Training slides on achieving impact through Horizon Europe projects by Professor Mark Reed from Fast Track Impact

1. ACHIEVING IMPACT IN HORIZON EUROPE

2. Question:
Let’s get started
Links to:
 E-handout
 PDF of book
 Example proposals

3. Introduce yourself via chat:
Name and expertise or discipline
For example:
Hi everyone, I’m Mark Reed from School of Natural and Environmental
Sciences
OR
Mark Reed – I do research on environmental governance
Introductions
Comment
in chat

4. Raise a foot to the camera, look at what
everyone else is wearing and write in chat:
Digital icebreaker
Who would you like
to swap shoes,
socks or slippers
with?
Describe the footwear you
noticed, rather than the
person’s name
Comment
in chat

5. Why do you
do research?
Question:
Question:

6. Which of the following is most likely to give you
a sense of satisfaction during the research
process?
 Learning something new
 Discovering something previously unknown
 The creativity of the process
 Knowing my research made a difference
 Achieving something challenging
 Something else
Question:
Question:
Vote
now

7. How do you feel
about the
impact agenda?
Question:
Question:

8. To what extent does the impact agenda make you feel
comfortable or uncomfortable?
 Generally comfortable, for example:
 It legitimizes and rewards my applied research
 It brings me funding opportunities
 It empowers me to spend time using my research to help others
 Generally uncomfortable, for example:
 It has made it harder to get funding for the questions that
interest me most
 It delegitimizes curiosity-driven research
 It adds unrealistic additional expectations and
pressure
Question:
Question:
Vote
now

9. Why do you feel
so comfortable or
uncomfortable?
Question:
Question:
Comment
in chat
Open
mic

10. To what extent does the impact agenda make you feel
comfortable or uncomfortable?
 Generally comfortable, for example:
 It legitimizes and rewards my applied research
 It brings me funding opportunities
 It empowers me to spend time using my research to help others
 Generally uncomfortable, for example:
 It has made it harder to get funding for the questions that
interest me most
 It delegitimizes curiosity-driven research
 It adds unrealistic additional expectations and
pressure
Question:
Question:
Vote
now

11. Why do you feel
so comfortable or
uncomfortable?
Question:
Question:
Comment
in chat
Open
mic

12. Thinkingt
ools

13. Question:
What is impact?
?
Who
benefits

14. The good that
researchers do
in the world
Reed (2016, The Research Impact Handbook)
“Perceived and/or demonstrable benefits to individuals,
groups, organisations and society (including human and non-
human entities in the present and future) that are causally
linked (necessarily or sufficiently) to research.”
Reed et al. (2020, Research Policy)
Question:
What is impact?

15. The good that
researchers do
in the world
Benefit
Question:
Types of impact
Which one of the
following is not a type
of impact, based on
this definition:
• Economic
• Environmental
• Social
• Technological
• Health/wellbeing
• Cultural
Vote
now

16. Horizon Europe defines 9 pathways:
 Scientific impact: (1) High-quality new knowledge; (2)
Human capital in R&I; (3) Diffusion of knowledge and
Open Science
 Societal Impact: (4) EU policy priorities & global
challenges; (5) Delivering benefits and impact; (6)
Strengthening uptake of R&I in society
 Economic / Technological Impact: (7) Generating
innovation-based growth; (8) Creating more and better
jobs; and (9) Leveraging investments in R&I
Evaluating Impact
Key Impact Pathways

17. The good that
researchers do
in the world
Question:
Types of impact
What interim/initial
impacts might you
see on the
pathway to
impact?
For example:
• Increased
awareness or
understanding of
an issue…
Google
jamboard
https://jamboard.google.com/d/1nDv-9d7DVmqh1kz3k08sP1Pz1i0UWl97duLAdwmE6m0/edit?usp=sharing

19.  Identify indirect impacts (by others that applied your
work) e.g. via citation analysis
 Do a stakeholder analysis and initiate conversations
with those who might be interested in your field of
work beyond the academy
 Or use the tool to identify more applied researchers
who may collaborate with you
 Develop an applied research arm without losing your
identity as a non-applied researcher
Evaluating Impact
Impact of non-applied research

22.  Attribution is the causal link between claimed
impacts and underpinning research
 Significance is the degree to which the impact
has enriched, influence, informed or changed
policies, practices, products, opportunities or
perceptions of individuals, communities or
organisations
 Reach is the extent and diversity of the
communities, environments, individuals,
organisations or any other beneficiaries that may
have been impacted by the research
Evaluating Impact
Evaluating Impact

23. The heart of the impact agenda in…
1 metaphor
1 word

25. Empathy

26. Who has a stake in my research?
Comments or questions?
Comment
in chat
Open
mic

27. Practical
tools

28. See my blog for advance stakeholder analysis methods:
https://www.fasttrackimpact.com/blog
Who has a stake in my research?
Stakeholder analysis

29. Who has a stake in my research?
1. Who is interested (or not)?
2. Who has influence (to facilitate or block
impact) or not?
3. Who is impacted (positively or negatively)?
Why?
Stakeholder analysis: 3i’s

30. Individual
task

31. Who has a stake in my research?
Screen share and discuss your analysis with the
group
 Did you find it difficult or have any issues?
 Did you see your stakeholders in a new light?
 Have you set yourself any actions based on
what you learned?
Or discuss other insights or questions arising
Small group discussion
Small
group

32. Who has a stake in my research?
What did you take from this exercise?
For example:
 Did you find it difficult or have any issues?
 Did you see your stakeholders in a new light?
 Have you set yourself any actions based on
what you learned?
Stakeholder analysis: 3i’s
Comment
in chat

33. See a worked example on my vlog: https://www.fasttrackimpact.com/vlog
Who has a stake in my research?
Impact planning

36.  How in theory could we get from where we are
now to the change we want to see?
 What are the ultimate outcomes and/or impact
you (and your stakeholders) want to see?
 What research and other inputs, and activities
will get you there?
 What alternative pathways might you be able
to identify?
Evaluating Impact
Theory of Change

37.  Bottom-up:
 Stakeholder and partner identification
 Complete impact planning templates with partners
 Thematically group impact
goals
Evaluating Impact
Theory of Change
 Arrange impact goals
in causal chains
 Look back to activities
in templates to further
trace back to research

38.  Top-down:
 Check you have impact goals that intersect with
your research questions
 Identify missing impact goals, links in causal chains
or research (e.g. using Theory of Change)
 Check balance of activities across partners,
themes, countries etc
Evaluating Impact
Theory of Change

41. www.fasttrackimpact.com/toc

42. Bid
writing tips

43. Question:
Strategic tips
 Choose your call (check you REALLY fit the scope)
 Decide whether to lead or follow (and who to follow)
 Head-hunt WP leads with funder track record and strong
stakeholder partnerships (not just expertise/publications)
 Scope panelists, get pre-reviewers
 Build concept notes, teams and long-term partnerships in
fundable areas before calls come out
 Systematically map research in your institution in these
areas to build cross-disciplinary teams
 Map previous projects (especially from your target funder)
in the same locations/topics
 Identify stakeholders and non-academic project partners
and engage in question setting if you want to co-produce
your research

44. Who has a stake in my research?
1. Who might benefit from the
impacts in the call? Reach
out to key groups early
2. What are their interests and
needs? Co-produce
additional impact goals
3. How will you enable each
identified group to benefit
from each impact goal? Link
activities to impact goals
and beneficiaries
Bid writing tools for co-production

45. Proposal
writing tools

46. See my blog for advance stakeholder analysis methods:
https://www.fasttrackimpact.com/blog
Who has a stake in my research?
Stakeholder analysis

47. Who has a stake in my research?
1. Who is interested (or not)?
2. Who has influence (to facilitate or block
impact)?
3. Who is impacted (positively or negatively)?
Why?
Stakeholder analysis: 3i’s

49. See a worked example on my vlog: https://www.fasttrackimpact.com/vlog
Who has a stake in my research?
Impact planning

52. Who has a stake in my research?
1. Read one proposal
2. Join the break-out room
discussion
What do you like/dislike about
how they wrote about impact?
Compare proposals through
discussion – which is better?
What does success look like?

53. Who has a stake in my research?
Which bid integrated impact
most successfully?
1. SWEET
2. AgriKOOLture
What does success look like?
Vote
now

54. Who has a stake in my research?
What good practice features did
you find in both bids?
What does success look like?
Comment
in chat

55.  Specificity = credibility
 Ensure your project will meet each of the
“expected impacts” (but don’t stop there)
 Link to expected impacts throughout the
proposal, not just in impact sections, and link
impacts to research
 Make your impacts measurable (e.g. indicators)
 Map (and fix) links between problem statement,
impact goals, beneficiaries and activities…
Evaluating Impact
Key points

56. Read and discuss
Impact goals
Impact Map
Beneficiaries
Activities
Impact 1
Impact 2
Impact 3
Beneficiary group 1
Beneficiary group 2
Applied
research
Engagement
activity
Engagement
activity
Beneficiary group 3 ?
Engagement
activity
Impact 4
Engagement
Activity
Problem statement
Research
Research

57. Read and discuss
Impact goals Beneficiaries
Activities
Problem statement
Risks Risks
Impact Map

58.  Multi-actor advisory panels
per country/site
 International advisory
panels
 Local facilitators
 Science shops
 Citizen science
 Science cafes
 Social media strategy
 Commercialisation activities
Evaluating Impact
Impact mechanisms
 Engagement training
 Secondments/shadowing
 Boundary organisations e.g.
policy academy or hub with
activities programme
 Rapid evidence synthesis
training/writing workshops
 Knowledge exchange
seminar series with
stakeholders
 Capacity building training
swaps with stakeholders

59. https://www.fasttrackimpact.com/im-writing-a-grant-proposal

60. Who has a stake in my research?
Reflect
Comment
in chat
Open
mic
 Any additional tips?
 Other engagement and impact activities?
 A reflection
 An action
 A question

61. Get a reply from Mark to any query within 1 week:
send via Madie (pa@fasttrackimpact.com)
www.fasttrackimpact.com
@fasttrackimpact

62. Evaluating Impact
Feedback
www.fasttrackimpact.com/feedback-form

63. Read and discuss
Free follow-up training
www.fasttrackimpact.com/for-researchers