Impact Workshops

Please sign up for our workshops via LibCal.

Introduction to Impact: Wednesday 27 September 2023, Tuesday 14 November 2023, Wednesday 13 December 2023, Tuesday 16 January 2024, Wednesday 3 April 2024, Wednesday 29 May 2024 and Monday 24 June 2024

Impact in Funding Bids: Wednesday 4 October 2023, Wednesday 29 November 2023, Wednesday 10 April 2024 and Tuesday 11 June 2024

Impact for PGRs: Wednesday 11 October 2023, Monday 4 December 2023, Wednesday 24 April 2024 and Wednesday 26 June 2024

Pathways to Policy Impact: Tuesday 17 October 2023, Wednesday 22 November 2023, Wednesday 6 December 2023, Monday 8 January 2024, Wednesday 7 February 2024, Tuesday 2 April 2024 and Thursday 20 June 2024

Evaluating the Impact of your Research: Tuesday 31 October 2023, Wednesday 28 February 2024, Wednesday 17 April 2024 and Monday 3 June 2024

Communicating your Research Impact: Wednesday 1 November 2023 and Wednesday 5 June 2024

Using Surveys for Impact: Wednesday 8 November 2023, Thursday 14 December 2023, Thursday 15 February 2024 and Tuesday 18 June 2024

Impact Tracker Drop-In Sessions: Thursday 30 November 2023 and Wednesday 15 May 2024

Workshops will cover:

Introduction to Impact: In this workshop we will identify what impact is (and isn’t), the different types of impact and the potential 'reach and significance' of your research. You will reflect on how well prepared you are to create and capture impact and look at the important role played by your stakeholders. You will leave the session having made a good start on your Impact Map, which will provide a useful guide for you as your research evolves. We will also look at Impact Tracker and how it can be used to facilitate your impact planning and evidence capture. This session is for any academic regardless of whether you are an ECR, mid-career or a professor.

Pathways to Policy Impact: As researchers we want to understand how we can work in partnership with policymakers to better understand regional, national, and international challenges. This session is about exploring the vital role that research has in public policymaking and gives advice on how best to present your case as a researcher to policymakers. I'll explain key aspects of the UK policymaking process so that you leave with a good understanding of the landscape. I'll also provide links to vital information sources. This session may also be useful if you are applying for the QR PSF Internal call.

Impact in Funding Bids: This session will look at how to write a compelling impact narrative. We will look at how we can write about impact in a way that demonstrates value for money, the originality of the research and the powerful change and influence your research will generate. By the end of this session, you will be able to write convincing plans for maximising potential impact and a persuasive impact narrative.

Using Surveys for Impact: This session will cover why it’s useful to use surveys for evaluation, when you shouldn’t use surveys for evaluation, how to develop a “good” survey question and response options, avoiding common pitfalls in survey design, using open-ended questions in your survey, using online surveys and pilot testing your survey.

Evaluating the Impact of your Research: Research funders expect you to demonstrate impact of your research. Research councils and Research England require you to provide evidence of this through Researchfish and the Research Excellence Framework (REF). For REF impact case studies, we need to be able to provide a strong narrative and robust evidence of the impacts claimed. This workshop will help you to develop a plan for evaluating the impact from your own research.

Communicating your Research Impact: Communicating your research has never been more important in this ever-changing digital world. This workshop will provide useful tips to guide you through the practical ways in which you can effectively disseminate your research outputs to wider audiences beyond the walls of academia.

Impact Tracker Drop-In Sessions: Impact Tracker helps researchers and organisations to 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:

  • collaboratively develop REF Impact Case studies
  • 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