Impactful scholarship in intelligence: a public policy challenge

Abstract

This paper primarily concerns the potential impact academia can have on the government’s analytical functions and the necessary conditions and hindrances in making such an impact. In doing so, it addresses several important agendas for researchers engaged in the arts, humanities and social sciences aiming to generate ‘research impact’ and policy relevance. Narrowly, this research evaluates the generation of impact with the UK’s government’s central machinery for analysis. It makes this evaluation from primary data derived from several iterations of a research council-funded project, collectively known as ‘Lessons Learned’. The paper also presents an analysis of the business of ‘impact’ and why these activities present enduring challenges to individual scholars, universities and end-users.