The impact cycle — a tool that reveals the impact potential of your research
#1 Fantastic impact and where to find it
Researchers often struggle to describe or plan the impact that their research has. In my experience as an impact and grant adviser and former researcher, it has nothing to do with the fact that they don’t have impact or that they are not willing, but more that this process is not known to them. In fact, the people I work with all have tremendous impact on research or society, they just never needed to put it on paper. However, nowadays, this is exactly what is asked, be it by funders, research institutions or by public demand. To put research plans on paper or to describe it in narratives.
And there are real benefits to engaging in impact. By doing so, the value and quality of the research increases and it is even more real-world relevant. Because of this, more opportunities will come to you.
The series ‘Fantastic impact and where to find it’ therefore concentrates on just that. How you can plan for having impact, how you can capture your impact, to better visualise and describe it and to communicate it. I will use terms that are also often used by funders, such as the European Commission, just so that you already get into the vocabulary. In research, we often speak about results — funders speak about outputs and so on. It’s the same thing, but still handy to speak the language of the people who provide the money and resources that supports your research.
The impact cycle
So now to a tool that we use at our institution. It is based on the impact pathway also used in UK research assessment or in Horizon Europe funding, but we gave it a little twist, since we believe that impact is more of a cycle that actually will benefit your research and thus society if planned well.
Importantly, by thinking of impact as a cycle, we can also see how the impact of research also feeds into, informs and enriches future research plans and strategies. Thus, this approach is not just sustainable but regenerative.
You very likely follow this cycle in one way or another already, maybe without noticing it. If you fully understand the cycle, you will be able to pinpoint opportunities or what you need to expand to reach the full potential of your research. And you can also use the impact cycle to better describe your research impact in a funding application or narrative.
Below you will find an explanatory video and a step-by-step explanation. If you like, you can take paper and pen and already start planning while you read.
And here is the impact cycle explained in a 3 minute video:
Input
Let’s start with the input for your research. The input is threefold.
1. What is the challenge or need that you address with your research?
What do you try to bring forward? You don’t simply conduct experiments because you are curious what will happen. There has to be a need for the research. You want to understand something — why do you want to understand it?
Think about this:
· What would happen or change if you did understand and solve it?
· What would happen if you did not?
2. Who do you need in order to solve this challenge or to bring your research to the next level? What kind of partners do you need in your professional network? Who has a stake in what you do? Who will benefit from it? Just list the groups and people that might be connected to your research, your goal, the challenge that you try to solve. In the next steps of the cycle you will be able to test this list, make it more specific or extend it.
3. Why you — your investment and background: Think about a specific project that you have done. Maybe you created a cohort, or a collaboration with some interdisciplinary researchers to work on a challenge in your field, or you established a scientific society to better exchange with your fellow researchers. Now think about the input you received for this project. For example, did you invest time, money, or had specific collaborations? Did your education, your expertise offer valuable input for this project? Then make sure to mention and explain it. For example, in grant proposals they want to see that you are the best possible person to conduct or lead this project; therefore the input you provide by means of your specific expertise, your interdisciplinary education or your vast network are crucial to mention.
Outputs
Now think about the results you plan to have or had with your project. These results are also called outputs, and can range from publications, to guidelines, advice papers, software, data, methods or educational courses that you provided. Only think about the outputs crucial for this project. You have likely produced outputs for other projects, but they may not be relevant here.
Outcomes
Ideally, your outputs can be translated, or developed into outcomes. Outcomes are your outputs that in some way had a follow-up effect.
So, you should take a moment to ask yourself the question: what are the research outputs good for?
· What might/did my outputs change?
· Whom could they benefit or who will likely translate or implement them?
For this step, the list of partners and stakeholders you made is crucial. For example, you published a paper, involved the right policy makers or societies, and with that new knowledge, guidelines were created, changed or improved. Something happened with your outputs because you involved — or communicated your outputs to — the right people (e.g. policy makers to change guidelines).
In this process, engagement and communication are key as well as the thorough understanding of who is interested in your outputs and why.
Intended Impact
Your outcomes can eventually have real impact and you can smooth the way to make sure your outcomes will have their intended impact. You can make sure that you have all the necessary partners in your network to promote and implement the changed guidelines. This could result in real-life impact, for example in earlier prediction and treatment of disease. Or in changed behaviours. Lives will be improved and this could therefore be your intended impact.
Whereas outputs can be measured, and outcomes can be influenced, impact can sometimes be hard to grasp (but it can also be influenced). You can plan for it, prepare every step of the way, but in the end, something else might happen. And that is fine. Nobody expects that your research will necessarily have the exact impact that you intend, but they want to see that you did every step possible to get there. In the end, a virus might hit the world and you have to change your plans. That is ok, make room for that in your planning.
Society
Now I would like to describe the last and most important part of the impact cycle: the returns of impact. Often impact is described as a linear process, thereby forgetting that it has not only to be brought to society, but should also return and feedback into research. You would want to know how the changed guidelines improved the current process and whether it can be even further improved or if it has restrictions, or missed opportunities. Therefore, you have to engage with the end-users, for example clinicians using these guidelines. By engaging with the right stakeholders, you could potentially find out what kind of benefit or change your guidelines really had, and how you can further improve, and that in return will fuel your next research cycle, might bring new stakeholders or partners into the game, and offer new opportunities for funding or professional growth.
Now, I understand that this all sounds very theoretical, therefore we will play it through with an example in the next post. And after that it is all a matter of practise. Once you have that process in your head, you will see and understand certain parts of your research naturally, it is like seeing the Matrix 😊
