Why do you want to make impact?
Photography: Gert-Jan den Besten
Jeanine de Bruin and Marieke Hohnen of Hakuna Matata, trainers of the IXA Impact Program, answer the question ‘Why do I want to make impact?’ together with the participants during the first module; Motivations and scientific storytelling: ‘What story do I have to tell?’ Participants also reflect on who they want to work with and what challenges they face on their way to impact. Most participants are already serious about making impact and want to strengthen their skills and increase their knowledge to make even more of an impact:
‘I have been providing public lectures and tours in my field for years and I really enjoy it, but lack structure in it. I mainly do something when I am asked, whereas I prefer to set the lines myself. It would be nice to form a strategy so that I can be proactive and focus. Also, I do it all myself now; whereas I would like to collaborate with others.’
‘I am doing research on health promoting measures for young adults. My results are significant and I can explain it well to colleagues. But how do I get in touch with the right policymakers and convince them of my insights so that I can give the health policy a push in the right direction?’
Why make more impact?
During the first day, we go back to basics and ask the question: why do you actually want to make more societal impact? Broadly speaking, we get the following responses:
The research itself is often already application-oriented, but the researcher is not satisfied to what extent the results are used. For example, they then want them to serve as input into guidelines for medical practice or policy.
Many researchers feel they were allowed to use public money for years and would like to give something back to society. For instance, they participate in public lectures or cooperate with interest groups.
Researchers who are already involved in all kinds of social activities sometimes lack cohesion. As a result, they cannot profile themselves sufficiently with these activities.
Some researchers have accumulated a lot of experience and knowledge during their careers. Yet they are not invited to the places where the important decisions in their field are made.
During the first day, participants reflect on which values are central for them in life and work. For them, working on social impact is a way of giving shape to values such as curiosity, responsibility, reliability or fun.
What makes all of this require training?
There are roughly two main reasons for this:
Researchers depend on project-based funding, which often does not exceed four years (the time of a PhD). Researchers have to move on to the next project after that time and there is little or no time available to give interesting results a social follow-up.
In addition, impact is still not an integral part of most research projects; study design usually only considers impact at the end. It is a ‘dessert’ that does not really belong to the main meal of the research. As a result, opportunities are missed and by then the researcher is already looking for the next project.
Also, the career prospects for researchers who (want to) create a lot of impact is still not favourable. Scientific institutions see it as positive, but they still have to do as much for their teaching, research and management tasks and for doctors: their patient care. There is little tangible reward or support from faculty for researchers who spend a lot of time on it.
The societal problems our participants are keen to help solve are complex and persistent. They usually require other specialists and sometimes a different kind of knowledge than scientific. Most researchers are not trained to integrate different types of knowledge.
Because of this complexity, long term and ongoing attention is needed, and this is at odds with the project-based funding mentioned above.
In addition, achieving social impact requires a different kind of approach: it mainly involves a lot of trial and error and daring to ‘fiddle a bit’. After all, it is difficult to predict in advance which approach will yield the desired result. Many researchers prefer to keep analysing for longer than ‘just’ trying something out.
During Impact Training, Jeanine and Marieke teach researchers how to move forward, encouraging them to take action and act as sparring partners in making key decisions. In a relatively short time, many great steps are taken towards impact. Training for scientists | Hakuna Matata, science&media | NL
This was part 2 in a series about the IXA Impact Training. For next time, we will ask participants about their experiences.
