Engagement and impact resources and insights

Useful guides and links to support your engagement and impact

Jump to: Latest research, Internal resources, External resources

Latest research

Keep up to date with the latest research on this area via the LSE Impact Blog

Internal resources

These resources provide guidance to support you with engagement and impact. They are primarily aimed at researchers of any level and they will also be useful to professional services staff in research, communication and knowledge exchange management and support roles.

What is impact?

Writing impactful knowledge exchange in grants

Lots of funding has a focus on the contribution of research to the economy and society, and to be successful in winning grant applications the possible impacts of your research and the ways in which you plan to achieve them need to be apparent throughout your grant applications. How do you go about building-in knowledge exchange into your plans and applications? How do you articulate your expected outcomes and desired impacts?

Watch the recording (LSE only) / download the slides from the Michaelmas Term 2021 session.

Spending for impact

What kinds of small, but meaningful engagements can you make to increase the chances of your research having an impact? This guidance provides some inspiration on effective but low cost knowledge exchange and impact activities, as well as advice on how to keep track of your engagement and impact.

Watch the recording (LSE only) / download the slides from the Michaelmas Term 2021 session.

 

 Open research

Academic blogging

Should you be blogging? Yes, if you want to maximise the reach and impact of your work in academia and beyond. Explore the kinds of posts you might write; who you could write for (you don’t have to maintain your own platform); learn about LSE Blogs; and find out how to get your work noticed.

Read more

How do you create a good personal website?

So, you've published a book/book chapter. What next?

Congratulations! Take a look at these top tips on how to approach promoting your publication. 

Read more and download the checklist

 

Communication for engagement 

Running or participating in online events

The LSE Events team has put together some guidance on how, when and why researchers should think about events, as well as how to set up a Zoom meeting: Read more 

You can also download an event organisation checklistan event promotion crib sheet and guidance on events promotion for departments

If you are speaking at or chairing an online event, you can also download their Audio and Visual Speaker Reference Guide for tips about how to create the best visuals and audio from home.

You can also watch a video about running Zoom events.

Advice on pitching op-eds and opinion pieces

An opinion article in a national news outlet is a great way to get your ideas noticed by politicians, policy and other decision makers, your peers and the wider public. Read this guide from our media team on the best way to pitch an opinion piece.

Social media for research communication

LSE's Social Media team can provide advice and guidance on creating successful social media campaigns. A Best Practice Toolkit is available to enhance your visibility in a busy social media space. Contact the  Social Media team for your copy of the guidelines and access to the toolkit.

How do you produce a podcast?

Read our podcast guidance if you are considering creating a podcast.

Filming yourself using a smartphone

LSE's Film and Audio team can provide advice on potential film projects. Check out their ten top tips for filming yourself when you can't get to a studio.

Read more or watch the video

Read our video guidance if you are considering producing an LSE-branded video. The Social Media team have also produced a guide to short-form video

 

Partnerships, innovation and consulting 

Impact Wednesdays - examples of impactful partnerships

Catch up with recordings from the Impact Wednesday series to hear from colleagues and their external partners who have experience of and expertise in working together to create change, impact, and benefit from research.

December's Impact Wednesday session featured Professor Elizabeth Stokoe, Keri Rowsell and Distinguished Policy Fellow Timo Leiter, who won the ESRC Celebrating Impact Prize 2024 for his contribution to the development of the first set of global adaptation targets that was adopted at COP28 in November 2023.

Academic consultancy

Private sector companies, public organisations, and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) are looking for independent, unbiased, quality-driven solutions to the challenges they face. Consulting within an academic institution offers a way for researchers to apply their expertise to address these issues, generating real-world impact and at the same time an additional income beyond their salary. Download session slides to learn more about what “consultancy” involves, the opportunities available, and the support provided by LSE for it.


 Career development 

Career development

Careers consultant Catherine Reynolds provides careers advice for PhD students and researchers.

For more training for researchers at LSE, visit Organisational Learning's research staff career development pages.


 

External resources

ODI: REF Impact Toolkit - A step-by-step guide to help researchers plan, monitor, and improve the impact of their research.

Fast Track Impact: 9 Types of Impact Metrics - An overview of different types of impact metrics and how they can be used to measure research impact.

ResearchFish: Output Metrics - Resource for using ResearchFish to track and report research outputs and impacts.

REF 2021 Review - Analysis and insights from the REF 2021 impact case studies.

UKRI: Demonstrating Support for Impact - Guidance on how to demonstrate support for research impact in funding applications.

Tools4Dev: Theory of Change vs Logic Model - A comparison of Theory of Change and Logical Framework approaches in project planning.