How to do Research Engagement on your PhD

Academia is changing. It’s not longer just about research, publications or teaching students. More and more, the governments, universities and funding bodies supporting academic research and study are concerned about research engagement.

Research engagement is a catch-all term for efforts to connect research to the industries, societies and individuals that are the ultimate beneficiaries. It’s about breaking down barriers around the ivory tower, including the public in the world of research, and sharing the real-world benefit of academic study.

So, as new PhD students, it’s more important than ever to be effective at research engagement. As the next generation of researchers, the ability to do this well could determine future career success.

Here are three aspects of research engagement, and how a PhD student could develop their effectiveness in these areas.

Not just a cool-sounding buzz word. Impact is the potential benefit of research to society, culture or the economy. This can split broadly into two areas:

• Academic impact is the contribution made within the research community, such as breakthroughs in knowledge, theory and technique;
• Economic and societal impact, or the contribution outside of research to the greater world.

There are many reasons why impact is important, but the most pertinent one is the Research Excellence Framework (REF). The REF is the system in the UK for allocating research funding, and a major factor they consider is impact. More impact means more funding!

It’s not always easy to generate impact in research, and it can be quite dependent on the field of study or project you are working on. However, there are two key components of impact: significance and reach.

All advancement of knowledge and understanding has some significance, even if it isn’t immediately obvious. It’s important to hold onto whatever this significance is, and make sure its at the forefront of your work, particularly when engaging with others. Rather than focussing on the features of your work (look, I’ve played with cells!), focus on the benefits (look, I could help cure a disease!).

The reach of research is important for impact, too. This is all about getting your work to the places and people it needs to be to create impact. This includes engaging with stakeholders and the beneficiaries of your PhD. This is where networking and social media come in very handy (more on this later).

Generating impact can be difficult, involving the:

• Motivation to be innovative and enterprising
• Recognition of ideas and opportunities that could give impact
• Identification of and communication with key members of the public and stakeholders

And finally, it requires research that is open to all the above. Not always possible, but if you discover an avenue into impact, it’s full of potential.

Connecting your research with society – that’s what outreach is. Here, outreach is used an umbrella term for all sharing activities including public engagement, communicating with young people and widening participation.

Some people in academia (think stuffy old professors) see outreach as a bit of chore. But, it can be the most fulfilling part of PhD research. It’s an opportunity to share your passion and experiences with others, inspire those who wouldn’t normally engage with academia, and even enhance your research with public engagement.

The difficult parts of outreach are being able to distil complex research into a simpler form for everyone and expressing your passion and charisma (and maybe finding it!) to engage your audience. This is tricky to learn. The good news is that practising and mastering these techniques is also very helpful for your research career, even within academia.

With plenty of social media tools to use, it’s easier than ever to share your research and your PhD experiences. Writing a blog, getting on Twitter . . . there’s no limit to the opportunities available.

And if you want to do public engagement in a more direct way, there will be plenty of events in your area.

There will be great events and festivals organised by your university or research institution.

If you are a doing a Science, Technology, Engineering or Mathematics PhD, there’s Pint of Science, FameLab, SoapboxScience, and plenty of events each year for British Science Week.

And if Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences are more your thing, it’s worth looking for opportunities from the British Council or the Arts Council (England), or your university city may host a Festival of Ideas event (such as these examples in Bristol, Cambridge, and York). For these subjects, outreach events tend to be mostly supported by individual universities or cities, so you should enquire about the events near you.

Outreach is also about inspiring younger generations to get into research, particularly those who don’t normally get the opportunity to. Teaching young people through schemes like The Brilliant Club and getting involved in schools and colleges can be rewarding and fun.

And don’t forget, outreach is a two-way process – it’s as much about listening to society as it is sharing your work. You never know how ordinary people could shape or change your studies.

There are lots of opportunities out there for outreach – you just have to go looking for them!

This is perhaps the hardest part of impact to achieve, because it is very dependent upon what research it is you are doing. However, successful commercialisation of your research can deliver impact and outreach, too.

In addition to things like publishing books, this branch of research engagement involves patents, intellectual property (IP), spin-out projects, trademarks, designs and copyright – typically things academic researchers are not the best at.

You may need to engage with external partners and industry to achieve this. Fortunately, your university should have knowledge exchange delivery teams (or something similar) dedicated to setting up these connections. And, there are platforms like IN-PART who can do this matchmaking, too.

Your university will have contacts dedicated to this sort of thing. If you think there’s potential to achieve some commercialisation of your research, you should get in touch with them.

Research engagement isn’t easy. It requires some confidence, independent direction and luck. But, it can be the best part of your PhD. Give it a go!

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