WHAT IS IMPACT?

Impact is the positive impact that university research can have upon people's lives. Impact arising from university research requires a lot of time and effort for many people involved including, researchers, impact specialists, engagement specialists, business partnerships specialists, community partners etc. Impact is often described as being of 'benefit to' or an 'impact on' and/or a change to some 'thing' such as a practice or policy relating to the following areas -

• society and culture

• economic growth, jobs and skills

• mental and physical health and wellbeing

• digital inclusion

• biodiversity and sustainability

• climate change and behaviour change

Impact can be hard to 'track' and monitor because it is not usually linear - it does not follow a specific and/or straightforward and/or predicable pathway. Instead impact ebbs and flows, peaks and troughs and is often dependent upon many people and many factors. Like a pebble in a pool, impact from university research can ripple out and then create multiple streams in different directions. The timescales for this can be very variable, with impact arising from university research fairly quickly (weeks/months) or taking a longer time (many months/years).

For more information on Impact, please visit our webpages: Warwick Impact Academy

What does 'impact' mean in a university context?

For universities, impact largely relates to the positive impacts that research has BEYOND ACADEMIA.

This means ensuring that university research does not stay in academic papers and at academic conferences but instead, gets 'out there' and creates positive change.

We often speak about impact in relation to research development, which means we want to develop our research in ways that will help it to have an impact. This could mean developing new research, or continuing to develop existing research in different impactful ways.

Collaboration

Collaboration underpins the whole ethos of Coventry Collaboraction, alongside and equal to action of course.

“Teamwork is the ability to work together toward a common vision. The ability to direct individual accomplishments toward organizational objectives. It is the fuel that allows common people to attain uncommon results.” — Andrew Carnegie

Action

Without action, nothing changes. There has to be a concerted and consistent effort by many people working together and taking action individually and collectively to help create change.

"Action is the foundational key to all success." Pablo Picasso

"Every accomplishment starts with a decision to try." – Gail Devers

Knowledge Exchange

"Knowledge exchange is a process that brings together academic staff, users of research and wider groups and communities to exchange ideas, evidence and expertise.

While knowledge exchange is often considered part of a university’s research activity, it includes a broad range of activities that share higher education knowledge and skills with those outside universities.

Those activities can include:

• partnerships between universities and major manufacturers
• industry-related curriculum development
• work placements for students
• graduate start-ups supported by incubator spaces at providers."

Knowledge exchange - Office for Students

CovenTRY CollaborACTION is all about this PROCESS and helping to create the connections and culture for this process to take place at a local Coventry and Warwickshire level.

What are we going to do?

With the help of all our members we will try and connect further and in new ways, creating a hub of collaboration and action focussed on the exchange of knowledge between members.

We will -

• provide webpages and information about the project, members and ways to get involved
• work with members to develop workshops and sandpits focussed on bringing people together around specific shared themes, ideas, challenges, audiences, funding calls etc.
• work with members to understand and identify any particular training and support
• undertake a piece of research, working with members, to create new knowledge addressing the question - 'How to further close the research-policy gap in Coventry and Warwickshire?
• hold networking, engagement and KE events and workshops around broad themes