General resources to plan for impact

Questions to plan for research with impact

Here are some questions you can ask yourself to help identify the potential impact of your research beyond academia, and the key partnerships and pathways that may help you get there:

1. Why is my research important? What difference do I want to make? And why now?
2. Who benefits from my research? What are their needs?
3. Who can facilitate the change? Are these different from the ones benefitting from my research?
4. What do I need from partners to achieve the potential impact? How can I navigate complimentary and conflicting ideas?
5. How and when will I connect with partners?
6. What methods will I use?
7. How will I know my research has made a difference? How will I measure this?

Edinburgh Research Office (ERO) Engagement and Impact 

ERO has compiled a suite of guides, toolkits and webinars to help you plan for research with impact. This includes:

• An ‘Impact basics’ webinar: which provides a comprehensive overview on impact beyond academia and why it has become increasingly important to funders
• A guide on how to build knowledge exchange and impact into research
• A guide on costing engagement and impact in funding applications

Engagement for Impact Hub (EASE login required)

Research Impact: Creating Meaning and Value

This online course covers the fundamentals of research impact – what it is and how it can be embedded in every step of the research journey.

This free self-paced course for researchers at all levels consists of five modules that can be completed in any order. It will take approximately three hours of core activities to complete. It is particularly relevant for postgraduate researchers and research staff who are new to research impact or wish to refresh their knowledge.

Research Impact: Creating Meaning and Value

Good research practice for impact

Good research practice ensures the research outputs you generate contribute to a positive impact on society. The Royal Society and Academy of Medical Sciences outline four principles for good evidence synthesis that focus on evidence that is inclusive, rigorous, accessible and transparent.

Principles for good evidence synthesis for policy (PDF)

Planning for international impact

Research undertaken abroad or with international partners can require additional planning to ensure a positive impact.

The theory of change approach helps you build a road map of what needs to happen in order to achieve the changes you want to see. This is particularly useful for international projects that may require critical thinking of the contextual conditions that influence the project as well as the motivations and contributions of different stakeholders.

Crafting your Pathways to Impact using a Theory of Change (EASE login required)

The University provide a toolkit to help find solutions to the ethical challenges of your research.  This toolkit informs and supports ethical choices in global research, particularly for research conducted in complex, low-income or fragile settings.

Ethical Action Global Research Toolkit

Forming impactful collaborations

Collaborating with different partners has a number of advantages, such as raising the profile of your research, creating funding opportunities, and broadening the scope of your work.

Develop your networking skills with the University’s ‘how to engage with external partners’ course. This course will help you approach potential partners and frame a collaboration opportunity.  This practical course is one of seven modules of the Engage online learning programme offered by Edinburgh Innovations.

Engage course

In order to have impactful collaborations your events and meetings need to be inclusive and accessible. Learn ten top tips on planning for inclusive meetings:

So, you're new to research impact 

Blog post (Oct 2022) hosted on Research Whisperer collating a list of useful resources if you're new to research impact and to grow your impact literacy. 

So, you’re new to research impact?