Making a difference: Impact Report 2019

Medical research charities are committed to funding research that positively impacts people living with health conditions or diseases. For many charities, this is only made possible through public donations and so charities must let the public know how their money is being spent and what impact it is having.

The pathway to impact is rarely linear. Instead, it often involves many different funders and research teams over a long period of time. This cumulative nature of impact makes it challenging to track in an effective way.

AMRC is helping a number of our members use an online tool called Researchfish that allows them to collect data on the outcomes of their research funding over time. Collecting data in this consistent way allows us to pool data together from many different charities and perform an in-depth cross-sector analysis of the outcomes of the research funded by our members.

This report follows on from our initial 2017 impact report, incorporating two more years of data and new stories of how charity-funded research has impacted patients and society. The report is structured around the five areas of impact shown below.

For a PDF version of this report please contact our Communications Officer, Leo.

If you have any questions please contact our Research, Data and Impact Manager, Jocelyn.

With thanks to the Medical Research Council, Researchfish, and participating charities.

Acknowledgements

This report is the result of collaboration between AMRC and our members, the Medical Research Council and Researchfish which began in 2013. This report would not have been possible without the support of the Medical Research Council, who funded our member charities to use the Researchfish system, and have provided support to AMRC to analyse the information. Liz Philpots was instrumental in setting up this collaboration.
The 44 charities using Researchfish have also been vital in providing the impact data, and in working with us to develop the case studies.
At AMRC, Eva Garritsen, Jocelyn LeBlanc, Liz Philpots and Suzanne Rix prepared the data. Jocelyn LeBlanc and Suzanne Rix analysed the data and wrote the report. Leonora Neale edited the text and created the digital report.