Published by the British Academy and Academy of Social Sciences, researchers at the Leverhulme Centre for Demographic Science assessed how the social sciences and humanities research produced at universities in the UK provides real-world impact on the economy, policy, industry, technology and enriches everyday lives.

The project report and online interactive dashboard (accompanied by an open source code library) reveals the substantial impact of UK social sciences and humanities research, within the UK and globally. Combining complex statistical analysis and Large Language Models (LLMs) with rich qualitative explorations enabled LCDS researchers to tell the story of the myriad ways in which impact was achieved.

Project lead Professor Melinda Mills, Director of the Demographic Science Unit and LCDS said, ‘It was fascinating to uncover the breadth of real world impact from social sciences and humanities researchers within government and industry to the improvement of everyday lives.