Fast Track Impact

This week, Mark talks through a series of good practice principles for engagement and impact, published in his recent blog post - Add your own feedback and ideas here The blog builds on a number of sources, including: Mark’s Impact Culture book (see the bottom of this page for his impact culture toolkit) NCCPE engagement guidance Mark’s “Re-thinking impact…” paper You can download a written transc...

This week, Mark explores what the recent REF2029 guidance means for impact, including a discussion of what we might be expected to write about in the new engagement and impact narrative, and an evidence-based approach to writing a 4* impact case study. NCCPE engagement guidance My “Re-thinking impact…” paper What made a 4* impact case study in REF214 paper My 4* REF2021 impact case study Impact te...

This week, Mark talks to Michael Parker, Director of Operations at The Conversation, a news outlet that specialises in working with researchers, giving them editorial control on a global platform. Drawing from their work together creating the Media Impact Guide and Toolkit, Mark and Michael discuss how researchers can harness the media to get more impact from their research and provide evidence of...

Eric Jensen is an expert in impact evaluation who has written a textbook on many of the most useful methods you'll need and leading two companies that specialise in impact evaluation consultancy and training alongside his academic research on environmental issues. In this interview, he provides tips to help you design a more effective survey to evaluate your impact, and explains how you can repurp...

This week, Mark interviews Laura Tucker (Vertigo Ventures), Tobias Schoep (GrowImpact), and Sarah Morton (Matter of Focus) about the platforms they have developed to help researchers keep track of their impacts. Find out more about each platform: GrowImpact OutNav from Matter of Focus Impact Tracker, part of the impact ecosystem from Vertigo Ventures You can download a written transcript of this e...

This week, Mark interviews Rachel Blanche from Queen Margaret University Edinburgh to find out how arts-based methods can provide depth and rigour to an impact evaluation. They discuss a range of approaches including visual, performative and narrative methods, the types of evidence these methods can generate, how these approaches can empower participants in determining what’s meaningful, and how e...

Mark discusses a range mixed methods evaluation designs that can help you collect data to evidence impacts arising from industry, policy, media, and public engagement. The methods are easy to use without any specialist training or experience, and can generate useful data in some of the trickiest areas of impact evaluation. Find out more about the "postcard to your future self" method Find out...

How do you design an impact evaluation? There is no blueprint, but in this episode, Mark gives you the tools you will need to choose an evaluation design with methods that can deliver convincing evidence while giving you win-wins for your research. Evidencing impact paper | Decision tree You can download a written transcript of this episode here

In this first of a series of episodes on monitoring, evaluating and evidencing impact, Mark discusses one of the biggest mistakes that people make when the evaluate their engagement instead of their impact, and provides simple tools anyone can use to keep track of their impact with minimal time and effort. He concludes by explaining the difference between monitoring and evaluation and introducing...

This week, Mark interviews George Hope, Communications Manager at Oxford Net Zero and Greenhouse Gas Removal Hub, based at University of Oxford, about how you can reduce the risks of engaging with social media and achieve more impact online. They discuss challenges of engaging with skeptics and conspiracy theorists, and strategic tools for achieve more impact with less risks to your time, reputati...

What do you see when you hold the mirror up to your attempts to achieve impact? Are you doing enough? If not, what are your excuses and assumptions, and what could you do to do more? This week, Mark shares what he learned from a book that transformed how he saw the world, and with it his research and impact - Less is More by Jason Hickle. He goes on to discuss how, in response to this, he has star...

Disillusioned with how academia works, Sarah Wijesinghe left academia to set up Brijjd, a new social platform for researcher to communicate their research simply to the widest possible audience. Mark learns about her personal journal and the platform she has created, and discusses recent controversy over Twitter's new owner. You can join Brijjd for free using your LinkedIn or other existing creden...

In this final episode on mental health, Mark questions the assumption that we need to be fixed and find a happy ending, when so many people feel stuck in the middle of a story that has no end in sight. He shares stories from from researchers who are in a messy "middle" and argues that it is better to accept life in the middle of suffering, and find peace and joy there, than to live for a future ha...

Building on the success of the “health resilient researcher” course and the launch of health coaching for academics by Fast Track Impact, Dr Joyce Reed discusses some of the most common challenges driving researchers to the brink of burnout, and how she has motivated people to turn things around to get better work-home balance and make changes to their diet and lifestyle that have transformed both...

When Paris Tuohy and Ruby Annand-Jones failed to collect the data they needed for their research, they felt frustrated and guilty - not just about the project, but for the community they were seeking to serve. But as they shared their feelings with more senior researchers in their team, they discovered that they were not alone in this experience, and started to learn lessons that would reframe how...

Mark reports back on the workshop to discuss alternatives to the word stakeholder, where the group discussed whether or not we should in fact be trying to replace the word, or encouraging people to find the right word for their purpose and context. Alternatives were discussed as well though, including the idea of a simple typology where we can refer to people, organisations or nature. You can also...

This week, Mark discusses problems with the word "stakeholder" and discusses alternatives that could enable us to decolonise our vocabulary as researchers, ahead of a discussion workshop to discuss the issue further. You can also read a blog post version of this podcast here Join the discussion workshop on Monday 21st November from 09.00-10.30 UK time. Join the email group to discuss the issue fur...

This week Mark talks to Petra Boynton, social psychologist academic, consultant and trainer, about her work on "being well in academia". They discuss how systems in academia perpetuate burnout and health problems, and discuss ideas that could help fix the system, providing colleagues with the necessary support, resources, skills and help to cope better and thrive, despite the growing pressures of...

Do you have a toxic relationship with your line manager or supervisor? This week, Mark discusses three ways you can tackle your relationship so you can stop dreading your meetings and start thriving again at work. Impact Culture  is available as a hardback, e-book and audio book:  https://www.fasttrackimpact.com/books . Find out more about the book and join free training and discussion g...

This week, Mark considers how to move beyond simply learning from mistakes, to understand how our mistakes have shaped who we are, transforming regret into an experience of being more authentic. He tells a story of a mistake that was used by his boss to blackmail him, and how this one mistake haunted him until he was able to talk about it and learn to forgive himself. Only then could he see how th...

This week, Mark discusses how to transcend the labels we often hide behind as academics, so we can embrace failure and mistakes as a necessary part of who we are, sitting with discomfort and being able to feel the full range of human emotions. By accepting and living with the less comfortable emotions that failures bring up, we unlock the capacity to feel more of every feeling, including joy, peac...

Anxiety is baked into many academic cultures, but for some that fear can be debilitating. In this episode Mark talks about his own struggle with anxiety after a failed attempt to return to face-to-face work post-COVID, and brings a message of hope and healing for anyone struggling to give themselves the self-compassion they need to move through difficult times. Trigger warning: this episode includ...

Most researchers suffer from imposter syndrome at some point in their careers, but few talk about it, so it can feel like you are alone in feeling the way you do. In this episode Mark shares his own experience of imposter syndrome and introduces another audio chapter of his book, Impact Culture, which provides practical advice to prevent and overcome imposter syndrome. The book is available a...

Why do we say "yes" to things we later regret, or struggle to share early drafts of our work with collaborators? Why we get upset when colleagues ask for help and then don't follow our advice? Are you really driven by a desire to help others, or are you seeking external validation? Why do we need to make sure we've got everything right - can you have a healthy level of perfectionism or are you exp...

In this episode, Mark considers the difference between influential versus manipulative impact, and shares insights and practical tips that can help you identify early warning signs that you might be about to cross a line and say or do something you might later regret. He builds on previous episodes about leadership for impact and his chapter on empathic leadership in his new book, Impact Culture....