Abstract

For research to translate into impact, we need people: researchers, academics, students, support staff, managers, leaders, funders, and societal stakeholders—all of whom are expected to be aware, literate, and prepared to engage in impact-driven research.
The journey from research to societal impact is more than a methodological process of planning, capturing data, or reporting to external funders. Likewise, it extends beyond societal engagement, co-creation, and the communication and dissemination of research findings. While all these elements are critical, impact-driven research requires a favourable culture of impact— where context, commitment, capacities, resources, and team connectivity support this journey. And at the centre of it all there are people.
In this presentation, we will share our approach and experience in fostering a culture of impact through a series of tailored training and mentoring programmes across universities and research centres. Recognising the diverse needs of research managers, early career researchers, and academics, we designed group-specific interventions to build awareness, literacy, and readiness for research impact.
We will focus on our work within the ENLIGHT European University Alliance, providing insights into the training of research managers, who acted as multiplier agents across the ten partners universities. Additionally, we will discuss our efforts to train and mentor academics involved in the new Alliance’s interdisciplinary cooperation networks. These efforts are supported by the ENLIGHT online repository, offering continuous access to curated training materials to facilitate self-directed learning.
Complementing this, we will present our experience in designing and delivering a specialised training programme for Early Career Researchers and the Basque Excellence Research Centres (BERCs) network. Our experience demonstrates that impact-driven research is a collaborative team effort, achievable across various levels of academic seniority, disciplines, and both basic and applied research.
By the end of the presentation, attendees will have gained a solid understanding of various research impact training strategies and experiences and will be equipped to adapt these approaches to their specific contexts.