRC-funded non-academic impacts submitted to REF2021

This report provides a selection of research impacts submitted by UK higher education institutions (HEIs) to the 2021 REF assessment that had a connection to the Medical Research Council (MRC) investments.

The Research Excellence Framework (REF) is a national assessment of the research taking place approximately every six years across UK HEIs. As MRC institutes do not report impacts from their research to the REF assessment, impacts from this part of MRC’s portfolio do not feature in the report. As part of REF2021, UK HEIs submitted 6781 impact case studies intended to demonstrate the impact of their research on wider society and the economy. Automated and manual searches of the database were used to obtain 569 REF2021 impact case studies (ICS) associated with MRC funding (hereafter referred to as MRC-ICS). These records were screened to focus on 60 exemplar MRC-ICS which are summarised in this report.

The records have been grouped into 35 narratives where common themes emerge and highlighted, where possible, instances where they fit within the themes of MRC’s strategic delivery plan. They demonstrate the breadth of impacts arising from MRC-funded research, highlighting where MRC funding has made a significant contribution to realising this impact.

We reveal clear evidence that MRC-funded infrastructure and underpinning research is associated with high quality impact case studies. We show that MRC funding held by universities across the UK contributes to diverse impacts submitted to a broad range of units of assessment, and that these impacts are almost always the result of collaboration between multiple universities.