Specificity equals credibility
A named policy team is more believable than "policymakers". A goal-driven, specific plan inspires reviewers and funders far more than a list of activities with no clear point.
Research impact trainingStep 2
Step 2 of 5Plan for impact
- Become clear about who might benefit from your research, and who could help or hinder it.
- Turn the impact goal from Step 1 into an actionable plan: a pathway from your research to real-world change.
~10 min read Build your impact plan 6 tasks to finish
Carrying over from Step 1
You haven't saved any answers in Step 1 yet. Go back to Step 1 to set your impact goal, it carries straight into the plan you'll build here.
In Step 1 you envisioned the difference your research could make. Now you'll turn that vision into a plan, getting clear about who might benefit, how you'll engage them, and how you'll know it's working.
Why do you need a plan?
An impact plan is a "logic model": a credible pathway from your research to the change you want to see. Done well, it earns trust, protects you from nasty surprises, and sharpens your goals. Three reasons it pays off:
No one important gets missed
Spotting problematic or hard-to-reach groups early gives you time to adapt, instead of running into opposition, or winning for one group at another's expense.
Your goals get sharper
Thinking through the pathway in structured detail usually brings the clarity to reframe your impact goals and make them more convincing and powerful.
How to build impact into a grant proposal
We can boil down our advice on writing the impact sections of your grant to one idea: be goal-driven and specific. Proposals that seek to achieve a clear impact goal are more likely to inspire reviewers and be believable than those that fall into the trap of simply communicating research findings, or listing numerous activities with no clear point.
For us, specificity equals credibility.
Vague
A proposal to work with "policymakers".
Specific
A proposal to work with a named policy team within a specific government department, naming the key people in a position to enact change, with clear indicators of when each goal is met, and, instead of "social media", the exact platform, who you'll target on it, and the impact goal it preferentially achieves.
The fact that you know the names and positions of key people implies you have a credible plan that will work. If you want to take a deeper dive into integrating impact into funding proposals, check out our *Creating fundable impact plans* workshop.
Identify your publics and stakeholders
It is just as important to identify individuals, organizations, groups and publics who might be disadvantaged by your work, or who may block it, as it is to know your beneficiaries and who can help. Knowing about problematic or hard-to-reach groups at the outset gives you time to adapt your research before you run into opposition.
It may seem self-evident, yet it is surprising how often this step is omitted in projects with non-academic partners, and that omission can quietly compromise the whole project. Too few stakeholders engaged leads to a lack of ownership; a single important group omitted can challenge the legitimacy of the work and undermine its credibility. Public/stakeholder analysis solves this by:
Identifywho has a stake
Prioritizewhere to invest time
Anticipateconflicts & alliances
Map your stakeholders0 mapped
No stakeholders yet. Add beneficiaries, the people who can help, and anyone who could block your work or be disadvantaged by it.
For a deeper, more systematic method, see our *Inclusive stakeholder analysis* workshop.
Develop your impact plan
Your plan is a logic model driven by the impact goal you set in Step 1. Work through each part below, your entries save automatically. If you're still not convinced of your goal, fill in the rest and revisit it at the end; the detail usually brings the clarity to make it more powerful.
Your researchthe evidence
Stakeholderswho & their interest
Activitieshow you engage
Indicatorshow you'll know
Impact goalthe change
1
Your impact goal
Driven by your impact goal
The change you want to see (from Step 1). Everything else hangs off this.
2
Which parts of your research each group is interested in
Columns 2 to 3 of the template
Tie the pathway to YOUR research, not other evidence, so the impacts are genuinely your research impacts.
3
Activities for each group
Engagement
How you'll communicate or co-produce messages, tailored to each group. Start early with influential or hard-to-reach groups.
4
Activity indicators
Formative feedback
Show how each activity is working, giving you feedback on your practice.
5
Impact indicators
Did it land?
Show whether your intended impacts are actually occurring (milestones reached, change achieved).
6
Means of measurement
Make it feasible
How you'll actually evaluate each indicator, concrete and feasible, quantitative or qualitative.
7
Risks & mitigation
What might go wrong
Name the risks and unintended consequences yourself, and how you'll mitigate them. Funders trust teams that see the risks.
8
Resources, who & when
Resources & schedule
What help you need, who is responsible for each activity, and when you'll time it around your research and stakeholders' agendas.
0 of 8 parts started
Revisit your goal, sharper now?
Your Step 1 goal
, no goal saved in Step 1 yet,
Be strategic to save time
Decide who is doing what, and when. Assign responsibility for each activity, agree any deadlines, and time activities around your research programme and your stakeholders' own priorities and agendas. Get feedback from colleagues and, if you can, from stakeholders, then make checking in a habit. Put progress towards impact on the agenda of your regular meetings, and consider an ongoing, accountable relationship such as a biannual stakeholder advisory meeting.
Don't let the plan become a straitjacket. Targets and indicators keep your impact on track, but they shouldn't stop you adapting your objectives to changing stakeholder needs, or seizing new opportunities as they arise.
Your tasks for this step
Turn last week's impact goal into an actionable plan. Tick each off as you go, your progress is saved.
Step 2 checklist0 of 6 done
Identify who is most likely to be interested in your work, who will be impacted, and who can influence your ability to generate impact.
Identify activities you can use with different publics and stakeholders, tailored to their needs and preferences.
Identify indicators or targets to track whether your activities are taking you closer to your impact goals.
Consider the risks of achieving your impacts and activities. What might go wrong? Any unintended consequences? How will you mitigate them?
Ask what resources or help you might need to achieve your impacts and mitigate these risks.
Decide who will be responsible for each activity, and when you'll time these relative to your research and your stakeholders' agendas.
← Back toStep 1: Envision your impact
Step 3 · LockedPut your plan into actionUnlocks when your next email arrives