Plan for research impact
Develop a strategy to increase your impact
As well as tracking the impact of your research – from the sidelines, so to speak – you can get actively involved in increasing its impact. To do this, you’ll need to develop and then implement a research impact strategy.
Read time: 3 min
An impact strategy helps translate your research into impact. Your impact strategy should consider what you’re trying to achieve, who your key beneficiaries are, what engagement and other impact-generating activities you’ll undertake (including at different points along the impact pathway), key indicators and evidence you’ll collect, risks and risk mitigation approaches.
Fast Track Impact’s Professor Mark Reed guides you through each step of creating an impact strategy using the Impact Planning Template, starting with the development of specific impact goals.
Download the template to create your own impact strategy. The plan will save you time and ensure that you maximise your impact.
To help achieve your impact goals you should incorporate impact planning across all stages of the research impact pathway. You should also consider risks to impact delivery and approaches to mitigate these risks.
For example, a common mistake is to leave engagement with users or beneficiaries to the final stage of the project, after the research is complete, when it may be more appropriate to engage at different stages throughout the project.
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