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Overview

The Impact Journey is a strategic tool designed to assist researchers in planning, capturing, communicating, and monitoring the societal impact of their research. This is rooted in the W.K. Kellogg Foundation Logic Model and offers a structured approach to understanding the progression from research activities to long-term societal changes. It is particularly useful for researchers in sustainable entrepreneurship and innovation, as it helps in identifying the environmental, social, and economic impacts of their work. It is a versatile tool that can be used at any research stage and is instrumental in impact planning, including identifying collaborators and crafting impact sections for funding proposals.

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Dimensions

Resource type: The Impact Journey is a descriptive and conceptual framework and practical tool that guide researchers through the process of achieving societal impact. ^a8e820

• Tags: tool, canvas

Objective: This resource aims to align research activities with their potential societal impact, ensuring that the outcomes contribute to sustainable development goals.

• Tags: align, map

Target audience: The primary users of this resource are researchers and academics, looking to maximize the societal impact of their work.

• Tags: researchers, educators, policy-makers

Sustainability focus: The Impact Journey emphasizes the importance of considering the long-term environmental, social, and economic implications of research by tracing research over time, distinguishing between different five stages on the pathway to impact.

• Tags: environmental-sustainability, social-sustainability, economic-sustainability, SDGs

Innovation type: The tool can result in different types of innovation, but is not designed as an aid to support innovation in research.

• Tags: process-innovation

Entrepreneurship stage: Similar to above, but the insights generated from this canvas can be relevant for the researchers entrepreneurial work.

• Tags: ideation, design, development, implementation, startup, growth, scale-up, maturity

Scope of relevance: While this tool can be used globally, they are particularly relevant for research that has a specific geographic or demographic focus, such as regional sustainability challenges.

• Tags: global, regional, national, local

Methodological approach: The Impact Journey is based on a logic model, which is a systematic and theoretical framework for planning and evaluating research impact.

• Tags: theoretical-frameworks

Skill development: The tool contributes to skill development in areas such as systems thinking, holistic thinking, and innovative thinking.

• Tags: systems-thinking, holistic-thinking, innovative-thinking

Source and credibility: The tool is developed by researchers at the University College Dublin, a reputable academic institution.

• Tags: academic-institutions

Prerequisites and requirements: It is designed for users with at least an intermediate level of understanding of research processes and impact planning.

• Tags: intermediate-level, specific-educational-background

Collaboration level: The tool encourages collaboration among researchers, stakeholders, and partners to maximize the societal impact of research.

• Tags: team, cross-sector-partnerships, public-private-partnership

More information can be found at Research Impact Toolkit.

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Resources