Episode #9

Gemma Derrick: Grimpact – When Research Goes Very Bad

July 15, 2021

The senior lecturer in higher education at Lancaster University talks with Bob about what research grimpact is, when and why it occurs, why it’s so difficult for researchers to imagine, and why the drive for impact in research actually fuels grimpact.

Show Notes

Gemma’s bio page.
Her blogpost introducing grimpact in 2019.
The study Gemma co-authored with Paul Benneworth et al. in 2018 introducing the concept of grimpact.
The three examples Gemma examines in the study
- Lancet article by former British physician Andrew Wakefield that found recipients of the MMR vaccine were at heightened risk of developing autism;
- Cambridge Analytica scandal that influenced Brexit and the election of Trump;
- Economic crisis of 2008 and the belief in prevailing economic theory.
REF – system for assessing the quality of research in UK higher education that’s tied to critical funding.
My post on grimpact.