Section 7: Things to consider before you start your research

Things to consider before you start your research

According to our survey findings, around half of researchers consider societal impact before a research project begins.

This finding is in marked contrast to our interviews with researchers who have made a societal impact – in this case, almost all the researchers we spoke to discussed the importance of considering relevance and impact when setting research questions – and even the research agenda for an organisation.

Advice from our interviewees was clear. To achieve societal impact, from the very beginning you need to be considering:

Audience – who do you want the research to have an impact with and what do they care about.
Communication and engagement – how will you involve your audience in the research, how will you communicate with them during the project, and how will you promote the results?
Time – do you have enough time to dedicate to the impact you want to achieve?

Engagement with target audiences was highlighted again and again by interviewees from entirely different disciplines. Whether they were talking about securing funding for a startup or delivering health messages to children, the message was clear – you need to thoroughly understand your intended audience and their needs in order to carry out research which will create an impact with them.

In our interviews, the personal reasons and feeling of obligation were the most strongly felt. The researchers we spoke to were clearly passionate about the importance of the societal impact of research and the personal satisfaction they gained from it.

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…

Around half of respondents consider impact ahead of research, but discussions with institutions and funders are much less common.

Nearly half of respondents said that they considered societal impact before carrying out research. A large proportion of these discussed the impact with their co-authors or supervisor.

Around a quarter of respondents said that they neither considered nor discussed societal impact ahead of their most recent research.

Netherlands researchers were more likely to consider societal impact, with 57% discussing intended societal impact with co-authors or supervisors.

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.

Many researchers we spoke to talked at length about the importance of consulting – and even co-creating research – with the audience you want to have an impact with…

In the various projects I’ve been involved with, the crucial thing has been to communicate with inspectorates of education from the start of a project. Rather than waiting until you have findings and then sharing them. It’s almost co-creation of the research. So, from the start, it’s vital to establish some contact within the organisations you’re wanting to work with. The aim should be to have frequent conversations about the research, the questions that you want to answer, the structure and setup of the research and how you're going to communicate about results.

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

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It's become about more than simply writing a report. That's not enough anymore. You really need to work closely with a range of stakeholders to make sure that the right questions are posed and that the results can be used directly in their work. And you need to have those stakeholders on board right from the beginning, in a more intensive way, for example through joint projects and co-creation. That’s the only way to deliver products and services that are really helpful for them and for society.

Professor Frank Cörvers, scientific director at the Maastricht University School of Business and Economics (SBE)

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What’s struck me about patient involvement and seeing how that can shift the research agenda, is that you start to see how it can be applied in so many other instances. Essentially it’s about understanding what all the needs are before jumping in with ideas and solutions. It’s the same in business. A company should first try to find out what the need is. And then develop something to meet it.

Pim de Boer, senior strategic policy advisor EU at
Vrije Universiteit (VU) Amsterdam and Amsterdam University Medical Center, and former pathobiologist

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For societal impact, I think one of the key things you can look at in my field is how you’re working with external institutions. Not only in terms of getting the grants, but also in terms of how you work with them when you start new research projects. Your connections with societal institutions – with judges, courts, the public prosecution department, police, defence lawyers, ministries – are a reflection of the impact you’re likely to be able to have.

Professor Hans Nelen, key domain chair in criminal law and criminology at the Faculty of Law, Maastricht University

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I'm a very big fan of participatory research. The way I define it is that you really collaborate with the target group of your research – they can even become co-researchers. Working this way allows us to understand what the really important research questions are in their eyes and when they would view research as being successful. Essentially, [it’s] all about getting to grips with and truly understanding the lives of the people you’re studying – and taking into account their preferences, needs and wishes. I believe this leads to better quality, more impactful research because it helps us to understand the problems that really need solving.

Professor Mai Chin A Paw, university research chair professor at VU University Medical Center in Amsterdam

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They also mentioned the importance of considering the time required to have an impact…

As a PhD student, you’re very dependent on your supervisor. And you would need them to ‘green light’ any time you spend on impact-related work. I think it's easy to underestimate how much time it takes to have an impact.

Floris Peters, postdoctoral researcher at Maastricht University and winner of the 2018 FASOS Valorization Prize

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At the moment, I find my advice for early career researchers ends up being: Make sure you reserve plenty of time for this work if you want to do it.

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

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