Section 4: Who do researchers want to make an impact with?

Who do researchers want to make an impact with?

Introduction

Both our survey findings and interviews with researchers have shown that the audiences researchers most want to have an impact with vary by discipline.

However, the number one audience identified by researchers in our survey was other researchers in their subject area, showing that academic impact is still highest on the agenda for the vast majority.

Beyond other researchers, typical intended audiences across the social sciences, biology and medicine included policymakers, practitioners, patients and the general public. While in engineering and physics, researchers were most interested in reaching those in industry.

Research insights

We conducted a survey with over 9,000 researchers to understand how societal impact is viewed by academics across different countries, disciplines and career stages. This is what we found…

A majority of respondents are targeting researchers in their subject area.

When asked who they were trying to reach, the vast majority of respondents (83%) answered that they were targeting researchers in their subject area:

Around 20% of the respondents who answered in this way did not select any other answer

“Other” answers provided included students and educators (for example lecturers or teachers).

There was some notable variance in audience by region:

Respondents from N. America were more likely to target practitioners (45% vs mean of 40%), compared with China and Japan (23% and 19% respectively)

Respondents from India were more likely to be targeting researchers in commercial business/industry (42% vs mean of 28%)

Respondents from China were much more likely to be targeting funders (33% vs mean of 19%)

Researchers from the Netherlands were more likely to be targeting policymakers (44%)

Intended audience varied by UN Sustainable Development GoalWe also looked at how intended audiences varied depending on which UN Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) researchers felt most applied to their work.The greatest variation was between the percentage of researchers trying to reach practitioners. Here, the highest proportion of researchers aiming to reach practitioners were those who are researching in areas related to SDGs on good health and social equality.

Interview insights from academics based in the Netherlands

We carried out a series of interviews with researchers from a variety of disciplines who have made a societal impact with their research.

Our interviews broadly supported the research findings – showing a variation of audience by discipline…

Setting up the company was a way to attract funding and to be able to speed up the development process – it’s about trying to make a difference in society sooner.

Mark Post, professor of vascular physiology at Maastricht University and chief scientific officer at Mosa Meat.

Read the interview.

We have an increasing number of different types of organisations that we collaborate with and we're always widening our scope. We started out with healthcare professionals, patients, and insurance companies. And then eventually we added municipalities and policymakers in different fields. Then healthcare professionals from more fields. And all the while, we’ve been increasing engagement with patients – the children – and their families too.

Jutka Halberstadt, assistant professor at the Department of Health Sciences, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam.

Read the interview.

I often get asked questions like, what is the best system? What is the best way to inspect schools? How should we hold schools accountable? Policymakers and inspectorates of education are often looking for the so-called ‘silver bullet’ – the imagined ‘best’ system.

Professor Melanie Ehren, research chair at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam and director of LEARN! Research Institute.

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We take researchers with very early phase ideas – anyone from Bachelors students to retired professors. We offer them development space, coaching, and support to grow their idea. Sometimes they fail, and that’s ok because that’s always going to be part of entrepreneurship, but we do our best to help them reach the point where they can get external investment.

Davide Iannuzzi, university research chair professor in experimental physics at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam

Read the interview.