A new way to map the journey from blue-sky science to real-world impact
The University of New South Wales
A new way to map the journey from blue-sky science to real-world impact
[EMBARGOED|12/10/2026 00:01] A new UNSW Science report proposes a new way to measure and recognise the impact of research long before a final product, policy or innovation emerges.
The report identifies recurring processes that help create impact, including research, partnerships, community engagement and understanding real-world needs.
Universities are under pressure to demonstrate the value of research, a challenge for fundamental science whose impact may take decades to emerge.
“Some of the most important innovations we rely on today have their origins in fundamental research undertaken decades earlier,” says Scientia Professor Sven Rogge, Dean of UNSW Science.
“The difficulty is recognising the value being created during those intervening years, when we may have no idea what the eventual application will be.”
The report applies the UNSW Science Impact Indicators as a framework to demonstrate contributions across commercialisation, scholarly outputs, policy and influence, lives changed, and sustainability and development.
The eight case studies show how different research journeys can be, and how difficult outcomes are to predict.
Scientia Professor Justin Gooding’s chemistry research has contributed to glucose monitoring, 3D bioprinting and wearable drug-monitoring technologies.
Professor Fatemeh Vafaee’s work in artificial intelligence developed through biomedical and industry collaborations into drug-discovery technologies and a breast-cancer blood test now used in clinics.
Professor Rogge says the framework could allow universities to recognise these contributions without requiring researchers to predict the end point.
“If we only measure impact once there is a product, policy or treatment, we miss much of what made that impact possible,” he says.
“We want to recognise those contributions earlier, reward researchers for making them, and protect the pipeline of fundamental science on which future innovation depends.”
UNSW Science is now looking at how the indicators could be applied more broadly across UNSW and beyond, with the ambition of contributing to wider discussion about how Australian universities understand and demonstrate research impact.
For more information, a copy of the report and to arrange interviews with any of the eight case studies:
Tom Melville
UNSW Science
[email protected]
0432 921 060
-ENDS-
Contact details:
Tom Melville
UNSW Science
[email protected]
0432 921 060