Making an Impact

Sarah Hiley

How can you ensure your research will have an impact on society? Who will benefit from the results of your research and how will you reach them? Communicating the scientific and societal impact of your research to different audiences in a powerful and effective way can be a challenge. Valorisation as it is sometimes known, is now being recognised as a core function of universities in the Netherlands. Maastricht University is responding to this in a variety of ways, one of which is including the impact paragraph as a compulsory part of the PhD thesis requirement. The Language Centre has been working with the PhD Platform, the Knowledge Transfer Office and several academic departments to co-create an Impact Writing Workshop. This workshop provides participants with the tools and strategies to communicate the impact of their research to a broad and varied audience.

Participants on the course have the opportunity to practise and hone the key communication messages relevant to their research and discipline. It provides a space to actively collaborate and engage with peers who may be from a different discipline with little or no knowledge of each other’s expertise. Translating expert and complex knowledge into an accessible and clear message is a skill, which is useful in all aspects of a professional career, academic or otherwise. The workshop uses the participants’ writing as the starting point for the content and there is opportunity to provide feedback to peers on their communication style and impact statement.

If you are interested in finding out more about the Impact Writing Workshop, please contact Marieke van Paassen your-language-course@maastrichtuniversity.nl