Influencing public policy at a local, national or international levels is one recognised way for research to deliver wider impact beyond academia. This analysis provides insight into the feedback loop between quality research and policy uptake, which describes a distinct non-linear pathway to impact. The following wiki page examines the REF Impact Case Studies (ICS) from a different perspective. A subset of the SDG aligned University of Glasgow ICS, that claim to have impacted policy and practice, were clustered based on their Impact Type. According to the REF 2014 Case Study guidance, each ICS is assigned to a “Summary Impact Type”. REF refers to the six main impact types as defined by the PESTLE convention: Political, Economic, Societal, Technological, Legal, and Environmental, plus the two additionally added Health and Cultural (Impact.ref.ac.uk, 2014). **Key messages:** - Combining quantitative and qualitative approaches when analysing diverse research output forms, provides useful narrative that puts research impact metrics into context. - By aligning their research output to the globally recognised UN SDG framework, universities can also demonstrate their commitment to relevant research avenues to external stakeholders and policy makers. - Adopting a broader transdisciplinary outlook would allow researchers to fully address the level of complexity and interrelation of the global issues society is currently facing. - Effective collaborations between Higher Education Institutions and policy makers can be further strengthened, and common agendas set, should communication beyond boundaries is enabled. **Reference:** Impact.ref.ac.uk. (2014). REF 2014 Impact Case Studies. [online] Available at: https://impact.ref.ac.uk/casestudies/FAQ.aspx [Accessed 5 Sep. 2019].