Oct 2023-LJMU PhD Academy

On Monday Oct 9, 2023, I attended a 2-hour LJMU workshop, “BRINGING YOUR RESEARCH TO LIFE: PLANNING FOR IMPACT” with Emily Walker, Impact Officer 

Learning Objectives

• To understand what impact is in the context of your PhD

• To understand the routes and pathways to impact and its importance

• How to create your own impact plan

What is Impact? 

'An effect on, change or benefit to the economy, society, culture, public policy or services, health, the environment or quality of life, beyond academia’. – UKRI 

Impact = Change 

The Language of Impact
Impact: A benefit or positive change that takes place outside academia because of your research.

Routes to Impact: your knowledge exchange activities – plan these carefully as part of a sequence that you hope will lead ultimately to a concrete impact.

Knowledge Exchange: activities that involve researchers and non-academic partners, users or stakeholders sharing the knowledge produced by research. e.g. public engagement workshops

Pathways to Impact: An old RCUK coined phrase for grant applications which outlines the impact you expect your research to have.

Beneficiaries: people, groups, communities or nations who will benefit from the impact of your research. End Users: the people or companies that will take up your research and use it to bring about change. 

Stakeholders: anybody who has a stake in the outcome of your research. 

Co-production: where researchers and research users work closely together to produce knowledge. It is a collaborative way for research to have impact rather than just doing research which is then picked up by end users. 

Impact activities: activities such as public engagement that translate research, making it accessible for users and beneficiaries to adopt. 

Indicators: Empirical metrics demonstrating the impact that has occurred. 

Funders: accountability for public funds 

Government: informing debate and shaping policy 

Public: those impacted by research 

REF: Research Excellence Framework  

Research is too important to go into a journal to die

Impact Types 

• Academic esteem, teaching and learning 

• Economy, commerce, organisations 

• Environment Health and welfare 

• International development 

• Practitioners and professional services 

• Public policy and law Society, culture and creativity 

Benefits of research beyond academia

• International

• Public policy & services

• Environmental

• Social

• Quality of life

• Health

• Economic

• Cultural

Inputs

Time and material resources, e.g., research income, staff & infrastructure

Activities

Research work, facility use, community & stakeholders, engagement

Outputs

Deliverables from the research project, e.g., publications, IP, patents, media, policy briefings, presentations

Outcomes

Changes that happen, e.g., change in policy, new companies, improved training, commercial changes, 

Impact

Measurable change that occurs, e.g. lower unemployment, increased quality of life, reduced accidents

Stakeholders 

Any person, group, body, or organisation that can be positively or negatively impacted by or cause an impact on your research 

Potential beneficiaries of your research or risk bearers 

Who are your stakeholders? 

• Stakeholders: Anyone with aligned interest or concern 

• End Users: Anticipated user pf any product, service, process or initiative 

• Beneficiaries: Can be stakeholders or end users plus anyone else that might benefit 

Stakeholders matter because... 

• Both starting point and end point of impact 

• Integral to your research – your subjects 

• Help to improve your research – involvement can change research question, methodology etc. 

• They can further/hinder your research (cooperation/resistance)

Stakeholders can be...

• Publics: communities of place, interest, identity, circumstance ...and so on 

• Non-Government Organisations 

• Media 

• Government departments 

• Industry partners/sectors 

• Charities 

Public Engagement with Research 

Public Engagement with Research (PER) describes a range of methods of involving members of the public, not affiliated with an HE institute, in your research. There are lots of different ways you can do PER, but the overall goal will always be to create mutual benefit. 

Examples of PER:

•  Participatory/Collaborative research 

• Patient involvement 

• Citizen science 

• Participatory arts 

• Community engagement 

• Outreach

Involving Users

• Dissemination 

• Briefings

• Workshops, Seminars 

• Steering Groups

• Active Participants

• Research Partners

Prioritise Stakeholders- Keep Satisfied, Manage Closely, Monitor, Keep Informed

Things to consider... Planning will help you to think about the appropriate impact enabling activities that will propel your research outcomes:

• Travel costs

• Partnership building

• People exchange/secondments

• Training for researchers

• Onward routes to commercialisation 

• Comms

• Knowledge Exchange 

• Data management 

• Engage expert staff 

• Sharing of novel tools/techniques

Examples of Types of Impact 

• Improved quality, accessibility or efficiency of a public service 

• Policy debate or decisions have been influenced or shaped by research 

• Enhanced preservation. Conservation or presentation of cultural heritage 

• Organisations have adapted to changing cultural values 

• Improved business performance 

• Informed public understanding, values, attitudes or behaviours 

• Enhanced corporate social responsibility policies 

• Production costs have reduced 

• Improved management or conservation of natural resources 

• Improved risk management 

• Improved health or welfare outcomes 

• Jobs have been created or protected 

• Public debate has been shaped or informed by research 

• A new product has been commercialised 

• Changes to legislation or regulations 

• Changes to the design or delivery of a curriculum 

• Levels of waste have been reduced 

• Changes in Professional Practice 

• Research has enabled stakeholders to challenge conventional wisdom 

• New forms of artistic expression or changes to creative practice 

• Enhanced professional standards, ethics, guidance or training 

• Improved access to justice, employment or education 

• A social enterprise initiative has been created 

• The policies or activities of NGOs or charities have been informed by research 

• More effective management or workplace practices 

• Improved forensic methods or expert systems 

Evidence of Impact –

is qualitative and/or quantitative indicator or corroboration of the contribution/change in the society or economy resulted due to your research findings. It is imperative to understand the difference between evidence of activity and evidence of impact.

Scale of Imapct

Reach: the extent and/or diversity of the organisations, communities and/or individuals who have benefitted from the research 

Significance: The degree to which the impact has enriched, influenced, informed or changed the policies, practices, understanding or awareness of organisations, communities or individuals. 

Strong Impact 

• Gives a clear indication of the underpinning research and an accurate description of the quality. 

• Gives a clear narrative of how the research results had brought about the change, effect or benefit. 

• Understands the distinction between dissemination and impact. 

• Provides a clear narrative around the Reach and the Significance of the impact.

• Corroborating evidence justifies the claims made. 

• Uses evidence-based statements. 

• Is articulated in a well written and interesting story that could be understood by a lay person. 

Weak Impact 

• Fails to demonstrate the thread of evidence linking the research to the impact.

• Does not have strong research underpinning the impact. 

• Focuses on the reputation of the researcher rather than the actual impact. 

• Presents activities such as dissemination events as impact.

• Makes overstated claims about the Reach and Significance of the impact. 

• Is not backed up by corroborating evidence. 

• Uses excessive publication lists or broken weblinks 

• Lacks coherence or has an overly dense narrative 

Impact/Changes can be... 

• Positive/negative 

• Short/medium/long term 

• Expected/unexpected 

• Temporary/enduring

• Have reach, significance

• ...some or all of the above 

Evidence:
Don’t count what can be easily measured, measure what counts

Ensuring That Your Work Is Impactful 

Remember the key questions to ask yourself and to revisit at regular intervals:
• WHO will benefit?
• WHERE will your research be of benefit
(regional, national, international)? • WHEN will they benefit?
• HOW will they benefit?
• WHAT will the benefit be?
• WHAT is your evidence?
• Remember that the path to impact is not always linear. Undertaking activity X doesn't always lead to outcome Y. Your impact route may change and that is normal. Be adaptable.

Impact Tracker 

• Impact Tracker helps researchers plan for, capture and report the impact of research beyond academia, in a systematic and intuitive way. Impact Tracker can help researchers and researcher groups to: 

• Articulate the impact of a commercial project with industrial partners 

• Support funding bids (through Pathways to impact and end of grant reporting) 

• Build research impact profile (for research CV, promotion and to access grants and funding) 

• Securely store evidence of impact and public engagement 

Databases to Help Track Your Impact 

The library subscribes to a number of databases that can help you track your impact and reach. For more information, please contact them at: lst_research_support@ljmu.ac.uk 

visit their calendar or enrol on the library Canvas Module 

https://app.overton.io/ 

Getting Your Research Noticed

Wider dissemination outside of the confines of academia is important and this can be done in various ways: 

• Engagement with third parties – sit on a board, volunteer, work with groups 

• Non-academic articles e.g. The Conversation, trade journals 

• Exhibitions/Performances from which you can elicit feedback 

• Media appearances (TV, Radio, Newspapers) 

• Blog Posts that have comment boxes so that you can build an online community and garner instant feedback 

• Social Media – get yourself known, get your work known, be a presence by engaging and interacting 

• Internal media – School, Faculty and University newsletters, engage with the corporate communications team to feature your research, present at Research cafes 

• Networking events – not just at conferences!  Be mindful of confidentiality, embargoes and commercial sensitivity when promoting your work. 

• Ask advice from those who have been there and done it successfully! 

  Ensuring That Your Work Is Impactful

• Being proactive and mindful of the role that impact has in your research journey.

• A passive researcher would undertake their research and hope that it would be picked up by others to have impact. 

• An active researcher would identify some potential impact partners whilst undertaking their research and work with them to develop impact.

• A proactive researcher would include stakeholders in the research from design to dissemination to development and work with them to map the journey to impact. 

• If you have mapped your route to impact, you are more likely to achieve it.

• Think about your discipline and your networks outside of LJMU or academia – how can you develop those relationships?

• Consider what resources you require to achieve impact

• What routes of communication will you use to transfer knowledge into the appropriate domain(s)?

  What Next?

• Now that your research is out there you need to remember to collect the evidence of your activities and record it.

• Once you have the evidence for the impact you can describe it, contextualise it and promote it

• Remember to build in impact from the start

• Engage stakeholders – use your influence and don’t be afraid to self-promote
  Build networks
      
    Remember...
  Essentially impact is about creating change
  
   Impact Workshops
  • Introduction to Impact
  • Impact in Funding Bids
  • Pathways to Policy Impact
  • Using Surveys for Impact Evidence
  • Bringing your Research to Life: Planning for Impact for PGRs
  • Communicating your Research Outcomes
  • Designing an evaluation strategy to collect evidence of impact
  • 1:1s are available on request    
  Resources
   • LJMU Impact Workshops
  • LJMU Impact Hub
  • LJMU Impact Team
  • Homepage | Fast Track Impact

  To Create My Own Impact Plan, Ask, Answer and Chart These Qustions:
  • What kind of changes, drawing on my research, am I hoping to achieve ?
  • What are the most effective ways to achieve these changes?
  • Who are the partners or networks that will enable me to achieve these changesIHow can you involve them?
  • What forms of collectable evidence are possible?