What role should non-academics have in evaluating the potential impact of new research projects?

Non-academics with extensive experience of particular sectors and industries can provide unique insights into the potential pathways to impact for new research projects. Drawing on a quasi-natural experiment comparing assessment panels with and without non-academic experts, Junwen Luo discusses the how these skills were perceived by academics and how the inclusion of non-academics might benefit from clearer definitions of impact in applied research grants.