The focus of Making an Impact 2025 was on developing individuals’ practice and enhancing their skills and knowledge in engagement and impact. The programme was purposely designed to provide the space and time for colleagues to reflect on their own strengths and areas of impact development through self-directed resources and coaching.
Click here to view recordings from Making an Impact 2025
Key themes for 2025
- Strategic Collaboration: Building high-impact partnerships across disciplines, sectors and global networks to drive meaningful change
- Media Influence and Research Visibility: Mastering media engagement to amplify research impact, shape public discourse and enhance credibility
- Project and Team Leadership: Cultivating dynamic leadership skills to inspire, empower and drive research engagement and impact
- Planning for grants and REF2029: Developing robust strategies for securing funding and maximising REF2029 success through high quality research planning
What was different in 2025?
At the heart of the series is valuing individuals’ professional practice and impact, and consequently, specialised 1:1 coaching is available to all academic staff from postdocs to research fellows to principal investigators (PIs), on the following themes:
- Research project management
- Working with stakeholders beyond academia
- Enhancing your contribution to research engagement and impact
These opportunities were throughout May and provide valuable opportunities for staff to reflect on their own strengths and areas for development in engagement and impact.
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Feedback from participants from Making an Impact 2025 included:
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““[How to engage and influence UK Parliament] session was very interesting and gave me confidence to consider doing this in the future.” “The online format worked well, break-out rooms were beneficial and there was good discussion amongst researchers, there was in general a nice mix of theory and practical application of the ideas. Really enjoyed the session.” “I found the program highly practical. I also really appreciated the interactive format of the session, especially the breakout rooms. It provided a great opportunity to engage with colleagues from different institutions. The participants shared practical tips, relevant tools, and even links to AI platforms.” “In-person format was perfect! Thank you to the Special Collections team at SJL who facilitated the tour. I loved the informal format and the chance to check out some of the material as well as the digitisation suite.” “The [Elevate your impact evaluation: Going above and beyond the evaluation form] session highly engaging and informative. The positive atmosphere throughout the session made it easy to stay focused and motivated … [the facilitator’s] ability to make complex evaluation concepts accessible and practically applicable was a highlight.” |
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The Making an Impact On-Demand Resource Hub
Supplementing the live programme, the Making an Impact Resource Hub contains a rich and diverse open-access resource freely available for all research staff and students to access at a time and place that suits you. The resources include: 200+ recorded sessions, 13 podcasts, 15 visual summaries, 16 keynotes, 55 workshops, 38 webinars, and 7 panel discussions covering the ‘From Liverpool to Impact’ strand in which Liverpool PhD alumni working in various sectors share their experiences and opportunities for research partnership and impact. There are also 50+ additional curated resources (including toolkits, checklists, virtual tours, TED talks) on inclusive leadership; using LinkedIn to foster research collaborations; informational interviews; making a cultural impact online; business development; collaboration and many more areas spread across four general themes according to research impact objectives:
- Boosting your academic research impact and knowledge exchange potential
- Capturing and sharing information and evidence relating to research impact
- Developing the reach of your research activity, interdisciplinary exchange and collaboration
- Contributing to a positive and inclusive research culture
Reporting
The Academy has produced an evaluation report following the end of the Making an Impact 2025 programme
Download the Making an Impact 2025 Report
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