Impact
Students are wary that the results of their theses will not lead to an impact.
Research culture is not easily satisfied through generated insight. A big part of modern research culture is about making one’s insight heard, having the insight generate traction where it would be useful, and assigning the researcher’s name with the contribution. Of course, association with a meaningful discovery also holds most of the benefits of an academic’s career. Finally, research that generates impact in one form or another justifies the often extensive societal investment into academia. Aiming for impact is the first step for the return of that investment.
But if impact is academic currency, how do you generate it – even to a small degree – during your thesis? Today, the lion’s share of thesis projects do not generate any meaningful external impact beyond taking up some storage space on the library’s server. Not because student research would not carry the potential, but rather because students’ research projects are typically not set-up and mentored to do so. Setting up students for impact takes more effort in mentoring than most mentors can afford. It comes with the increased risk of visible failure. There is hardly any reward for students’ or mentors’ successes. And it rather generates an increase in competitive pressure from the lowest rung of the academic food chain. On the other hand, it does not cost the academic system anything to keep the thesis in strictly limited visibility, since no-one has come to expect much from it. The committed student who takes pride in their research project and the standards set forth, this opens up a rift between the ambition to produce impact through insights and the reality of not knowing how. Consequently, impact in student research remains limited to those settings around few academic mentors who not only sensibly translate ambitions toward their work to their students’ projects but also show them how to reach the intended goal. Given a lack of organisational incentive to do so, helping students reach impact often remains a labour of love.
Instead of pursuing a conventional sense of impact with student research, let’s rather consider adjusting the type of impact that will be attainable, given the context. “Standing on the shoulders of giants” does take an available giant or two who is willing to let you stand on their shoulders. Furthermore, let’s revise our common goals for student research. More is possible.
It is useful for students to reflect on the context in which they do their research. Particularly promotional and knowledgable mentors make realizing lofty goals of impact possible, while less supporting and experienced supervisors rather limit the potential of their students. In the case of a supportive and competent environment, a research project should not end with the submission of a document, but with a meaningful stab at communicating the results to the addressed community – external impact. Truly excellent research should always include the pursuit of communicating findings to those who can benefit from it. This might be a publication, but most publication outlets are never read by anyone outside the academic bubble. In the case of a more challenging surrounding, it might make sense to reframe the sense of impact to a personal sense of insight, an extension of research experience, possibly the perfection of a method. It was Matt Farmer who brought up this idea of a broader understanding of impact during one of our calls. It will be not only more feasible to reach this kind of internal impact, but also reduce the risks of attempting to generate external impact unaided. Let’s also not forget that not everyone is extrovert enough to attempt and achieve external impact with their work.
Finally, it remains important to highlight how much could be won from more student research coached toward either type of impact. Most universities generate hundreds of student research projects each year. We risk that most of these projects remain devoid of either kind of impact beyond having generated the grounds for graduating if we do not consider impact to be a critical outcome of student research, too. The academic thesis can generate much more of it than what it does today.
How do you experience the attempt to generate impact in your work or your students’ work? What is your understanding of impact through research?