What is the societal impact of university research? A policy-oriented review to map approaches, identify monitoring methods and success factors.

The discussion on the 'societal impact of university research' has emerged within the recent decade with different utilisation from the British REF impact stories to the EU Framework Programmes' criteria. The fundamental idea is that (university) research should contribute to addressing societal challenges, such as climate change, and not just pursue 'scientific excellence'. Several approaches have been developed, from case studies of the 'productive interactions' that co-create knowledge with societal stakeholders to the so-called 'altmetrics' tracking online dissemination of research outputs. Nonetheless, these experiences do not always point in the same direction, and the notion of 'societal impact' seems still unclearly defined. Given the growing policy pressure on universities to address societal challenges, this paper reviews the scientific literature on the so-called 'societal impact' of university research. By querying three scientific archives (Web of Science, Scopus and ScienceDirect), 135 relevant scientific publications are selected and discussed, looking for conceptualisations, monitoring methods and success factors. The review maps a value-laden discussion arguing for longer-term, multi-dimensional perspectives on university research impacts beyond bibliometric indicators. Findings highlight a progressive shift from 'attribution', i.e., looking for causal relationships between research and societal changes, to 'contribution', acknowledging researchers' efforts to engage with societal challenges.

Exchange-induced spin polarization in a single magnetic molecule junction.

Many spintronic devices rely on the presence of spin-polarized currents at zero magnetic field. This is often obtained by spin exchange-bias, where an element with long-range magnetic order creates magnetized states and displaces the hysteresis loop. Here we demonstrate that exchange-split spin states are observable and usable in the smallest conceivable unit: a single magnetic molecule. We use a redox-active porphyrin as a transport channel, coordinating a dysprosium-based single-molecule-magnet inside a graphene nano-gap. Single-molecule transport in magnetic field reveals the existence of exchange-split channels with different spin-polarizations that depend strongly on the field orientation, and comparison with the diamagnetic isostructural compound and milikelvin torque magnetometry unravels the role of the single-molecule anisotropy and the molecular orientation. These results open a path to using spin-exchange in molecular electronics, and offer a method to quantify the internal spin structure of single molecules in multiple oxidation states.