ABSTRACT
Ideas on impact and interdisciplinary research circulate through the UK higher education sector. These concepts have emerged alongside changes in knowledge production towards more collaborative forms of research orientated towards applied problem-solving. Important forms of research activities include: anticipating impacts, engaging citizens and stakeholders, and integrating disciplines across natural and social sciences. The Crucible programme was originally developed by National Endowment for Science, Technology and Arts in 2007 as a programme aiming to provide early career researchers participants with an entry point to consider their research practice in the context of an enhanced drive towards interdisciplinary working environments, a wider view of research and its potential to impact society, and the creation of wider research networks. The Crucible programme involved selecting early career researchers / academics from five faculties to attend three two-day residential training courses, called ‘Labs’. Potential participants formally applied to the scheme in writing.
