48% of the reach and impact produced in English between 2014 and 2020 was judged 4*, by far the best result in the Arts and Humanities, and an outcome that belongs to all departments, large and small, across the four nations of the UK. In 2023, The English Association will be digging into the REF Impact Case Studies in a rolling series of events. The English Association, the Institute for English Studies and University English will team up to look behind the numbers to understand what our colleagues in departments of English are achieving. The goal is to understand the deep social, cultural and economic impact our subject is achieving. 

The impacts chosen for the  first meeting have all had an economic impact, or have informed economic understanding. The audience will be hearing from the teams behind the following case studies:

  • Shakespeare North (Liverpool John Moores)
  • Maximising the economic and cultural value of Robert Burns for Scotland (Glasgow)
  • Show Me the Money: Improving Public and Professional Understanding of Finance (Southampton/Edinburgh)
  • Poetry as a Driver of Business Innovation: Westpark Residential Development (Newcastle)

The English Association is a membership association for people passionate about the English language and its literatures. The Association brings together individuals and organisations with a wealth of expertise from all sectors of education and all areas of English studies, including language, literature, and creative writing. The Association’s members include educators, writers, librarians, advisors, students, researchers, teacher-trainers, publishers, literary agents, and others.

The Association is both a subject association and a learned society, with a large portfolio of publications, an ambitious events programme, and a long history of engagement with national and international bodies concerned with the development of English in schools, colleges, universities, and the wider community. Since its foundation in 1906, the English Association has helped to shape the discipline of English and continues to do this today.

The English Association is a registered charity incorporated by Royal Charter. They have an elective Fellowship as well as a regular membership. The Board of Trustees and Fellowship are made up of respected leaders in the discipline who enable the English Association to effect meaningful change at the highest levels. The Education Committees, drawn from our membership and consisting of teachers and researchers from every career stage, carry out their educational mission.