🎙️ The #ResearchCultureUncovered podcast team is excited to share our latest episode featuring reflections from the groundbreaking Impact Ignite Conference! Join host Ged Hall, discuss the conference with fellow University of Leeds #impactprofessionals Andy Cameron, Anu Ekanayake, Ali Quaile, Alexa Ruppertsberg, and Ruth Lawford-Rolfe as they discuss their experiences from this first-of-its-kind global gathering of research impact professionals.

🔹 Discover how Impact Ignite brought together impact professionals from the UK, Europe, Canada, the Middle East, and Australia—creating a true sense of community and solidarity for those working to bridge research and real-world change.

🔹 Learn about practical tools and strategies shared at the conference, including collaborative mapping techniques, impact strategy toolkits, and innovative coaching approaches that can transform how we work with researchers.

🔹 Hear reflections on the unique skillset impact professionals bring—from partnership development and storytelling to navigating institutional change and emerging technologies like AI in research impact practice.

🔹 Explore the challenges facing higher education and the critical advocacy role impact professionals play in ensuring universities remain relevant, collaborative, and focused on meaningful societal benefit.

To connect with the guests on LinkedIn:

1. Alexa Ruppertsberg (Head of Public Engagement)
2. Alistair Quaile ( Faculty Research Impact Manager in the Business School)
3. Andy Cameron ( Faculty Impact Manager in Medicine Health)
4. Anu Ekanayake ( Research Impact Innovation and Engagement Officer in the Faculty of Biological Sciences)
5. Ruth Lawford-Rolfe ( Research Impact Manager in the School of Earth and Environment and Sustainability)

All of our episodes can be accessed via the following playlists:

1. Research Impact with Ged Hall (follow Ged on Bluesky and LinkedIn)
2. Research Impact Heroes with Ged Hall
3. Open Research with Nick Sheppard (follow Nick on Bluesky and LinkedIn)
4. Research Careers with Ruth Winden (follow Ruth on Bluesky and LinkedIn)
5. Research talent management
6. Academic Failure with Taryn Bell (follow Taryn on Bluesky and LinkedIn)
7. Meet the Research Culturositists with Emma Spary (follow Emma on Bluesky and LinkedIn)
8. Research co-production
9. Research evaluation
10. Research leadership
11. Research professionals

Follow us on Bluesky: @researcherdevleeds.bsky.social (new episodes are announced here), @openresleeds.bsky.social, @researchcultureuol.bsky.social

Connect to us on LinkedIn: @ResearchUncoveredPodcast (new episodes are announced here)

Leeds Research Culture links:

1. Researcher Development and Culture Website
2. Our Concordat Implemention plans and progress
3. University of Leeds Research Culture Statement
4. University of Leeds Responsible Metrics Statement
5. University of Leeds Open Research Statement
6. University of Leeds Research Culture Strategy - launched September 2023
7. https://www.leeds.ac.uk/research-public-engagement

If you would like to contribute to a podcast episode get in touch: researcherdevelopment@leeds.ac.uk

Ged Hall 00:00:24 Welcome to this latest episode of the Research Culture Uncovered podcast. My name is Ged Hall and I'm the Head of Researcher and Development at the University of Leeds. All of the episodes I contribute to the podcast, focus on research impact, and I also do a special series that I call Research Impact Heroes.

Impact Ignite Conference that Tamika and her Research Impact Academy colleagues organised in November, 2025 in Southampton. Now, this was probably the first dedicated research impact professionals conference. I'm not kind of saying across the world, but you know, probably that wasn't just a special interest group of a wider.

Um, set of, uh, uh, of things like ARMA (Association of Research Managers and Administrators) in the UK and, and ARMS (Australasian Research Management Society) in, in a Australasia, and it brought together people from the UK, mainland Europe, Canada, the Middle East, and Australia. Now, Leeds nowadays has a large and vibrant community of research impact professionals, and a number of us were lucky enough to attend and present.

Uh, Impact Ignite. So I thought I'd bring everybody together to get their reflections on the conference, and they are. Andy Cameron, Faculty Impact Manager in Medicine Health. Andy, did you wanna say hi?

Ged Hall 00:02:08 The next person was Anu, Ekanayake Research Impact Innovation and Engagement Officer in Biological Sciences.

Anu, do you wanna say hi?

Ged Hall 00:02:19 The next person was Ali Quaile. I like Ali, he's got an easier name. Um, and he's Faculty Research Impact Manager in the Business School. Ali, do you wanna say hi?

Ged Hall 00:02:33 And then we have Alexa Ruppertsberg, and Alexa is Head of Public Engagement with Research.

Alexa, do you wanna say hi?

Ged Hall 00:02:42 I'm finally, and I've done everybody in, um, in uh, sort of alphabetical order and I know how I've managed to put Ruth somewhere at the end. I think I kind of flip to your first name. We have Ruth Lawford-Rolfe, Research Impact Manager in the School of Earth and Environment and Sustainability.

New name.

Ged Hall 00:03:05 Brilliant.

So in preparation for this episode, I asked everybody to think about four things, four sort of questions that we were gonna cover, uh, about the conference. Um, the first of which is their highlight from the conference. The second of which was what have they learnt from attending?

Um, the third was how would they like that global research impact community to develop? You know, that was one of the things that. Uh, as I said Tamika, wanted to kickstart, so I'd love to get people's views on that. Uh, and the fourth was, um, what's next for them in implementing what they've learnt? You know, you can't really get research impact professionals together and not try to find out what the impact and event they all attended could be.

So, you know, you can't, uh, you can't live the walk without, uh, uh, without that. So looking at the highlights, who wants to go first? Ruth as you were last, and you've got your hand in the air. First. Let's come to you.

It was an excellent opportunity to expand my network, um, and to reconnect with colleagues across the sector. For me, the conference really highlighted the impact community that we're all part of, um, and the wide range of skills and expertise, um, that is present within this community. So to me this means that we're a group of professionals with something quite unique to offer.

Actually. We're collaborative, we're analytical, we connect people, we develop partnerships and relationships. Um, we often bring deep knowledge of our discipline, but also, um, a breadth in terms of our institutional knowledge as well. And we bring insights that help to shape research, design, and implementation.

And through all this, we can, uh, drive forward and support meaningful change. So I think all of these skills were really evident across the wide range of sessions at the conference. I think as impact professionals, we come from a really diverse set of backgrounds and even just between us here on this, in this call, um, we represent.

A wide range of, of prior knowledge and expertise, um, all of which we bring to our day-to-day conversations with researchers. So it was great to see all of that on display across, um, across the, the community at the conference.

Probably more than any conference I've ever been to. So, Alexa, what was it like for you?

So with public engagement, I felt a bit left field in that arena, but I think we, we should be there. And I, I, I was not disappointed. I think the, uh, the presentation was well received and, um. This discussion, this reflection, um, really learning from it. And, and the absolute highlight for me was the opening panel, also the closing one, but it, it was very, very simple things.

They've done so well, which was that they allocated such a long time to questions. It was just a short, uh, part that was prepared with questions, but then the floor was opened up and, you know, we didn't disappoint. Ruth was completely right. There was so much expertise in the room. We had questions and we wanted, uh, some reflections from the panel members on that as well.

What was your highlight?

Um, so it's good to be able to connect to other people and figure out how. They approach things in a different way, maybe in different sized universities are completely different, um, professions, uh, some good talks with some people from the NIHR, which approach things in very different ways to obviously how a university needs to approach things.

So it's very useful to get in touch with these people and sort of build lasting connections with them.

Andy Cameron 00:08:39 Apologies, the National Institute for Health Research, it's one of the main funders for health research in the UK.

As you said, there were funders, but also charities and, uh, and people from, um, science museums and, and places like that as well. So it was, um, it was quite a rich background. Anu. What, what was your highlight of, uh, of the couple of days?

Um, so this was my first conference of this kind. Um, and I, I'm glad it was, uh, I not only participated, but I also presented as well to share my practices. Um. It's, I found it very interesting. They had a, if you remember, they had a board, a wall for writing what impact is, and somebody wrote there, uh, impact is a multi-headed monster and we are here to conquer it.

I wouldn't want to call it a monster, but maybe sometimes it is. Um, and yes, absolutely, we were there to conquer it. I mean, as you all mentioned. The talent that was in the room was remarkable. It's not just the experience, it's the knowledge and the different backgrounds. It's, it actually shows how diverse our backgrounds are, therefore how the level of the skills that we are bringing to our institutions.

So to see that in person and being my first conference of this kind for research professionals, it was amazing for me in terms of, uh, sessions. I think for me, I really. Was in inspired with the plenary sessions, I think one A where they shared innovative practices and strategies, and also the session three A where my talk was also in, uh, lessons for the future where everyone shared their practices and developments and, uh, experiments and how generous it was to share all of this with us in such limited time.

Yeah.

At an expert level. You know, when you look at the literature, you know that, uh, Julie Bayley, who's on the first panel, uh, has put together around what are the skills necessary for a research impact professional. There's, I think there's something like 80 odd different skills in 11 different domains, so you kind of go, I can't be brilliant at all of those, but I can be brilliant at some, um, lots maybe, but not all.

Ali, what was your highlight?

It really was a global audience and I was quite surprised. How global the audience really was. And I think that's testament to Tamika and the team and what she's built through the Research Impact Academy that she was able to, um, give people the confidence to come all the way to the UK to, to speak. Um, I think more, more generally just on the, the sort of the design of the conference itself.

Um, as Alexa mentioned, the length of the panels was, um, and particularly the questions, um, the length of questions for the panels was, was particularly good 'cause it allowed genuine discussion. There's so many events I've been to where they only give the floor about, you know, one or two questions, and so you feel like you're being talked out rather than actually engaging in any meaningful discussion.

Another, potentially a minor point, but I think it was actually quite useful was the length of the breaks. Which gave people time to genuinely network. Um, again, often people don't have time to, to meet each other because the, the presentations are so sort of back to back. But I think the main thing, um, it really resonates with what everyone else has said, really.

The, the sort of, the word that I picked out was solidarity. Um, and I think this as, as has been highlighted, this is, um, for me, the first conference that was aimed, um. Specifically for impact professionals. Um, and I in the sort of a, a post event reflection piece that I did on LinkedIn, I talked out about throughout my career, I've, um, attended lots of events where, whereas in a previous life I was a journalist, but now as an impact professional, I've always sort of felt on the periphery.

However, being at an event, um. About impact for impact professionals. It actually felt like, you know, it was a community coming together with a shared purpose to try and improve impact within universities. So it was really exciting for that reason, I think.

It was, um, very much, yes, we're all rooting for each other and supporting each other, and, and very collaborative, as you've all said, so. Kind of moving on to the next one. Um, which is more kind of, okay, those were the highlights, that kind of sense of, uh, that buzz, that community. But what have we learnt?

You know, I'm, I'm a, you know, I come from a, a training background, so I'm kind of always interested in this question. What have we learnt from attending those things? So, who wants to go first? Ruth, again. Well done.

As Anu was saying, one of the real benefits of this conference was, was its focus on examining the practical steps that individuals and teams had taken to develop impact. So for me, that was where a lot of the real learning came from. It was about that shared practice, um, and learning from the approaches of colleagues who, particularly those who were involved.

Institutional strategy development and partnership development, um, in a non HEI or in inter international setting. It was, it was really interesting to hear from those colleagues and see the similarities in the underlying drivers for change, um, and those innovative approaches that had been developed, implemented and the outcomes.

I think as Annie was saying, you know, that, that people were really generous in their reflections on those processes and that was, that was really powerful. Um. From the panel discussions, I think, um, you know, that there's a, a huge amount of change in the environment at the moment. So there was some really useful discussion there about the, the effect of change on our working environment and also, um, the advent of new technology.

So the, the challenges and opportunities that come. Uh, along with ai, um, and how that might be being implemented in, in the, the impact space. So I think, I think those are the key, key items for me in terms of learning.

And, and I'm really grateful that they've shared them and made them public. Anu, , what about you? What, what did you learnt?

I think, um, there was the. I was really inspired and I took some notes from Mariela, Miranda's talk on how they develop a research impact strategy toolkit. Currently in my, in my faculty, we are develop, we are trying to develop the impact strategy, and we had some questions regarding how, like, is this worth doing it?

How are we going to implement it, how are we going to evaluate it? And lots of questions were answered from their toolkit. That, and they were so generous, as I said, they shared their, um, toolkits and websites without hesitation, and they had so much resources that all of us can use.

Anu Ekanayake 00:17:30 And also I think,

uh, Jen Lockett's, uh, Compass, uh, for collaborative objective mapping by at Plymouth.

Um, that was, uh, very easy and I, I was. I think kind of like b like how easy that is to like, you can implement it anywhere. You can do it in workshop, you can do it in group settings. And we all are working with researchers, so we need these kind of practices and techniques. And uh, one of the key, I mean it's a simple thing, but I think that was really interesting to me 'cause I wasn't aware of it.

There was a session about, um, there was an open session, um. Where it's, you can use the technique for workshops where somebody presents their question for two minutes and don't, can't talk anymore after that, and then everyone in the group who are like five, six people have to give one minute answer and cannot talk more than that.

That was brilliant because some, everyone has to say something so that actually tempted people to say things from their practices and knowledge. Immediately. And actually that was really interesting and we did solve some of the problems in our group. So I learnt so many of these things, um, which we normally wouldn't talk in our networking events.

We talk and share problems, but we don't necessarily go to solve them as much as far as that. So yeah, I did learn of, uh, learn these things.

In Dublin and I got the, um, the people who did that session on the podcast. So if you, if you're interested in finding out more about it, um, have a listen to that. I'll put the link in the show notes. Ali, what's, uh, what did you learn?

I think, you know, we're increasingly seeing a shift in a sort of a cultural shift around impact. Um, and there's definitely an emphasis that that, um, impacts, you know, it's not just a. A technical process. It very much is, uh, a culture. And if we're generally gonna move beyond, um, compliance and metrics and exercises such as the Research Excellence Framework that we have in the UK, then, you know, that requires genuine understanding and um, and collaboration.

And I suppose the other sort of key takeaway that I had was around, um. That really resonated with me was around the importance of, of storytelling. You know, data alone doesn't, doesn't drive change. It's stories that drives change. And so I think if we're able to, um, articulate impact in a way that can resonate with different, um, individuals, whether that's policymakers, funders, um, and the like, and I think that's really how we're gonna achieve the impact we really strive for.

Uh, and that's, you know, people in the UK hate REF for having to produce the case studies, but actually the case studies make us think in that, um, storytelling way. Um, and uh, and actually have been a powerful tool, I think to. guard, um, our sector in the UK from kind of some of the worst, um, possibilities that could have happened with cuts from, uh, in terms of government funding.

So, Andy, what about your

Piece together how I can sit with a, a researcher and get as much outta them as I can in as little time as I can. Because as, as we all know, that the, the researchers are often quite time poor and it's quite hard to get an hour in their diary. Whereas if I can get 30 minutes with them and get all of the information out of them as I can, which will help me, it helps them, um, to articulate their thoughts.

Clearer and quicker. Um, I think it really kind of helped me put a bit of a plan in place as to when I'm meeting people individually, just getting as much information as them from them as possible, and giving as much information as I can to them about how they can sort of further their research and sort of either plan or develop the impact that they're going to be doing.

So thanks for bringing that up. Andy. Alexa, any, anything from you in terms of what you learnt?

And, um, on the one hand, it, it sort of leads to that it can be beneficial because that is how we get, um, to think about. Impact the work, the research, um, that we do. How is that, um, beneficial to society for society? Um, on the other hand, it also, if you just flip it round, so why are we The outlier. You could also think of us as the outlier.

Why does our government think that that is the best way to, um, to see the value of a university or the research that a university produces? So, you know, just kind of more questions. Why do we do this? I know we probably can't change this, but, um. So that, that, that was this international perspective. And then the other thing was around also more on a meta level just to see um, how people love meeting other people and be in the same space.

I dunno whether there's is still sort of post COVID kind of thing of we have to talk to each other. Um, or if it's what you said, Andy earlier on, um. We may feel relatively isolated in our institutions. So we do enjoy meeting others who share then similar challenges. So, so this, I'm in this with other, I'm not alone with a particular issue.

Uh, which leads me to sort of my last point was that I am. Kind of the grass isn't greener elsewhere. Whenever I think we are particularly bad at something. Not true. Not true at all. Um, so, so I, I left actually. Being fairly proud of what we do at the university here. So, um, yeah, so I think that's, uh, that's good enough for, for learning.

Was a case of the blind leading the blind in terms of, um, what's, what's this impact thing and how do we do it and, and how do we engage with different sectors of the, of the world outside of the, of the university? And we all had slightly different roles as your, yours was more commercialisation than public engagement, wasn't it?

At the, at the time kind of innovation space, Alexa and Ruth's was kind of like trying to build partnerships and, and actually all of those things need to happen for impact, um, in different ways. So, um, so yeah, it's, uh, it's interesting how far we've come and I think we, we do as an institution need to have a look at us, uh, ourselves and go, we have come a long way and, and it is way better than it was.

There's always things that can be better, but you have to look at distance travelled as well. Okay. Um, so third one, um, which is coming back to that community thing, what is it that we all want to see, uh, in terms of that global community? What kind of. Um, events, do we want to have, or, you know, wanna push us all into events or all meeting together in some far flung place, but what, how, how do we maintain that community feel across the global research impacts, uh, community.

Who wants to go first this time? Ali, go on.

You know, it requires things such as openness, trust. Importantly, uh, I think vulnerability as well. And I think this applies as much to, um, research as growing the impact community itself. Um, you know, universities, uh, higher education is, is facing something of an existential challenge at the moment, I think.

Um, and there's a need for universities to have to adapt, um, if it's, if they're gonna survive. So the role of impact professionals in any change is, is gonna have to be sort of reviewed and, and considered within that. I think universities are uniquely placed in terms of their ability to address some of society's, you know, most challenging problems.

Um, and so what's the role of impact professionals in, in allowing that to happen? You know, I think they have an important bridging role between, um, universities and the external environment. And they have a skillset that sort of supports different groups in terms of speaking a shared language. Um, so I guess really it's, it's something around what the community can do for advocating for any structural change or, um, you know, allowing this community to continue to thrive.

Thrive and develop. You know, it's around. Um, can we engage in more meaningful conversations about, um, you know, what universities can do to ensure that impact roles do remain within universities if they are, um, required to sort of change in the future years.

Ali Quaile 00:29:29 yeah,

Yeah. Anu, what's, what's, what's your thoughts on how the community should evolve?

Um, and because I think I, I feel at least impact kind of gets diluted with other things as well and which are important, but especially I think in the UK because of, uh, assessments such as REF. Impact plays a key role in how and the ways in which research academic researches should be framed. So it is important for us to know and share global perspectives and global practices where we can improve how we approach impact.

Um. And also I think, um, I'd love to see a community and we did, uh, see that at Impact Ignite, that share best practices and more open, especially around innovation and research management, um, focusing impact, uh, different kind of emerging technologies and, uh, other trends in research impact. It is, IM, it is difficult to organise, uh, meetings and event these kind of events, but nowadays we have access for online tools and online platforms such as Teams and Zoom, and it all takes one or two hours of our time.

Um, so I think we need to come together for, as a community, um, and, uh. Share our practices, share our challenges, and addressing how we can improve our ways and how we show up to work in research, impact in line with developments of the new world in new technologies and trends, uh, because we'll have to keep up.

Um, that said, what I witnessed at the event was how open and supportive the community is. Uh, regardless the level of experience you felt welcomed. Uh, and so supportive. Everyone who's been in research impact for about 20, 25 years shared and told that like, oh, when I joined the job, I felt exactly the same thing.

To date, I'm still feeling these things. It was so beautiful to see all of these experiences, and I think we need to have these kind of sessions in person as well. From time to time because it actually inspires to see people and how to see how passionate they are about their work.

One of which is Advancing Research Impact in Society, which is a US um, organisation. Um, can't remember which universities it it's based at, and the other is Research Impact Canada. So actually, you know, north America kind of hogs. Um, hogs, the limelight for having organisations that are specifically about research impacts and where in the rest of the world it seems to be absorbed into the, you know, the research funding professional body, um, you know, in most of, in most other places.

So, Andy, what about to you?

I think as Alexa alluded to earlier, in person. Events really allow a lot more communication and a lot more connectivity between, between the professionals. So I think there's no right answer, I said, and as Ali said, there's huge challenges that are occurring within higher education at the moment. So it's quite difficult, I think, and I don't think there's gonna be one correct answer, but having these as a open spaces.

For people to put their ideas out onto and understanding that it's, it's not a competitive area in terms of we're not fighting each other to sort of get out, get everything out. It's we're, the research is already done. Um, and we're really just trying to get people to say, this is what's happened. This is how the world can actually be made a better place.

Um, and try and push the collaboration is the way forward with all of that, kind of, to make it as big as possible.

Alexa Ruppertsberg 00:34:56 Yeah, I think people already touched a bit upon, uh, the point that I'd like to make. I don't think actually I, I, I would like the community to develop because I don't think it's there yet.

I don't think we have a community where we talk about research impact. I'm struggling with public engagement. Um, I, I. Don't feel I have a home, uh, within the, um, UK There is the N-C-C-P-E, that's the National Coordinating Centre for Public Engagement. And they do run a conference once a year or every two years.

Um, and I keep up because I have personal contacts to peers in other universities, but I do that and nobody really. Helps me and, and bringing that community together. If, if I don't do that through my own self-interest, this is not happening. So, um, and, and also going back to my research days, um, when we.

When you do go to conferences, and these are annual events, yes, it would be lovely to meet more often, but I do remember these in-person meetings so much more, um, than, than any kind of online thing. Sorry, it's just, just how you experience these things. I also know that in terms of accessibility, um, and, and, and financial constraints, obviously, uh, in-person meetings are.

Difficult. Um, so I think what Anu suggested in terms of some mixture, um, would be really good. Um, so I, I would really see the cultivation of, um, impact professionals. I really wanna see a move away from. There was this term administrators of impact. I, I, I don't see us like that, so. Mm-hmm. This is not us. Um, so yeah, that's, that's what I would love to see.

Ruth Lawford-Rolfe 00:37:01 Yeah, so, um, I, I, I completely agree with my colleagues and I think that this community is becoming more rather than less important. I think we've got the skills to really, um, support, um. Uh, the change that, that needs to happen or the evolution of how we work? Um, I think that, uh, collaboration and partnership as both Ali and and Andy were saying there is, you know, at the heart of, of so many of our challenges, so.

The more we can collaborate and share practise and the more opportunities we have to do that, um, the more powerful, um, we are as a community. So yeah, again, in person for me, that was fantastic. I think, you know, um, obviously it can't happen very regularly, but I think if we can do it at a reasonable interview at interval somehow, um, that would be really beneficial.

Um, uh. To have all of those opportunities to connect. Um, I think, I guess the other thing that I'd probably add, um, in terms of the reflection on, on the community that was at the conference is that I think Tamika really invited quite a diverse set of attendees. You know, we had funders, we had policy makers, we had systems, systems and service providers there.

We had really kind of the whole ecosystem of research impact and that was, I think that was the first time I've. Seen that happen. And, and I think that was, that was really, um, a beneficial approach to take. I think we all need to come together, um, in that way. So yeah, I would definitely support more, more of the same.

Ruth Lawford-Rolfe 00:38:51 No pressure Tamika.

So, who wants to go first? Ali.

Um, and, and so effectively this is a, a policy to research fellowship scheme. Um, and I think the combination of, of the questions asked after the presentation, the discussion with delegates afterwards, but also, um, the solution circle se session. So Anu briefly mentioned around this, but I use that as an opportunity again to.

Um, I suppose get some thoughts on some of the challenges that I've had in launching the scheme and, and how I can ultimately make it successful. So I've been given a lot of really great advice from the impact community on, on what I could consider in terms of trying to ensure it's successful, so some of which I've already implemented and with other things along the way.

And I think the second thing is around, um, something I'd like to do around strengthening partnerships. So. Given the strength of the community that was there, you know, I'd like to actively seek more collaboration with the impact community itself. I think it's something that currently I'm probably lacking in my own practice, so exploring opportunities for doing that, um, I think would be really exciting.

Ali Quaile 00:40:35 Uh, not currently. Um, unless people wanna get involved in the, the, uh, policy fellowship. So, so any, uh, any civil servants, uh, listening then then get that

Anu Ekanayake 00:40:47 Um. Onwards and upwards, I think. Um, but uh, no, honestly, the conference was so inspiring for me because I get inspired seeing people.

So it was so good to see, uh, the community as it is, and not just UK community and people from different countries as well. Um. So I think it's very difficult, but I will try to find ways to keep in touch with this network until we have a dedicated platform for impact professionals. Uh, we do have a university network within University of Leeds, and we have Northern Impact Network between the northern universities.

So we do have some kind of networks, sorry, establishing and growing, uh, but I would like to see. An island wide or a global platform. Um, I mean, I'll have to plug as well because I am experimenting with AI and how to bring it to research impact where I shared my practices and strategies in my talk at the conference.

So I'm currently experimenting with AI and how it can shape, uh, research impact processes. And practices have to, had to mention that because of the feedback I got. I think Andy mentioned because we work in so siloed, uh, in our faculties, because I work in a team. We call it a team. It's just two people. Uh, my manager Sally and I, uh, and we can try so many things.

We have so much potential and we can test things, but. If you only have limited number of peoples, one to two people access to talk about these things, we wouldn't know how other people's approaching things, how, what kind of challenges they are facing, and, uh, what kind of trouble we might be facing a problem and we might not know the solution is already there.

Someone's using it. Um. So I got so much feedback and discussions. I learned how many other people are using or experimenting with emerging technologies and how other universities are trying to implement, sorry, uh, trying to implement, uh, workflows in research, impact on research management. Um, in the long term, I think.

Find ways to embed these approaches across the, my faculty, uh, and maybe, uh, eventually, uh, university-wide as well, and support better decision making and elevate research impact culture, um, and understanding how this is a huge. Conversation about ethics of emerging technologies, so ethical practices and how we can have a sector wide standard for ethical practices.

Um, so that is what I'm right now focusing on will be for me for this foreseeable future. Thank you.

Ruth Lawford-Rolfe 00:43:49 So, I think the conference came at a, a really good time for me. Um, within our school we're working on a, a new generation of approaches to build capacity and demy demystify, uh, different engagement.

Processes and also to increase opportunities for conversations around impact at all stages of the research cycle right through from design through to evaluation. So I think the conference has, has really enabled me to enter this process with a new perspective and the opportunity to test models and learn from the practical findings of so many different colleagues across the sector, as others have said.

Um. I've also extended my network through the event and hope to stay in touch with those new connections. I think the conference highlighted the growing body of published materials and resources out there. Um, so we'll definitely be looking out for, for those new publications coming out of this, this community.

And I think through our impact network at the university, um, we have a, an active institutional community, um, where we bring together. Impact professionals, research adjacent colleagues and, uh, academics to share, learning and innovate. So I think we've got an ideal opportunity there, um, within our own environment to support each other as we implement those new approaches and, and share our learning as we do so.

Andy Cameron 00:45:11 Yeah, I think like a lot of people it's connecting, reconnecting with some of the people that I met there, but also trying to expand my network. So, as I mentioned earlier, talking to someone from NIHR, that's, um, part of the impact evaluation group there, and the discussions with him was around.

What it was that they were wanting in terms of reporting, um, from centres and from researchers being funded. And it's how we effectively report impact that's happened. And as we know that impact doesn't happen straight after the research. Um, so it's how, um, they would want stuff like that. They reported back to them, but it's trying to understand how other funders was also like that.

Andy Cameron 00:46:00 Um, so different, different funders obviously fund different types of research and if it's earlier phase research, it's unlikely that the impact's not going to develop for, could be going on 15, 20 years. So it's how they would like, a, in the applications and b in the reporting, how they want it phrasing and how they want it.

Understood. That people have thought about the impact, but they have no idea how to write about it in terms of planning for it and the research is done. And where did it go next? It's, it is trying to understand how the funders are wanting these things reported to them, and if they're able to, in any way support going forwards.

Um, the academics that are completing the research and, and not sure where to go next.

Alexa Ruppertsberg 00:47:04 Well, actually just before this recording, I have moved on with the work that I have presented at the conference.

So I've already delivered, um, basically, um. How we could use, uh, public engagement data for, uh, some narratives in, in the REF, uh, there. And, uh, the feedback that I had at the conference, but also just now was really encouraging in that. So, um, and yeah, so, so it is already moving on. Um, the other thing that, uh, I take from it is, um, I.

This wonderful opportunity. What happens when you leave your comfort zone? Because going to this conference and presenting and talking to other people, you're, you know, it is outside comfort zone a bit. Um, actually. It works quite well. Um, go out more, talk more about the work that we are doing, get perspective.

Um, but at the same time, as I said before, I realise that we're actually quite good here. So the, the advocacy role that we can. Do and take for higher education institution or research ed, higher education institutions, we can do that. And you know, Leeds has a good story to tell, so I shall wave the flag.

At that conference and, and having those amazing chats. So thank you for, um, putting the time aside for this, for this conversation. And, um, yeah, if you'd like to say bye to the listeners. So if you our count us down and we can all go. So 1, 2, 3.

Thanks for listening, and here's to you and your research culture.