Impact Program

Every aspect of the program is geared towards strengthening the skills you need to create impact. The Impact Program is highly varied and includes:

• Intake interview;
• 4 thematic Modules: 3,5 days in total;
• 2 writing sessions in which you work on your Impact strategy, 1 half-day and session and one session of 2 hours;
• 2 intervision sessions, 1 half-day session per participant;
• Homework assignments prior to the modules and in between meetings;
• In-depth exploration of the material in between sessions through a buddy system.

More about the Impact Program

MODULE 1 | Motivation and scientific storytelling: what’s my story? (1 day)
Explore the why question: what story do you have to tell? What’s your motivation for doing research and creating impact? Why do you want to make a difference, what problem are you addressing, how is your work relevant to society? And what internal and external processes should you take into account?

MODULE 2 | Collaboration and communication: how do I connect? (1 day)
How do you network, negotiate and collaborate with others? What kind of strategies can you use? Who do you want to collaborate with and how can you tailor your communication to potential partners? How do you handle resistance? How can you exert influence, both inside and outside your organisation? Practise conversational situations (with actors) in different settings and at different levels, based on your own case.

WRITING SESSION | Creating your Impact strategy (1 half-day and 1 session of 2 hours)
In this session, you will work on your personal Impact strategy together with the other participants, supervised by an instructor.

INTERVISION | In-depth exploration of personal impact case (2 half-days)
Under the supervision of a senior coach and consultant with experience in business and government, you undertake a structured exploration of your own personal impact case. How should you deal with certain situations? How do you react and what kind of obstacles do you encounter in your interactions with others?

MODULE 3 | Inspiration and implementation: the how question (1 day)
You will get inspiring input on various topics and engage with experienced researchers, policymakers, industrial partners, legal experts and a communications specialist. You will use what you learn from these conversations to continue developing your Impact strategy.

MODULE 4 | Outreach and networking (1 half-day)
You will present your Impact strategy in different ways and will get feedback from the trainers and your peers.

This is what participants say about the Impact Program

Testimonials Basic Impact Program at IXA 2021 – YouTube

‘You learn a lot, I highly recommend it’ | Vera Keil, radiologist and staff member at Amsterdam UMC

‘I highly recommend the Impact Program. You get to know new people, learn new communication styles and techniques and, most importantly, you learn a lot about yourself and what you want to achieve with your research. The program has given me much more focus when it comes to making impact through my own research.’

 ‘New ways to create impact’ | Marieke van Wieringen, associate professor at VU Amsterdam’s Department of Organisation Sciences (Faculty of Social Sciences)

‘I learned that there are multiple ways to create impact. I used to always just write a research report, but now I’ve also written accessible blog posts together with my colleagues, and we created an illustrated poster. We also engaged with various stakeholders about the results.’