Journal articles, conference papers, and theoretical research dominate promotion criteria, yet may have limited practical application in industry contexts.
Films, campaigns, designs, and technological solutions create tangible change but struggle for recognition within traditional academic frameworks.
Research is fundamentally the process of creating new knowledge. When practice involves systematic investigation, critical reflection, and the generation of new insights, it transcends mere execution and becomes research itself.
What creative or technical challenge requires investigation? What knowledge gap exists?
Systematic exploration through practice, testing approaches, documenting discoveries.
New understanding manifested in the creative or technical output itself.
Clear documentation of methodology, decisions, and insights gained through practice.
Non-Traditional Research Outputs (NTROs) provide a formal system for evaluating practice-based work within academic contexts. This globally recognised framework offers a rigorous methodology for assessing creative and applied outputs alongside traditional scholarship.
Documentaries, creative productions, multimedia installations
Campaigns, branding systems, user experience innovations
Applications, platforms, technological innovations
Strategic analyses, policy recommendations, sector studies
The NTRO framework isn't an experimental approach—it's an established international standard used by leading research assessment systems worldwide. This alignment ensures HCT's practice-based and applied research receives recognition equivalent to traditional scholarship.
The UK's national system for assessing research quality explicitly includes and values practice-based outputs across creative and applied disciplines, treating them as equivalent to traditional publications.
Australia's comprehensive research evaluation system has successfully integrated NTROs for over a decade, providing robust assessment criteria for creative and applied work.
Leading institutions globally—from the Royal College of Art to MIT Media Lab—recognise practice-based research as fundamental to innovation and knowledge creation.
At the heart of the NTRO framework lies a rigorous assessment methodology that evaluates practice-based work against three core criteria. This matrix translates creative and applied outputs into metrics comparable with traditional research, mapping them to Scopus Q1/Q2 equivalents.
Does the work demonstrate novel approaches, creative innovation, or new methodologies? Does it advance practice in meaningful ways?
What is the reach and influence of the work? Does it affect industry practice, policy, or cultural understanding? Who benefits?
Is the methodology systematic and well-documented? Does the work demonstrate technical excellence and critical reflection?
This assessment framework makes practice-based research legible for promotion and performance committees, providing clear criteria for evaluating work that might otherwise be overlooked or undervalued in traditional academic structures.
The NTRO framework directly addresses a critical challenge facing the faculty: how to gain recognition for industry expertise and applied work within academic promotion and performance structures. By validating practice-based research, we create pathways for faculty to advance their careers whilst maintaining strong industry connections.
Industry experience and applied projects gain formal academic recognition, validating the unique strengths faculty bring from professional practice.
Clear criteria enable faculty to demonstrate research impact through their creative and applied work, supporting advancement without requiring traditional publication records.
Faculty can maintain active industry engagement knowing this work contributes to their academic standing rather than competing with it.
The NTRO framework creates a powerful synergy with the Competency-Based Learning (CBL) model. When faculty practice-based research receives formal recognition, it directly enriches the learning environment, ensuring students engage with cutting-edge, industry-relevant expertise.
Faculty conduct rigorous, evaluated practice-based research
Current industry insights and methodologies flow into curriculum
Learners gain real-world mentorship from recognised experts
Students don't just learn theory, they work alongside faculty whose practice-based research is actively shaping their industries. This creates authentic learning experiences where challenges are real, mentorship is expert, and outcomes have genuine impact.
The NTRO framework ensures that the practitioners teaching our students are also recognised researchers, bringing the highest calibre of applied expertise into every competency-based project.
The NTRO framework doesn't ask faculty to add new responsibilities or shift away from their strengths. Instead, it provides a mechanism to better recognise and value the impactful research already happening across our applied programmes.
No new research requirements—just better recognition of existing practice
Evaluation criteria that match institutional applied focus and CBL commitment
Faculty advancement and enhanced student learning from one framework
By aligning our evaluation systems with our institutional values, we create an environment where faculty can thrive doing what they do best: bringing cutting-edge industry practice into transformative learning experiences for students.
Implementing the NTRO framework at any institution represents a strategic opportunity to align our evaluation systems with our mission, strengthen the Competency-Based Learning model, and provide clear pathways for faculty advancement through practice-based research.
Form a working group to pilot the NTRO framework across selected programmes, developing institutional-specific assessment criteria and documentation processes.
Test the equivalency matrix with diverse outputs, refine evaluation procedures, and gather evidence of impact on both faculty advancement and student learning.
Develop policies, training, and support systems to embed NTRO evaluation within promotion criteria and research strategy across the institution.
The NTRO framework offers the institution a pathway to recognise excellence where it already exists—in the innovative, impactful practice-based work our faculty create every day. By valuing this work appropriately, we strengthen both our academic standing and our commitment to transformative, industry-connected education.
In applied fields, our most impactful work, a film, a design campaign, a technological innovation,often isn't captured in traditional journal articles. This creates a fundamental challenge: how do we value and recognise work that drives real-world impact but doesn't fit conventional academic metrics?